Demonic

The film's premise is a straightforward concept that incorporates classic, overdone horror tropes with slices of Gen X flavor, in the form of found footage - as in documentary footage recovered from the scene. The dual concepts, although not original, are offered up in a clever parallel time line. It creates a sort of murder mystery aspect, broken up by standard paranormal horror moments next to found footage sequences. To a small degree the mixture sometimes feels disjointed, but the back and forth does break up any monotony that would otherwise be present.

The cast give quality performances, the line up consists of recognizable faces, and known names. There is a glare of underdevelopment to the characters, that if a bit of tweaking had been done, could have really became full-bodied portrayals. Still there is enough to make them relatable.

Special effects are the typical gimmicks one expects in these kind of films. Shock gags and sound bites meant to give a fright are over used and often fall flat. Still "Demonic" has its moments of genuine chills, and the gore elements are quality. Think "Insidious" -esque trickery, just a few more misses. The horror moments run the gambit of "see it coming" to "cool and creepy".

Overall the film is a mediocre but watchable horror flick with some quality actors, refreshing concepts, entertaining climax, and enough death to hit that ghoulish spot. It does have some redundancy issues, and a cloud of "know what's going to happen before it happens", but the movie gives enough to make it enjoyable.

In Louisiana, police detective Mark Lewis (Frank Grillo) takes over a bloody crime scene. He finds survivor John (Dustin Milligan) who becomes his prime suspect. Police psychologist Dr. Elizabeth Klein (Maria Bello) interviews John on site. He and his pregnant girlfriend Michelle (Cody Horn) had joined a group of young ghost hunters, Bryan (Scott Mechlowicz), Jules (Megan Park), Donnie (Aaron Yoo), and Sam (Alex Goode). He had been haunted by visions of the house.

This has all been done before. The final twist is completely predictable. It's basically a found footage horror in a haunted house. There is nothing particularly new. The actors are a mixed bag although they are all pretty good. This is a straight-forward horror.

A group of ghost hunters visit a house where a séance happened that resulted in a few deaths. The paranormal investigators decide to do another séance which turns out to be a bad idea.

This one opens up with the police arriving on the scene of what appears to be a bloodbath. One survivor is found and the police begin to question him. The story is told through flashbacks leading up to present time.

Fast paced, keeps you hooked and loaded with jump scares. Bonus points for not being a full blown found footage flick. I would sum this one up as a Unusual Suspects meets Ouija. Worth the watch.

6 birds flying out of your mouth out of 10.

... and they are all made of ticky-tacky and they all look just the same. The sad thing is that I like most of the lead actors. We've seen Frank Grillo in Captain America as a decent villain and many other films as well. Maria Bello still looks gorgeous, even at her age. Cody Horn is cute as hell. Even the other actors were decent, considering they were all playing cardboard characters (like the Asian tech-savy expendable character).

The script, though, as well as the entire direction and structure of the film was identical to some others haunted house features. The oh so predictable twist at the end, the loud bass noises, the electronics that fail in case of ghosts or show a ghost when you can't see it or don't show a ghost when you can, the self closing and locking doors, the stupid people that stay in the house when they are attacked by supernatural forces, the police that are always a step behind the events and so on and so on and so on.

Bottom line: if you feel like another haunted house film with young idiots trying to prove the existence of the supernatural only to whine when they find it, this is the film for you. If you are looking for anything original, skip it.

For a perfect rate I would have put down 5.5 stars, cause 6 is too much and 5 still too little, but, we have to work with what we have, so 5 stars from me and one positive review!

Without spoiling it or give away unnecessary information, I'm going to keep it short and let you know, that Demonic, even tho such a cliché of a name, plot and even cover, stands up much better than most such productions probably because it was kept simple. Effective, intriguing, good acting, well picked actors, it wasn't the "let's do a horror in the woods" or "in a haunted house", but I genuinely think they wanted to make a horror. And they sure succeed!

So, compared to a lot of similar movies, Demonic offers thrills, scares, a little bit of mystery, overall, a good time!

Cheers!