Demoness

Shock-O-Rama are back once again with yet another new independent genre release, this time in the form of the pretty much unknown supernatural shocker 'Demoness'. Following a somewhat convoluted intro (which comes across like a sequel recap rather than a than a taster of what's to come) that more confuses rather than warm the viewer we get to the meat of the films proceedings…dweeb loner Jim Barton is desperate to get back with his estranged wife Theresa but unable to use any skills of forgiveness he opts to get a bottle of magical perfume from a local witch that will guarantee his ex wifes return. One spray later and Jim has one entranced spellbound wife back in his arms but when they get some friends together for a celebratory party Jim soon discovers there's a bloody price to pay for his rekindled happiness.

Yup, you know where this is going…crowd of folk get together in secluded residence, resurrected evil being comes back to kill them all violently one by one… It may be a tired formula that has been used countless times over the years by as many hundreds of genre film makers but it can also be a successful formula if handled entertainingly - so does 'Demoness' handle the subject matter well?

As ever with a low budget production the answer has to be both yes and no - let's get the negatives out the way first of all…something that I find growingly frustrating about a lot of new US low budget genre films (and not just Demoness) is that they feel so dated, playing like some middle class mid West eighties plodder with no soul or vibrancy that any good movie needs to stand out from all the other movies that have the same feel. Similarly, the level of acting skills is frustrating, it's not that the ensemble cast can't act…it's just that their performance is that stale standard that we all know and expect from those non consequential soft erotic thrillers that numb folk on late night TV. Ok, so what are we left with then…well there's two very promising factors, first off director Glynn Beard does a solid job considering what he's dealing with and with the right project he could have something more worthwhile to offer. Then there's the effects work which although annoyingly doesn't really kick in until the last twenty minutes of the movie (and is sparse to say the least), they are at the end of the day the saving grace with some nice bloody (but brief) moments of gory fun. In honesty, 'Demoness' would have in fact been a much more welcome viewing experience as a half hour segment in an anthology feature and with some judicious editing then this is perhaps where it would find a more welcome home.

Thankfully 'Demoness' is not all that this DVD release has to offer as the nice folk at Shock-O-Rama have welcomingly included an extra short movie bonus feature 'Y2K: Shut Down Detected' which I had read about in the excellent 'The Hackers Source' magazine a while back and was very curious to see.

Basically, this short shocker takes place in a biotech engineering laboratory on New Year's eve of 1999, utilising the real life paranoia of what could have happened if all the computer systems had got right royally fucked up at the stroke of midnight at the beginning of the new millennium...and here they do in great style. Fast paced, stylish and downright exciting, 'Y2K: Shut Down Detected' successfully does in twenty two minutes what 'Demoness' fails to do in its entire running time…thrill and entertain any genre fan viewer. Filmmakers Gonzales, Shumway and Siderman are to be congratulated for not only tackling the subject matter with flair but for showing that even the low budget genre movie can come up with the goods and provide a worthy competitor to the big money mainstream productions. In fact the only downside of 'Y2K' is the fact that it comes across as a showreel for a potential full length feature that never came to fruition and sadly never will due to the fact that the momentum is now lost as any follow up would be badly dated. But that said, it does still showcase the fact that as filmmakers these guys show great promise for any future production they deliver, and I for one will look forward to that prospect.

Now how about the extras on offer on this very mixed bag DVD release? Well for Demoness we get the obligatory trailer and audio commentary - the trailer of course makes the film itself look like more than it actually delivers playing strongly on the more salacious bloody elements of the main feature and as for the commentary…well to be honest apart from dipping my toes into this I just couldn't find the interest in getting too involved in what the producers had to say about this middling performance. Now 'Y2K' presents us with an extra feature that is both amusing in one hand while fascinating on the other - well you see we are presented with an hour long 'making of' feature which is amusing as the feature itself only lasts 22 minutes…but as 'making of' features go this is an absolute cracker as it goes into depth showing us exactly how the film went through the creative process right up to its completion, offering a fascinating look into low budget movie production unveiling exactly what goes on behind the scenes with insightful commentary, shooting footage, deleted scenes and blooper reels making this essential viewing not only for budding filmmakers but the curious genre fan.

Rounding things off on the extras front we get our usual welcome smorgasbord of EI Cinema trailers for all their subsidiary lines, so you're looking at 30 or so trailers from not only Shock-O-Rama but the Seduction and (my own favourites) the excellent Retro Seduction lines - so plenty to tease and entertain you there!

So, while 'Demoness' will no doubt disappoint most genre fans sensibilities, 'Y2K: Shut Down Detected' is a real saving grace on this DVD release - if you've got the cash to spare then 'Y2K' is the reason alone to pick this one up.

Review by Alan Simpson

'Demoness' can be ordered direct from Alternative Cinema by clicking here.