Family Demons

Had heard this was good but right away I did not like the acting, cinematography or direction. Camera work was really bad. Don't know why some people made it sound so great. The first Australian horror or crime film I have not liked in a long time.

Living with her alcoholic mother, a bullied teen in a small town finally sees her chance at freedom when an accident puts her mother in a coma allowing her to potentially change her life, but when she believes her mother's spirit has followed her must figure out what's going on to stop it.

This was a solid if somewhat problematic feature. One of the better aspects present here is the strong central buildup that takes a fine commentary on the way alcohol impacts a family relationship. This spends quite a bit of the opening section here providing a detailed account of the trials and tribulations facing a family when they succumb unwillingly to alcohol abuse as the film makes it pointedly clear that the amount of verbal and physical abuse the mother dishes out is due to her alcohol abuse. Chaining her up in her room to prevent her from going out to visit friends or live a life, enduring plenty of charged epithets about how much of an unwanted child she was going up, and putting this behavior squarely at the part of her rampant alcoholism which offers up the kind of pertinent background information on her being haunted throughout the film. Those hauntings might be somewhat controversial since that's where this one does have some controversial aspects. While the scenes themselves serve nicely to get an idea of her mental state, what she's going through, and the degree of harm that her mother's put her through with the hallucinations and visions continuing to haunt her, this doesn't offer up much in the way of intriguing or original content. Way too much of the running time is spent on seeing her run away from the responsibilities she has now that she's free so hardly anything here really has a chance to build up to get to a point where it's hardly ever scary due to her psychological brooding over what's going on with her mother's spirit haunting her. Combined with the obvious low-budget limitations present throughout here, these are what bring this one down overall.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Violence.

Family Demons (Australian Horror/Thriller) is not strictly about a dead mother haunting her daughter. In fact, there are many components of this film that are very realistic and sadly very common in society. I couldn't help but feel for all family members in this film despite the complex family dynamics. There are some interesting twists and turns and, although the opening words at the beginning of the film discussing Adelaide didn't seem to resonate or make much sense with regards to the film itself (not sure what the writers were getting at as they didn't "fit" much), I was both enthralled by the entertainment yet cringing at the same time. There are important messages and lessons to be learned from this film about family, sexual assault, psychological and physical terror and much more. Yes, for supernatural horror and slasher fans, you will likely be satisfied as well as those that enjoy thrillers.

It is my hope (but I have to be realistic) that the events that occurred in the film prior to the hauntings are less common in society than I'd expect. Sadly, I doubt that is the case which is why the message is so important.

This is the perfect example that you don't need a bloated budget to make a creepy film and more importantly one that will remain with you for hours and days afterwards. I have to say the acting in this film was top notch especially with the main two leads. If I had 25 000 dollars right now and I was going to direct a low budget horror film about two young girls that were mentally and physically tortured throughout Cassandra Kane and the lead actress of the Loved Ones are my pics. Ms Kane you were amazing and I felt your pain throughout the entire film. In fact I felt your performance was tantamount to the poor tortured souls of the two leads in my favorite horror film of all time Martyrs and that is saying a lot considering it took two decades for Martyrs to exceed my previous fav film Hellraiser. I can't wait for this director to make another film and when people say they don't make horror like they used to, I laugh and say your right they make them better now.

Don't let this title slip under your radar, by far and away one of the most impressive low budget movies to come my way this year.

Filmed to give a dark, foreboding atmosphere throughout, this movie will grab you by the throat and not let up until you get to the climatic ending.

The relationships the director portrays throughout, are well developed and leave you in no doubt as to what the message is she's trying to put across.

Very very impressive with a very dark subject matter, that whilst the horror elements adds to the feeling, the actual message contained in it, is far more frightening.

Don't Miss This.