Demon Slayer

Forced to do community service, five juvenile delinquents are chosen by some sketchy clergymen to help clean up a large abandoned former mental hospital. They includes gang-banger Tyson (Howard Williams, Jr.), goofy horn-dog Phillip (Adam Huss), bitchy slut Claudia (Hanna Lee), nice girl Tamara (Monique Deville) and moody goth girl Alicia (Michelle Acuna), who may even have another connection to the story altogether. Oh yeah, the place (which is full of trash and in bad need of a new paint job) also has a past history as a whorehouse AND as a place of demon-worship, so an evil force is eventually unleashed and things get out of control. People scream, people run, people die, people come back as zombie-killers... You know the drill.

Oddly, this film takes a longer-than-usual amount of time to kick into gear and in the meantime we have to endure the token horror-movie filler (flashback sequences, nightmare sequences, bathtub sequences, sex sequences...) The general premise is completely worn-out, but the script actually strives for some character development, which is unusual for a direct-to-video genre film. The acting is also surprisingly tolerable. The photography is a little too dark.

Hell, I sat through it without 1.) falling asleep OR 2.) using my fast-forward button, which is saying something for a film released by Roger Corman's New Horizons Home Video.

There's one thing I've learned after this: don't trust the categories shown on IMDb. Someone most obviously omitted "comedy". I'll change that.

SPOILERS

I think I'll keep this quite short. The movie is about a haunted house and about some "kids" who are sent there to clean everything up. And eventually die, of course. How would a horror movie be without deaths? Strangely enough you have to quite wait for them. But once one comes, they all come. The movie has a few scary moments, just one bit too little, but it does gain the little it loses because of the bit horror missing through it's, let's say, humorous part. It all starts once the Mexican priest, "demon slayer" appears. He brings it all. The mucho-guys start being scared, the women become responsible, and dead, it depends. The film doesn't really promote any philosophies or teachings, not seriously at least. The actors, well, they're as you would expect them to be. It's too bad it takes quite much for the movie to actually begin and once it does it also ends soon after. Directional wise it's OK. Not too brilliant, though. Not that I would have expected differently.

Silly horror.

The premise is simple enough. A group of wayward teens are sentenced to clean up an abandoned insane asylum and along the way encounter evil spirits, gruesome murders and demonic possession. All the makings for a popcorn horror film.

A bit corny but the one true highlight of this otherwise forgettable film is Hannah Lee who plays "Claudia." She commands the screen and gets the most mileage out of her character. Hopefully, this will be a good springboard for better opportunities because it would be a shame to see her waste her talents in these types of roles. I hope to see more of her work in the near future.

I saw this movie at a screening in Hollywood, and I have to say, it was far more entertaining than expected. From the start, the movie let's you know that it's not trying to be anything more than it can, even before it sinks into the wild antics of an over the top, eye patch wearing, Mexican priest.

If you are looking for true horror than this might not be it, but if you're willing to suspend your love of the over priced Hollywood feature, and just want to have fun in the campy way- I'd recommend it.

For a movie of this type, filmed with the budget allowed, I found this movie to be very entertaining with a good story line and very good acting. It kept your interest throughout with enough comedy to keep your interest and enough intrigue to keep you wondering what would happen next. Congratulations to the cast and crew.