The Demon Inside

This movie showed flashes of good horror and creativity but was ultimately overshadowed by a thin, cliche plot, bad acting and an embarrassing unawareness of its own comedy. I don't think this was intended to fall into the horror/comedy genre but it made it there.

Other than "The Ghost Killers," which was obviously intended to be a satire of those garbage, cable TV ghost hunter shows, the characters (even the ghost killers when they were not trying to show off for TV) were comically stupid. It felt like the director needed to pick a lane; either stick to horror or lean into the horror/comedy.

Go into this with movie with low expectations. If you're looking to kill an hour and a half and just want some mindless entertainment, there might be something here for you. But if you're looking for a legitimate scary movie, look elsewhere.

So, I hope this was meant to be a horror comedy? I was sold this as "suspense horror" but it had absolutely zero tension. Like one of the characters deaths especially was described as her being turned into jam, after she got sprayed over the reality TV crew. Oh and it just kind of ends suddenly, like it ran out of time.

Their personalities were over the top, even for people who were meant to be reality TV stars.

The problem was, whilst the horror comedy moments were pretty funny if you want that kind of "bad horror" was there wasn't really enough of it. But the moments that do happen will snap you out of anything you previously would take seriously.

If I could give this a minus rating I would. The characters were completely dislikable, and the only reason I watched this until the end was in the hope that they all died horrid, lingering deaths. Sadly, a couple of them survived. The acting was non existent, (where did they get these 'actors'? The kid had the most talent in my opinion), and the 'special effects' were distinctly underwhelming - however, the soundtrack was moderately ok. If I never see this garbage again, I will lead a happy life. Don't waste your time on this garbage, it should have been left on the cutting room floor.

In the first act writer and director Moran creates a fiendishly good setup. From the very opening Moran's use of color and shot choice is outstanding. Protagonist, Sam Parsons is awakened by the house alarm sounding in the middle of the night. He scours the house, gun drawn, moving from the deep blues of the night to the orange hue of the lights outside. It drips style, but not only that, it draws you in - you're in the house, too - but you're not alone.

Once the second act hits, there is gore, laughs, and scares.

The acting is excellent, direction and writing too.

Overall the film punches way above it's weight in terms of look - it feels high budget - but has the freedom that only indie film has to tell its story in its own way.

And it is glorious. A must see

After a series of strange incidents, a man and his wife come to believe the house has become haunted by a supernatural being and call in a professional ghost-hunting team to deal with the situation only to find the spirit more deadly than expected and forces a dark secret from his past to save them.

This was a surprisingly fun and enjoyable effort. One of the strongest aspects of the film is the fact that there's quite a lot of build-up here as to what's going on inside the house. The opening here with the startling from the alarm going off and the aftermath the next morning when it shows them getting mixed up with the events that occurred the night before and arguing with each other for no reason as the supernatural entity is around them influencing their decisions. The first time they spot the ghost in the house offers a fine jump-scare that's handled realistically and logically, and the fact that it spurs them into action following the attack on the daughter manages to offer this one with a lot of fine supernatural antics to get this one set up. The film becomes quite a bit more fun and enjoyable when the ghost-hunting team arrives and everything spirals out of control. The ploy of getting the two opposing sides here, from his desire to protect his family against their desire to get a good TV show episode makes for some fine drama and conflict here. When it comes to the standout horror attack scenes featuring the group getting ambushed in the bedroom and having one team-member yanked into a closet right in front of the others and then upon attempting a rescue find themselves doused head-to-toe in their blood-splatter in a truly amazing stand-out sequence that really works nicely here in terms of showing them being out of their element. Even the flashbacks showing their encounters while he was out of the house has plenty to like, keeping this one filled with enough to like in terms of blood and supernatural action to hold this up over its flaws. There are a few flaws here, mainly ranging from the utterly predictable and cliched setup involving the ghost hunters getting involved with the investigation into the spirit. Once again, there's the tired old ploy about the TV show trying to manipulate their footage simply to get a better episode and the entire conversation that takes place after the first attack really undoes a lot of sympathy for them. With verifiable evidence that something's not right in the house with them being covered in the blood of their coworker, the fact that they want to carry on with the investigation in the name of getting good ratings simply is inexcusable and illogical, making this part of the film highly unappealing to get through. The other real problem is a somewhat overlong and meandering finale that tends to go on far longer than it really should. It just adds way too much rambling nonsense to a film that didn't need it, makes the entire film feel like it's changing priorities are just way too scattershot to stay on one timeline and makes it run on a bit too long. Otherwise, there isn't a whole lot really wrong here.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and children-in-jeopardy.