The|Demons|Among|Us
Pray there is a God.
Although a huge number of horror films are being released these days, there are very few of them that manage to combine originality, intelligence and a visceral punch that stays with you for days afterwards. Dante Tomaselli’s films manage to do this, as did Nathan Hynes and Chris Power’s Long Pigs. And, to this list, I would add Stuart Simpson’s Demonsamongus.
The film is set in Miranda Falls, a small, quiet country town where Joe (Nathaniel Kiwi) is staying while he works on his thesis on the effects of advertising on our society. But all is not as it seems and Joe soon finds himself being stalked by a demonic presence in the isolated house in which he is staying.
Not surprisingly, Joe flees the house and soon finds himself covered in blood, running half-dressed through the forest at night and being hinted not only by demons but also the police, foe whom he is the primary suspect when the bodies start being found.
Meanwhile, Ed Winters (Peter Roberts), an aggressively amoral advertising executive now living in Hollywood is called back to Miranda Falls when his ex-wife and family turn up among the dead…
The early – establishing – scenes for this film had a very gritty quality reminiscent of the horror films of the 1970s, but once the horror starts, Simpson really does let rip. The result is an incredibly atmospheric, and genuinely nightmarish experience that keeps you on the edge of your seat as you try to keep up with what is, or is not, really happening.
Nathaniel Kiwi puts in a superb performance as a man hunted – and haunted – by the strangeness going on around him. Also worth mentioning is Laura Hesse who, as Kylie Fitzgerald, goes through a range of emotions and responses to the changing events and manages, very successfully, to maintain the believability of her character as she does so.
But what really makes this film stand out is the cinematography which, combined with an excellent soundtrack, really does evoke the feeling of being trapped in a nightmare. And it’s this dream-like quality which makes the film both engrossing and disturbing.
On top of all of this, Stuart Simpson also has much to say about consumerism in general and the advertising industry in particular. Gratifyingly, he doesn’t feel the need to beat the audience over the head with his message, preferring to trust the audience to be smart enough to understand what he’s saying.
All in all, Demonsamongus is an outstandingly good horror film, and one that recognises that atmosphere is more effective than gore when trying to scare an audience. It’s also a very intelligent film that successfully embeds its social commentary into the plot in a manner that is both unambiguous and unintrusive.
Stuart Simpson has set the bar very high for himself with this film and I will be very interested in seeing what he does next.
Saturday 22 Sep 2007 | Paul Pritchard | Horror
