Demon Wind

From its fiery opening credits, we know that DEMON WIND means business!

Cory (Eric Larson) and his friends are led to an old shack in the middle of nowhere. This has something to do with Cory's dad and a series of nightmares. From the weird gas station to the creepy diner, we can tell that DW is attempting to build an atmosphere of doom like EVIL DEAD.

Does it succeed? Hmmm.

Unlike this film, EVIL DEAD had a definite gloom-factor that hung over the entire project. Unlike EVIL DEAD, this movie has a karate-kicking magician! Sort of dull at first, upon arriving at the aforementioned shack, it all hits the fan! Actually, some scenes are reminiscent of something Sam Raimi might have done: a scary journal, squawking demons, squirting goo, etc.

There are also seven sacred daggers, like in THE OMEN, and some unmistakable NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD moments as well. All leading to the big finale, starring Satan himself, covered in corn syrup and mashed potatoes!

With the proper amount of intoxication, and the right group of friends, this could make for one transcendent viewing experience!...

My review was written in August 1990 after watching the movie on Paramount/Prism video cassette.

There's a screw loose in "Demon Wind", a nonsensical horror film that fits the description one damn thing strung after another. Direct-to-video title has a tilt back and forth 3-D style box and not much inside.

Writer-director Charles Philip Moore has trouble presenting a coherent storyline in this overlong gore opus in which young people gather at a haunted house, intored in a cryptic prolog filled with religious imagery.

Hallucinations proliferate as the kids are victimized by satanists and their creations amidst exploding gore. Hero Eric Larson literally goes through hell and is defeated by the demon only to wake up and find his teen friends alive and well after all, unless that is another hallucination. Any way you slice it, film makes no sense.

Ah, Demon Wind. I've seen this movie so many times I can actually quote it now! Cory and 9 of his friends travel to his grandparents' farm to figure out what happened to them decades earlier. What proceeds is a virtual remake (or ripoff)? of Evil Dead. One by one, the friends either become possessed by the demonic force that has inhabited the land or are killed by the demons and in turn become possessed. The special makeup effects were rather poorly done, but remained effective on a cheesy level. The director did quite well with maintaining a dreadful atmosphere. Demon Wind is high on the suspense, that's for sure. The acting was from the cast was very convincing for a film of this type. The ending was definitely lifted (or "inspired", if you will) from Night of the Living Dead, but not as effective as that film was. It also left it open for a possible sequel. Let's pray we do see a sequel! Demon Wind is a nice time waster. I don't believe it has ever been legitimately released on DVD, but you can bet the VHS and bootleg DVD's are floating around on ebay or ioffer. Check it out.

"Demon Wind" shows some imagination in the early going...but by the last 20 minutes or so it has become an insult to anyone's intelligence. It has some OK (for the budget) special effects and some eerie moments (the best is easily the one involving a door that, at first sight, appears to be leading...nowhere), but just like the characters do battle with an army of demons (or are they zombies? They sure walk and moan like zombies), those good points do battle with the mostly laughable acting and an inconsistent, often moronic script...and they lose. (**)

Of all of the Evil Dead rip-offs I have seen, Demon Wind is perhaps the most blatant, its basic plot, setting, characters, sound effects and atmosphere all clearly fashioned after Sam Raimi's 1982 horror classic. Director Charles Philip Moore is no Raimi though, and the result is a haphazard mess packed with random, oddball WTF moments and cheap gore effects, albeit one that demands to be seen (by avid fans of trashy horror, at least) just to be believed.

For starters, the group of twenty somethings that are attacked by ancient demons in a remote run down cottage includes a high-kickin' karate magician—you don't get many of them in horror films; then there's the human remains packing a supernatural charge, and the trio of superhuman, supernatural ghost girls who turn one victim into a doll (!?!); and let's not forget about the bird's egg that cracks open to reveal maggots, the mysterious fog that repeatedly prevents the group from escaping, the assorted mouldy, wisecracking zombies, the topless female demon, and the satanic altar comprising of a human skeleton and animal skull with whiplash tongue that chomps on a girl's head!