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. (**)

Man oh man. This is a real treat.

I enjoyed this one. It has it all. and I aint lyin' neither. There is plenty of gore and there is ALWAYS something to laugh at. The film makers really should have gone for straight comedy.

I needed a good laugh. I've been getting a little burned-out at the job, having some girl trouble, and the whole week's just kinda sucked. This puppy just sorta jumped in my hand at the video store, so I bought the damn thing. I paid a wopping $2 for it and now it's forever stuck in my library of b-movies.

Here's the "plot". This guy (I can't even remember his name) has been having the sick, disturbing dreams and he thinks that if he calls up a bunch of his idiot friends and drags them to his dead grandparents' former home, then he will somehow find the meaning of life or some stupid thing like that. It turns out that the place is like a gate to hell, or something like that and a bunch of demons (who sound like a broken toy)show up and start killing everybody.

Yep, it's that stupid, but funny as hell to watch. Talk about some funny scenes. The two magician guys (who look an awful lot like a poor man's Sigfread and Roy) cracked me up. I loved their mullets and there is something a little homoerotic about the way they interact with one another. (am I the only one who noticed that?) Of course one of them is a kung-fu expert and he does kick a mean empty beer-can. I also liked the one over-bearing boyfriend who kept saying "that's why I keep her around." That was a howler. I found the old man at the gas station quite hilarious. His "warning" had me on the floor, wallowing in laughter (I'm sure if someone had walked in my room, they would have thought I was having some sort of convulsions.) Just his "there was BLOOD EVERYWHERE!!!" makes me giggle when I think about it.

The gore effects are pretty decent. The zombies look like they just finished smearing a jar of vaseline on their faces and regurgitated that big bowl of oatmeal they had for breakfast. Oh yeah, did I mention that their voices all sound like the lead singer of Cannibal Corpse with a slight electronic edge?

Well, I hope at least one person out there enjoys this work of art as much as I did. It takes raw talent and skill to make a film this funny. I really hope to meet the director some day. I'd also like to meet the guy who says "that's why I keep her around". That guy really cracked me up and I cracked open a beer simultaneously with his death scene. It's a shame the magical/ambiguous duo didn't stick around too long. They were the coolest ones in the group.

Well, I'm done reviewing this beauty. I'd just like to give a SPECIAL THANKS to the writers for coming up with that line "that's why I keep her around", the director for steering this whole thing in the right direction, the guys with the mullets, their hair-stylists, and the old man who gets to say "there was BLOOD all over the floors, all over the walls, there was BLOOD EVERYWHERE". I'd also like to thank that one girl who got killed in "Slaughterhouse". She's almost as talented as the old man and I'd like to see her in more stuff like this. She can fake a scream and die with the best of 'em.

One more thing: Lou Diamond Phillips is listed in the credits, but If he was in it, I must have missed him. Hmmm, maybe he was ducking behind a tree or hiding in the fake fog.