Review by Luiz H. Coelho out of Curitiba, Brazil
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I have always been a vehement defender of the found-footage sub-genre. After all, the same basic premise of ‘found stories’ has been used extensively in literature (Dracula and Frankenstein come to mind, the novels being comprised of ‘found letters’), so why not in movies? However, the one thing I can’t seem to wrap my head around is the mixture of first-person found footage with regular filmmaking. Of course it has worked before with Cannibal Holocaust and, arguably, with 2011’s Evidence, but to me this always raises a red flag. In Will Canon’s Demonic, we find an average but charming thriller that’s ultimately weakened by the clumsy use of storytelling mechanics.

Demonic is a mixed bag of a film with great ideas that are never fully realized. The story, set in ever-atmospheric Louisiana, simultaneously follows a group of friends that entered the abandoned Livingston house to perform a séance, and a detective that, with the help of a psychologist, tries to solve the mystery of their subsequent murders. The film is structured around the investigators watching footage that the victims recorded within the house, and interrogating the only survivor of the massacre. Of course there are the usual twists, like how one of the visitors has a history with the house, and how there is an ulterior motive behind the séance. Fortunately, the unique perspective of the film will at least have you ignoring the clichés most of the time.

Frank Grillo and Maria Bello star as Detective Mark Lewis and Dr. Elizabeth Klein, respectively, and are the best actors in the film. I was legitimately interested in their relationship and found their reactions to the supernatural horror around them believable. Dustin Mulligan played John, the last survivor of the massacre, and did a decent enough job until the movie took a more sinister turn. He just couldn’t keep up with the sudden transition from victim to suspect.

Fortunately, Demonic does at times live up to its name, providing some well-deserved scares and a creepy atmosphere, though it does seem formulaic at times. Knowing from the beginning what happens to the kids does make it seem like most of these characters are just demon-fodder to pad out the kill count, but the acting is usually decent enough to keep you from wishing that they were already dead. Canon did a good job on both the found footage and investigative segments, but the film does suffer from a bizarre tonal shift towards the last act, and you can guess the final twist from a mile away. In any case, the constant switching between perspectives, although jarring, actually does a lot to make the film more suspenseful. This keeps things from getting boring, but doesn’t quite save the experience.

This segmented direction is perhaps the film’s greatest flaw. Although the director actually conceived the original story and contributed to the screenplay, there were three scriptwriters in total. This resulted in a disjointed film that feels like three different movies clumsily edited together instead of one big interconnected story. None of the segments were inherently bad or even unentertaining, but when put together they just didn’t amount to a great movie. The pieces were all there, they just didn’t fit.

Demonic‘s advertising had James Wan’s name slapped all over the posters and trailers, hoping to attract us horror hounds expecting some quality scares, even though he was just producing. Nevertheless, if he had any creative involvement with the film, I couldn’t see it. Ultimately, this is not a bad movie, it’s just not a particularly memorable one. The producers brought nothing new to the table, despite having some intriguing ideas. The uncommon use of found-footage is refreshing and the scares aren’t half-bad, but in the end it doesn’t quite make up for the weak script and muddled direction.

Luiz H. C. is a Brazilian Film student who occasionally dabbles in writing and battling the forces of evil. You can read more from him at www.OptiluizReviews.Blogspot.com.