DEMON RESURRECTION (Screener Review)

RATED- Unrated
RUN TIME- 90 Mins
WRITER(S)- William Hopkins
STARRING- Alex Golightly, Damian Ladd, and Eli Kranski
DIRECTOR- William Hopkins



Synopsis taken from IMDb
In an isolated house, a group of friends battle supernatural forces as they try to protect a young woman from an evil cult.




First of all, I want to mention how professional this screener is. Most people just send you a burned disc, and maybe a small note. Well, this one came in a full-fledged DVD case, complete with movie cover and bonus features including a making of documentary and even commentary by writer and director, William Hopkins. So I was actually looking forward to this one, because it seemed to me that the filmmakers themselves took this project seriously, and aimed a little higher than just being a "backyard epic".

The film starts pretty quickly, introducing you to a few characters at an archaeological dig site who uncover some bodies said to be dead members of an evil cult. Then follows a brief explanation and some back story, allowing you to understand the whole picture before the proverbial crap hits the fan.

Then we go to a group of friends, who are oblivious to the fact that they're so close to the recently uncovered bodies and burial. They're in town for an intervention of their friend Grace, who they think is troubled and needs help. Eventually we get some more back story, this time from some of the characters, especially Grace, played by Alex Golightly. We find out how she's been forced to join an evil cult against her will, and was branded with the cults symbol. She was then bound and raped by an evil essence, which for the sake of the movie is green fog.

This of course, results in her pregnancy. My only complaint about her unfortunate events, is that I wish it were more depraved. I appreciate that they kept it cleaned up and to a minimum, but I think going the route of being a bit more graphic for the sake of the effect it would have had would have been the way to go.

The characters stumble into a few cliches such as there being no reception for their cell phones, but for the most part, "Demon Resurrection" is its own monster and offers up some good creativity, while nodding to certain classics in the genre such as "Night of the Living Dead" and "The Evil Dead". And make no mistake, this is no typical 'I'm pregnant with Satan's baby' movie.

I think my favorite part about the movie is the zombies. They're straight Lucio Fulci style, taking you back to the feel of the late 70's and early 80's era of zombie makeup. They're constantly surrounded by a green smoke and glow, like the smoke that impregnated Grace. And these zombies are pretty vicious, they fight back, and they scratch the hell out of you. Nasty gore, but throughout the movie it isn't overused or overplayed. 

As a matter of fact, there's a throat cut scene that rivals that of "The Crate" from 1982's "Creepshow". Not to mention, there's some gruesome throwback disembowelments to add to the awesomeness. The window scene in general is painful to watch, but the guy who meets such a cruel end is worthy of it, and easily the least likable character.

The evil within Grace is birthed as a creature that looked to me like a cross between a graboid (Tremors) and a Xenomorph (Alien). It's done old school with a puppet and not cgi, another throwback to older films. And although William Hopkins was open about what an aggravation it was to use a puppet, I appreciate that much more than I would have a computer generated creature.

The movie ends in a semi-happy way, but not really. Through the entire film, there's not really any score to it. I appreciate the way that using natural sounds keeps things in a more grounded level, and it is effective. However, I think a good score that gets your blood pumping adds in suspense, and would have overall improved the effectiveness the film has.

The makeup work is decent, I've definitely seen worse, and I've absolutely seen better. But, it works for the feel that the movie achieves. With some low quality lighting throughout, and some weak acting, this movie fails to be perfect. However, the good outweighs the bad, and there's some good dialogue between the characters. I just wish it was carried out in a better way.

One of the things that I disliked was the way the zombies meet their end, and wanted them to vanish differently. I guess great minds think alike, because after watching the film with commentary, I came to find out that William Hopkins actually wanted them to ignite into flames, but was restricted in doing so. I agree that would have been a better farewell. And I think that with the style of the zombies, that it would have been better if the whole movie were shot in a grainy Grindhouse type of look.

I also learned during the commentary how difficult it was to make this movie, the setbacks they had in pulling it off, and how it took a long time. All of which just builds more appreciation from me. The commentary also pinpoints some continuity issues that I honestly probably would have never noticed otherwise, and goes into how the zombies were designed to look retro, because they didn't look right in the films "Blair Witch" style. They also didn't hire friends to play parts, they hired pros, unlike most indie directors do. And they had to shoot eight pages of the script each day, which is a lot compared to a usual production.

In the end, even with flaws, "Demon Resurrection" is an indie achievement. It was created and treated very professionally, and gives the genre a big high five. It's a low-budget B movie that doesn't let up.

3 stars out of 5