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Director: Jon Springer.

Writers: Harrison Matthews, and Jon Springer.

Cast: Mark Borchardt, Nadine Gross and Cyndi Kurtz.

DVD Release: Sept 27, 2011.

Cult classics don’t come easy and now that The Hagstone Demon is out on DVD, it is going to deliver its unique stamp in no time at all. The appeal of this noir-style product comes from the lead. Mark Borchardt (Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever) delivers a ridicously hackneyed performance that works for the type of character he plays. Douglas Elmore is hired to take care of a building that is destined to be torn down in a few months.

The few tenants still residing here may also echo his tired and miserable existence. That’s hard to tell, but until he can repair his own life, they appear to be nagging him about one thing or another, like: when is the toilet going to be fixed? For a good part of the movie,...

There haven’t been too many movies lately revolving around witchcraft and satanic rituals, and in that respect, The Hagstone Demon is a fun breath of fresh air. Shot on what was clearly a low budget, Jon Springer’s tale of a haunted apartment complex (which has played festivals and is awaiting wider release) is generally successful and entertaining throughout.

Director: Jon Springer.

Writers: Harrison Matthews and Jon Springer.

The Hagstone Demon comes across as often amateurish in grainy black and white, while central character Douglas (Mark Borchardt) drones on of generalities. The picture comes through in beautiful hues only when Douglas sits to write. While the first person narrative does break up the mundaneness of superintendent life, the film's pacing does not kick into any sort of high gear until the sixty minute mark.

In a few short words, The Hagstone Demon involves the satanic underworld where a succubus can bring back the dead for the cruel torture of a building's maintenance man. This often annoyed, sometimes awkwardly funny character does his best to ignore the tenants he must care for, as bodies pile up and dirty his recently cleaned floors. The film then adds in a tragic love story of suicide, satanic rites, and strange orgies that create...

Described as "blaxploitation meets arthouse" by Indiewire, Modus Oprandi premiered at Cinevegas earlier this year and somehow, I missed this sweet looking throwback. Directed by feature length first timer Frankie Latina and starring the likes of Danny Trejo and one of our personal favorites, Mark Borchardt (see The Hagstone Demon), the film was shot in Milwaukee and has that great Super 8 feel.

After the mysterious “The Cowboy” double-crosses the CIA, two important briefcases go missing. Black Ops special agent Stanley Cashay is dragged out of retirement to track them down. His reward? The name of the man who killed his wife. But Cashay needs to clean up quickly if he wants to get back into the game.

Trailer after the break.

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Review by: Elisabeth Fies

Directed by: Jon Springer

Written by: Harrison Matthews, Jon Springer - Writer

Winner of the Atlanta Horror Fest's Buried Alive award last weekend, The Hagstone Demon showcases Mark Borchadt of American Movie infamy in a sometimes hilarious, always interesting low budget smashup mix of seminal favorites including Blue Velvet and Rosemary's Baby. Part noir, part horror, The Hagstone Demon had its audience laughing out loud at scenes both intentionally and unintentionally funny. With another dialogue pass or three on the screenplay and some more judicious editing, this film could have been a breakout hit.

When Douglas Elmore (Mark Borchadt) takes over the job of caretaking an old spooky apartment building about to be torn down, he thinks it will be an easy gig that will keep him close to the memory of his tragically dead ex-wife. Instead he finds a mounting bodycount of tenants, a weirdly...

Update: This is not actually a double bill, both films are playing, but you have to pay for each one.

One of the hands down best films I've seen this year is getting a limited run this Halloween at at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. It will be playing with American Movie which it shares the same star with, Mark Borchardt, who plays an alcoholic caretaker in a soon-to-be demolished gothic apartment building with lots of the supernatural. The film combines an element of noir and horror and effortlessly switches between B&W and color with some truly beautiful cinematography. You can read my review here.

From the press release:

Not to be missed! The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston is hosting a limited engagement of The Hagstone Demon, a brand new supernatural horror feature starring Mark Borchardt (the irrepressible indie film auteur and subject of the...

Our regular readers will remember my glowing review of Jon Springer's The Hagstone Demon which I absolutely loved and just watched again last Friday (after watching Dollface). See, after I saw Hagstone I got Jon to send me his collection of short films including Dollface which was shot right before the feature-length Hagstone Demon, sort of as a warm-up. And what can I say about Jon's progression? He has some great ideas and his earlier inexperience has been replaced by a more assured filmmaker who I think is one to definitely watch. And luckily for all, I was able to talk him into putting Dollface online for your viewing pleasure.

What's Dollface about you ask? It's another unusual plotted horror which is about a woman house sitting. It has a slow, plodding beginning which keeps you guessing and culminates in something so horrifically freaky I was almost jumping up and down with kid-loving-gore glee.

It’s been a while since I’ve seen a movie revolving around witchcraft and satanic rituals, and in that respect, The Hagstone Demon is a fun breath of fresh air. Shot on what was clearly a low budget, Jon Springer’s tale of a haunted apartment complex (which recently premiered at the Tromadance Film Festival) is generally successful and entertaining throughout.

Douglas Elmore, played by Mark Borchardt (the subject of the 1999 documentary American Movie), is hired as the caretaker for a now-condemned apartment building that’s soon to be torn down. Douglas spends his days getting to know the inhabitants of the Hagstone, fixing their leaky pipes, listening to them rant about the trashy blonde squatting in the vacant room downstairs and drinking himself into a stupor. He’s still taking the suicide of his wife Julie pretty hard, and it doesn’t help that since he moved into the Hagstone,...

Year: 2009

Release date: Unknown

Directors: Jon Springer

Writers: Jon Springer and Harrison Matthews

IMDb: link

Trailer: link

Review by: quietearth

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Instant. Horror. Classic. Yup, I said it and I'm not taking it back. With elements of film noir, beautiful photography which lushly switches back and forth between color and B&W, and an incredible storyline The Hagstone Demon brings something totally fresh to the horror canon. What I'm wondering is why is this premiering at Troma Dance? (No offense to Troma) This should be playing Sundance! I could keep gushing, this film was that good, but let me say it reminds me of Cthulhu with its all around talent and ingenuity and a seemingly mismatched lead character who is nothing but perfect for the role.

I've often said I love it when the underdog, working with very little pulls off a genuine masterpiece, and that's the case here.

Troma has announced the lineup of its 2009 TromaDance Film Festival, and it’s well-stocked with fright flicks. The 10th-anniversary edition of the event, which runs alongside the Sundance and Slamdance fests in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah, takes place January 19-23.

The four features headlining the fest are all genre movies: Bad Biology, Frank (Basket Case) Henenlotter’s gruesome and sexually perverse return to filmmaking; Plague Town, DVD producer David Gregory’s directorial debut about travelers stranded in an Irish village inhabited by deformed and murderous children; Lovecraft: Fear Of The Unknown, Frank H. Woodward’s documentary on the venerated occult author containing interviews with John Carpenter, Guillermo del Toro, Stuart Gordon, Neil Gaiman, Peter Straub and others; and Jon Springer’s The Hagstone Demon, starring Mark (American Movie) Borchardt as an alcoholic writer/caretaker dealing with mysterious deaths in his apartment building.

There will also be screenings...