The Demon Disorder

Despite the fact of never having heard about this 2024 horror movie from director Steven Boyle, of course I opted to watch it, as I happened to stumble upon it by random chance. Given my love of all things horror, of course I needed no persuasion to give this movie a fair chance.

The storyline in the movie was adequate, although it was not as if writers Steven Boyle and Toby Osborne revolutionized the horror genre with "The Demon Disorder". While the pacing of the narrative is fair, the movie was lacking scary contents. And it was a shame, because that is what I enjoy when watching horror movies.

The only face on the cast list that I was familiar with was actor John Noble. It should be noted, however, that the acting performances in the movie were fair.

Visually the movie was okay, though you're not in for any jaw-dropping special effects moments.

Watchable, for sure, but "The Demon Disorder" is ultimately a horror movie that came and left without leaving much of a lasting impression on me. Is it a horror movie that I would recommend horror fans to seek out and watch? Well, no, not really. The script in the movie is a tad too mundane and generic for that.

My rating of director Steven Boyle's 2024 horror movie "The Demon Disorder" lands on a four out of ten stars.

Sparse, confusing plot. Thoroughly unlikable cast for the most part.

Dreary and derivative to the extreme.

The most of the creature effects seemed like they were practical and well-made. I also thought the one garage employee was a perfectly serviceable character. Haha, serviceable...get it? Get it!?

But the three brothers and whatever they were doing on screen just wasn't my bag.

And if the "disorder" of the title was supposed to be some metaphor of an affliction of ageing, that didn't work at all in the slightest one bit remotely to any extent by any means.

I don't even think knowing what was going on would make the film enjoyable. Nor does it need a sequel.

As most reviews have acknowledged, the best thing about this film is the practical FX.

The family drama doesn't resonate as strongly as it could but it does build throughout the runtime. The father figure is sympathetic and a poignant "team-effort" moment at the end of the film lands surprisingly well. I didn't think they would but the characters won me over in the end, despite their flaws.

The pace is a little slow but things go hard enough in the last 20minutes to be worth the build up. Not only are the practical FX well produced but the way they are revealed to the audience, first in close-up, then in low light, before being shown in full glory is just fantastic.

Recommended for fans of When Evil Lurks (2023), Almost Human (2013) and Altered (2006).

I recently watched the Australian film 🇦🇺 The Demon Disorder (2024) on Shudder. The story follows a family that reunites after their father passes away. As old tensions resurface, they uncover unsettling secrets-specifically, their father's bizarre activities that may have opened a literal gateway to hell in the garage. As demons escape and begin attacking, the family must band together to stop them and possibly save the world.

Directed by Steven Boyle in his directorial debut, the film stars Charles Cottier (Home and Away), Dirk Hunter (Rain Fall), Amy Ingram (In Our Blood), and John Noble (The Lord of the Rings).

This is one of those horror movies where the beginning and end far outshine the middle. The film's settings, lighting, and cinematography are top-notch, and the acting and dialogue feel grounded and believable. The opening sequence involving a cow was fantastic, and the demon "birthing" scene is the film's standout moment. The last twenty minutes brought to mind a mix of Pumpkinhead and Aliens, with well-executed costumes, makeup, and some enjoyable gore for horror fans.

In conclusion, The Demon Disorder has is far from perfect but has enough solid moments to satisfy horror enthusiasts. I'd give it a 5.5-6/10 and recommend it with tempered expectations.

Trying to move on in life, estranged brothers living on a ranch in the middle of the countryside are brought back together when a series of incidents with a family member are eerily reminiscent of what happened to their father when he got possessed by a demon, forcing them to believe it's returned.

This was a decent enough if somewhat flawed genre effort. Among its better qualities is the strong startup that provides a solid base for the demonic activity to follow once everything is revealed. The early setpieces involving the brothers reconnecting and managing to come together again to investigate the strange circumstances surrounding their family with the symptoms resembling what happened with their father that allows for their reunion to take place gives this a decent enough starting point. Tying in the idea of the unnatural behavior and violent outbursts that signal something is wrong, setting the brothers up on their quest to figure out what's going on that ultimately leads to the overt possession and ultimate revenge plot at the center of everything, giving this a solid overall setup. On top of that, when dealing with the grisly aftereffects of the possession, the film scores incredibly well as there's some gruesome work here. The idea of the calling card for everything taking on the form of a spreading and bloody wound on the body leaves quite an impression with the effects going for goopy body-horror style undertones. With the big confrontations in the final featuring even more great effects-work as the practical nature if everything here including demonic beings emerging from victim's body's, the graphic contortions and dismemberments that occur with the possessed in control of the body, and the general grotesque appearance that signals the possession has taken place helping to make the action inside the restricted location even more potent with everything here coming across well enough to have a lot to like. There are some issues with this one that hold it down. One of the biggest drawbacks is the overly familiar and cliched storyline involving long-buried family drama and grief manifesting itself once again. This is a familiar route that plenty of other features have gone with as they try to make the idea of generational curses and long-hidden trauma mean something but it's just not different enough with the material to make much of an impression. Everything is by-the-numbers and routine to the point of making it feel far more dragged out in the beginning than it actually is since everything is building to the point of genuinely chilling horror elements in the final half. However, going once again with the route it halts the moment of this one at the very beginning and makes for a bit of a difficult watch getting into things with this type of setup. These are the main detrimental factors involved with this one.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Graphic Violence.