Demon Lover Diary

Having first seen this movie at the old Thalia theater in New York when I was in high school, I still think about this film. Scary, funny, insightful. Anyone who wants to make a low-budget film should be forced to watch it. Someone please, please put this on video.

Oh were shall i begin? I think i'll start by saying that comparing this to American Movie is unfair. Why you may ask? Because this is 100% real, where as American movie isn't. Sure, i dug those wacky b*stards Mark Borchardt and Mike Schank just as much as the next person did. But that doesn't make up for the fact that some of that film was staged. Sorry to burst your bubble, but it's true.

I don't understand why Donald Jackson despises this film so much. I think it shows him to be a passionate guy, albeit dim witted when it came to the process of making a film. But hey, times change and people grow, i think films like Lingerie Kickboxer and Return of the Roller Blade Seven speak for themselves about the skill level of this "genius".

I'd really like to know what happen to some of these people,such as Ray Poll,Kyra Nash and the rest of the oddball lunatics that graced this film. I have read that the little guy at the party is some sort of comic book creator and may have had something to do with Howard The Duck!



I also happen to be a big fan of Demon Lover. It's one of those "so bad, it's horrible, but lets get drunk and make fun of it" kind of films. Sad but true, i own Demon Lover on beta and three different VHS labels.

Demon Lover Diary is a hilarious film from beginning to end. Starting with Jeff calling Don to discover that he's been fired before he even gets there. Then we have Ray, the token homosexual that goes way out of his way to maintain his heterosexual front. Some girl commandeers his jacket. He complains that "if it was a guy i'd go punch him and take it back". And then there's Mark(who's now a producer of DVD extra's i do believe)that has a "fling" with one of the "stars". How third grade was that whole debacle? Then we have yet another "star" doing a dead-on Charles Bronson impression and cracking up our resident Frank Zappa look-alike. And then of course the infamous Ted Nugent cameo, or should i say Ted Nugent and his firearms. We can't forget Don's mother. Jeff,Joel and Mark are staying at her house. Apparently they trashed their room. Old Mother Jackson gets medieval on their asses and goes off on a frothing tirade! Priceless!

It took me 5 years of lying, cheating and stealing to Finally track this sucker down. And you know what? It was more than worth the effort. BUT i'd give my left testicle to own a DVD of this CLASSIC.

How about it Jeff?

I better now go before Ted breaks out the automatic weapons..................................................................... ...............................................................

10-10

I was caught up in the lore of DLD - until I finally saw it. It has a huge flaw, and it's not the purported ineptness of the narrative film-makers. It's the unethical and condescending, manipulative and immature behavior of the documentary film-makers, Joel DeMott in particular. She boasts early on that she's never been to the Midwest and that supercilious attitude carries her right into a disaster of her own making. This film is more about the breakdown of the documentary film than it is about the breakdown of the narrative one. I left DLD with no respect or empathy for Joel and Jeff. And I can't believe that anyone would rate DLD higher than American Movie in any respect. American Movie is better made, explores the psyche of the demented "true believer" much better, and actually says something honest about the world. DLD just shows how sheltered a young East Coast privileged girl can be, and how poorly prepared she is to make a documentary.

This is one of the best documentaries I have ever seen. People compare it to "American Movie," which I loved, but this film really gets some in-depth interactions behind the scenes of an indie film. All the backbiting, infighting, feelings of frustration after years of hope and planning. If you like this, I also recommend "Driver 23/The Atlas Moth" by Rolf Belgum, as well as the Half Japanese documentary "The Band that Would be King" and the Wesley Willis documentary "The Daddy of Rock and Roll." Just make sure you don't have any sharp implements around while watching the first and last ones, especially if you are an independent musician or filmmaker, it may hit pretty close to home.

This film is hard to get a hold of - the copy I saw on VHS was pretty bad but it still was amazing to watch. The reason I think this movie is better than American Movie is because by the time they decided to make a documentary on the struggling filmmaker in American Movie - hell, everyone has seen reality tv - documentaries were making money in theatres, it was no big deal to shove a camera in someone's face - nowadays people almost EXPECT it. But to do that back in 1975 was pretty daring and original and for this girl to show up with a camera on her shoulder and follow her boyfriend around as he tries to shoot this chaotic, low budget truly awful horror film is fascinating. It's Project Greenlight circa 1975 with a bunch of hippies running around disagreeing about pretty much EVERYTHING!!! Entertaining, frustrating, insightful. Seek this out.