Sorry About the Demon

After breaking up with his girlfriend, a man takes up an offer to move into a house for a new start, but after spending time there comes to believe the house is haunted by a demonic entity intent on getting close to him and enlists the help of some friends who believe him to contain the dark force.

This was a pretty enjoyable if somewhat flawed genre effort. Among the better elements of this one is the rather immersive atmosphere present with this one as it features a rather unique take on the subject matter. Focusing on the idea of the house clearly being haunted but him too clueless to pick on the overt qualities due to his naive charm and good-hearted nature, there's a lot to like here as the film runs through the clear stages of it being haunted. While it's known from the beginning that there's something wrong within the house due to the initial possession, that these scenes aren't more of a clue-in to what's going on earlier serves to nicely build the setup of the film quite nicely. Once that's in place, the film does quite a nice job of bringing together the group to try to figure out what's happening to him as the longer he stays there the more obvious it is that the place is haunted. Initially built incredibly well off his nonchalant attitude making him blind and oblivious to things like the cake decorations that magically appear, voices talking to him through the TV or the radio, and objects going missing throughout the house, these soon grow to the point of possessing loved ones to psychologically torment him that provides the means through which the main purpose of the film is gradually revealed. This causes the highly engrossing and engaging finale bringing these together for a lot to like here at points. There are some flaws to be had with this one. One of the main factors against this one is the highly uneven tone present that wants us to think this is funny but tends to fall flat more often than not. The main thing here is the central relationship which is written to be a way for us to identify with his underdog persona but she is entirely in the wrong for breaking up with him when he's rightfully putting more focus on work. That carries over into his attitude about the house being haunted as everything that's going on clearly shows it's haunted but him writing these away as something else entirely doesn't make any of this funny but instead makes it somewhat hard to care what's going on if it's hard to care about him. That becomes even bigger once the relationship is rekindled and they get back together as not only is the relationship generally cliched to begin with but also causes the rapidly shifting tone to feel even more troublesome. The added intrigue of trying to save someone he cares for is sapped away by the same comically lackadaisical nature of his treatment towards a demonic being and his attempts at settling what's going on only result in a wildly varying and over-the-top series of scenes that are meant to be scary or thrilling but are so hamstrung by its lackluster presentation that it ends up somewhat lacking. Combined with an overlong running time that could've ended a lot earlier, these factors are what brings this one down.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language, Violence, and children-in-jeopardy.

I am a horror person for sure but I also occasionally watch dark comedies. I wouldn't necessarily call this a dark comedy, but it's not exactly horror-comedy either, because there's very little about it that's actually scary. In some weird way it reminded me of 1980s silly parodies of other movies but I can't really put my finger on which one.

I laughed out loud several times, and I thought the ending was great. The main character is a lovable loser who actually has a lot of interesting hobbies which he's tried to turn into businesses, but his attempts at being an entrepreneur are met with defeat each time so he settles for working from home doing customer service calls for a terrible toothpaste that everyone hates. This aspect of his personality is very important because it sets up the narrative for the entire film.

When it comes to comedy and romance, this movie mostly pulls it off. It got me to chuckle a few times and even laugh out loud once. The dialogue is ok. At times it feels genuine and emotional, other times it feels sappy and out of a soap opera. I like the protagonist even if he acts too stupid at times to the point where it makes him grating. The other characters are good too, and the actors give pretty good, if not a little cheesy, performances.

The parts with the main character dealing with the demon was a little but the humor feels a bit too obvious. Furthermore, the horror aspects of the film is where it falls flat. All of the special effects in this are awful. The design of the demons is terrible. The demons look fake and all the makeup effects are lackluster and unconvincing. Overall, the movie kind of has a cheap look to it.

The script and characters are fun and worth the watch, however, the overall execution is lacking due to the underwhelming horror and effects, along with just feeling kind of cheap, and not in a charming Evil Dead kind of way.

This isn't a bad film, it just doesn't have anything particularly interesting or memorable about it.

The premise for the story is quite good, but the writing doesn't make full use of it's potential and quickly becomes one-dimensional and stale in the middle. It does pick up a little at the end, but not enough to save it from being mediocre.

It lacks the punch it could have both in comedy and horror, there was plenty of leeway to develop both in harmony that would have made the film much more interesting and appealing.

However, it is watchable - just don't have any expectations of it and take it for what it is.

"Sorry About the Demon" is a humorous, almost light-hearted, take on demon possession. In a nutshell, a family makes a deal with a demon residing in their house to find a suitable human host for it instead of the demon possessing their young daughter. The demon's name is "Deonomous", which, quite hilariously I thought, their teenage son made fun of at first. Thus enters our hero, a likable loser who just broke up with his girlfriend, who rents the whole place from the family for super cheap. There was a surprising lack of questions from our hero as to why the family was renting out the entire place, fully furnished, for so cheap, but waddya gonna do? And from there, of course, hilarity ensues.

This was a fun movie. Overall, the acting was pretty good. The main character, Will, did a very good job. He was very likable and I found myself rooting for him from the start. The real upside of this film is no deaths, no graphic violence, no nudity, and pretty tame on the language. Scary? Well, there was nothing that would keep me up at night, for sure (except for the actual fact of demon possession...), but there were a few parts that were creepy enough. Like, if some of the things that happened to Will happened to me, I would have been out of there pretty dang quick. But, part of what made it so humorous is how Will took it all in stride and ignored or explained it all away (at first). All that being said, I don't think I would want a young child to watch this.

So, it was funny, pretty clean, and overall just a fun watch. Definitely entertaining, and definitely recommended for something that ain't gonna give you any nightmares.

So that's why 7 stars: it was good. Not that it was so awesome, but that it actually didn't stink and kept me interested enough to the end.