Demonic

This wasn't a bad movie. I had no expectations for this to be good at all. However, I was surprised. It wasn't great, but it was pretty original, and the acting was well done.

My big problem with the movie was all the jumping back-and-forth between the past and present scenes. They should've just stuck with the people going to the house, and then they could've dealt with the aftermath with the police. It was confusing for the first few times.

I gave this a 5-star rating. If you're in the mood for a fairly original story that actually does have some jump moments that are well executed, you might want to give this a try.

For a perfect rate I would have put down 5.5 stars, cause 6 is too much and 5 still too little, but, we have to work with what we have, so 5 stars from me and one positive review!

Without spoiling it or give away unnecessary information, I'm going to keep it short and let you know, that Demonic, even tho such a cliché of a name, plot and even cover, stands up much better than most such productions probably because it was kept simple. Effective, intriguing, good acting, well picked actors, it wasn't the "let's do a horror in the woods" or "in a haunted house", but I genuinely think they wanted to make a horror. And they sure succeed!

So, compared to a lot of similar movies, Demonic offers thrills, scares, a little bit of mystery, overall, a good time!

Cheers!

In Louisiana, police detective Mark Lewis (Frank Grillo) takes over a bloody crime scene. He finds survivor John (Dustin Milligan) who becomes his prime suspect. Police psychologist Dr. Elizabeth Klein (Maria Bello) interviews John on site. He and his pregnant girlfriend Michelle (Cody Horn) had joined a group of young ghost hunters, Bryan (Scott Mechlowicz), Jules (Megan Park), Donnie (Aaron Yoo), and Sam (Alex Goode). He had been haunted by visions of the house.

This has all been done before. The final twist is completely predictable. It's basically a found footage horror in a haunted house. There is nothing particularly new. The actors are a mixed bag although they are all pretty good. This is a straight-forward horror.

The film's premise is a straightforward concept that incorporates classic, overdone horror tropes with slices of Gen X flavor, in the form of found footage - as in documentary footage recovered from the scene. The dual concepts, although not original, are offered up in a clever parallel time line. It creates a sort of murder mystery aspect, broken up by standard paranormal horror moments next to found footage sequences. To a small degree the mixture sometimes feels disjointed, but the back and forth does break up any monotony that would otherwise be present.

The cast give quality performances, the line up consists of recognizable faces, and known names. There is a glare of underdevelopment to the characters, that if a bit of tweaking had been done, could have really became full-bodied portrayals. Still there is enough to make them relatable.

Special effects are the typical gimmicks one expects in these kind of films. Shock gags and sound bites meant to give a fright are over used and often fall flat. Still "Demonic" has its moments of genuine chills, and the gore elements are quality. Think "Insidious" -esque trickery, just a few more misses. The horror moments run the gambit of "see it coming" to "cool and creepy".

Overall the film is a mediocre but watchable horror flick with some quality actors, refreshing concepts, entertaining climax, and enough death to hit that ghoulish spot. It does have some redundancy issues, and a cloud of "know what's going to happen before it happens", but the movie gives enough to make it enjoyable.

Just watched this for free on the Horror Channel and I will say that, although it is not a bad movie, it is not worth paying for. Group of kids hold a seance in an abandoned house where mass murder took place some 20 odd years before and needless to say scary, unoriginal things start to happen. Only it's not scary and thankfully it has a modest running time. James Wan's name is attached to it but he didn't direct so don't be fooled.