My Demon Within

Somehow just crossed paths with this interesting side show piece. I guess this was made a while ago, sporting some hype about a new Sony camera, but that is not a good thing here. High frame-rate combined with over saturation, bleeding colors, contrast issues, on and on.. is just the beginning.. so the fancy camera is out. Major issue number 2 is all the post processed special effects, which are unbelievably cringy.. even from a 70's or 80's standard. Honestly, 99% of viewers are not going to be able to get through the first 2 minutes without shutting it off, because it opens in some kind of bizarre dream sequence that makes Star Wars Kid look like a masterpiece. For the other 1%'rs.. well, there might be 2 or 3 of us. I gave an extra star because they had fun making it no doubt, straight forward premise was ok, and there was a gateway2000 prehistoric PC with an old Windows BSOD sitting on it for a tongue-in-cheek prop which I got a laugh out of. Also, the boss lady in the scene sporting the eye-catching silky nightgown was nice to observe, for sure. This super amateur project is not for any kind of mainstream viewer.. so skip unless you want to see something... well, something.

This movie, from writer and director Michael Su, was bad. So very, very bad. In fact, the best thing about the entire ordeal is the movie's cover/poster. And that cover is over-selling the movie by a mile.

The storyline in "My Demon Within" is pretty straight forward, I will say that. But it was a fairly simplistic and somewhat pointless storyline actually, and there was only a little bit of entertainment to be had here.

Now, what made the movie such a waste of time and effort was the acting performances, the dialogue and the special effects.

The acting performances "My Demon Within" were dubious and wooden at best. Actually, most of the performances put on in "My Demon Within" were cringeworthy and amateurish. I am sure that there is an audience out there that enjoys this, but I just wasn't part of that audience. One thing should be said here, though, and that is that it looked like the actors and actresses in the movie were having fun making this movie.

The dialogue in "My Demon Within" was pretty poorly written. There was no natural flow or feel to the dialogue that the actors and actresses stumbled through delivering on the screen.

And then there was the special effects. Oh, they were 'special' alright. The effects in "My Demon Within" were just rubbish. It was so difficult to sit there and watch, and having to take it in and accept it to work.

For a horror movie, then the true horror here is why or how something like "My Demon Within" comes into being. If you are a horror fan, then do yourself a favor and avoid this movie.

My rating of "My Demon Within" lands on a one out of ten stars.

I currently own an FX1, and I truly am amazed at this footage. Though it does have a bit of a video look, the lighting and camera angles sure do make up for it. I'm willing to bet if the filmmakers tweaked some 24P settings in post-production it would REALLY set the standards for this cam as a recognizable piece of equipment that can be used in film. Because all you get from a lot of people is that the FX1 can never be used for motion pictures and never should, but after seeing this it has proved the doubting-Thomas' wrong.

You guys are an inspiration for all FX1 users.

Take care all, and WELL DONE!

Jesse