My Demon Lover

My other taught me when I was a young child that sometimes entertainment is entertainment for its own sake. I was 22 when I saw this in the theater in 1987, and I remember thinking then what I think now that I saw it again today in January of 2023: not every movie has to be Oscar material.

In retrospect, yes, the movie is goofy, but that's okay. It's certainly nothing to be taken seriously. And its foundation is built on that. This is as solid of a B picture as you can get.

Surprisingly, the make-up effects are formidable. The actors obviously make the most of a campy script. The music soundtrack is somewhat obscure.

I think what I like about this movie is its throwback to an antiquated notion that men are monsters and only women can tame them because...well...they're women.

There is no film more deserving of the "cult movie" status. This film is wholly original and bizarre, yet charming as can be and flawlessly executed. It's Buffy the Vampire Slayer as an '80s rom-com with a dash of Dr. Horrible campiness. It's Benny & June as a supernatural absurdist B-Movie.

While most reviews spend time telling you what the movie is about, I think it might be more effective to tell you why it's worth your time.

The narrative defies convention at every turn and plays the audience's expectations against them. That said, it is important to note that this is all in service of the story and characters. The twists are as clever as they are unusual.

Genre-wise, this movie isn't any one thing. It's horror, comedy, fantasy, romance, and absurdism all in one. It adheres to its own rules, but does so competently. It shouldn't work on any level, but it ends up working on every level.

Every single character in this movie is well established and has a complete arc. The chemistry between the two leads is electric and their romance is adorable beyond words. Kaz and Denny are some of the more unique leads you will ever encounter, but I challenge you not to fall in love with them.

If you take a look through some of the negative reviews, you will begin to question what I have written. This movie stars no one you probably know and is made by people you for sure have never heard of. You've probably never met someone who has seen this movie, so how can it be that good?

Let me then go onto say, this movie isn't for everyone.

You have to be the type of person that enjoys both Gremlins and Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and Bill & Ted's Bonus Journey. If you only like the first movie for these, but not the second, My Demon Lover is probably not your cup of tea.

I use these examples because a lot of people love the original Gremlins and Bill & Ted, but hate the sequels. The sequels take an already strange concept and make it ten times stranger. They embrace the weird and explode with imagination. My Demon Lover does the same (though it leans into character and story much more than those two examples).

This movie hasn't yet had the resurgence it deserves, but you can help change that. It took decades before Monster Squad gained notoriety, now it's My Demon Lover's turn.

After years of showing this movie to friends, I can tell you that the reaction is 50/50, and goes one of two ways: love or confusion. At the very worst, you will find yourself watching a movie unlike any you have ever seen. At best, you will have stumbled into a lost gem from the '80s that will stick with you for years to come. It's weird, original, charming as all hell and deserving of your time.

I'm apparently the 2nd person to see this movie. In 2 years. But I'm not sorry. It's obviously very low-budget; silly--well, actually, this is one of those movies I describe as "silly, but it *knows* it's silly"; cliched, intentionally (I hope) improbable characters, but somehow it all hangs together. If, like me, you can excuse, or embrace, the schlockiness & deal w/it on its own terms, "My Demon Lover" is very entertaining. If you're looking for a richly detailed plot, laden w/metaphoric symbolism & carefully crafted layers of meaning, complex, realistic-yet-larger-than-life characters on an eternal quest for ever-deepening layers of moral enlightenment, you've obviously wandered in here accidentally--faulty link or something--and ... what? ... no, no, that's alright ... it happens, no prob ... sure ... you have yourself a nice day, now, y'hear? Some very funny lines just cruise right by, all the more effective for being underplayed. The cinematography is frequently very well done, lighting & colors in scene settings used to maximum advantage. Coming from someone who's lived in or near New York City his whole life: they've definitely captured the aura of NYC street scenes. So, anyway, I liked it.

I watched this on TV because it was a film that showed way back when, not knowing what it was about.

At first, the female lead seemed a little too naive, but when you realise it's meant to be that way it works wonderfully. Like Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors. Or Janet in Rocky Horror Picture Show - or rather Brad? Or Miss Kubelik in The Apartment.

You get the drift what this movie plays with, it's fun, funny, I quote lines from it regularly, I just love it.

It's like in Ghostbusters, 'So she's a dog' - funny, American Werewolf in London, Erik the Viking (another underrated gem), Blast from the Past, wonderfully silly but with a real story, good characters, a goof with heart, a horror comedy romance.

Go with it, give it a chance.

An entertaining premise, adequately handled, with some amusing (if not always top-of-the-line) special effects. The picture is nothing more than a trivial time-killer, but it has a nice spirit. Initially you may be turned off by the behavior of the leading character, but he grows more appealing as the film goes along. On the other hand, Michelle Little plays one of the nicest persons who ever appeared in an 80s film! (**)