Demonic is presented and produced by James Wan, which could initially be taken as a good sign. After all, the director of Saw, Insidious, and The Conjuring, and also producer of the Saw franchise and Annabelle, has made some of the best recent horror films. But then again you know how it goes when an accomplished filmmaker presents the work of an unknown director: more often than not, the showcased film is in dire need of a prestigious name for marketing purposes since it doesn’t stand alone very well — to say the least. And Demonic, directed by Will Canon (Brotherhood) is a case in point.
Not that the story is ill-conceived from the start, on the contrary, but the problems lie in its execution. Because what good is a story if it’s not properly narrated? And though far from original, the premise of Demonic held some potential. In a few words: a group of teenagers summon spirits in a house where a mass murder took place years ago. But the séance goes awry and a new body count begins. So a detective and a psychologist team up to investigate the entire affair. Right before the ending, there’s a hard-to-predict and quite nice twist that makes sense with all that happened before and resignifies it.
The most visible, obvious problem is the acting. Ranging from poor to mediocre, none of the performances is gripping enough to make you care for the characters — or to believe in them, for that matter. Then there’s the constant back-and-forth switch between the past and the present, which by itself may be a good strategy to create intrigue; however, in this particular case it only lessens the overall tension and hinders the suspense since its timing is off-cue and the editing is clumsy.
Worst of all: the jump scares are quite ineffective and largely predictable — to be honest, there are two or three that hit the right notes, but that’s about it.
Once again, there’s found footage that could’ve been used more creatively, all the more so considering how important it is for solving the mystery. On the plus side, the twist right before the ending reveals a somewhat original idea, which is not that farfetched and turns the movie into darker stuff. Also, to a certain degree, the dramatic precariousness of some scenes may make you smile and enjoy them as guilty pleasures. But none of these moderate assets manage to make up for all the other things that are downright wrong.
Production notes
Demonic (US, 2015). Directed by Will Canon. Written by Max La Bella, Will Canon, Doug Simon. With Maria Bello, Frank Grillo, Cody Horn. Cinematography: Michael Fimognari. Editing: Josh Schaeffer. Running time: 83 minutes.
