Demon’s Rook, The (DVD)
Directed by James Sizemore
Starring James Sizemore, Ashleigh Jo Sizemore, John Chatham
Distributed by Cinedigm
Sometimes, The Dark Lords of horror smile upon me. As far as my station on the Dread Central totem pole, I’m somewhere just above the cursed Indian skeleton the whole thing was constructed to warn away from. While I generally get some pretty good games to go over, my knowledge of movies is just above enthusiast, and doesn’t close to match the near encyclopedic knowledge of my superiors. Next to my movie watching station is a knee high stack of movies of little to know importance, as hard to watch as they are to care about a timely review for. This is why the House of Bad review come out far after even the most obsessive horror fan cared about its release, with many other half baked reviews in an indeterminate status. I’m basically the Duke Nukem Forever of horror writers, piles on piles of half-finished short stories to attest to my general laziness and ease of distraction. To be fair, my mountains of porn aren’t gonna masturbate to themselves.
This time, when being handed Da Sweet Blood of Jesus (review), my dear sweet editor took pitty on me, and also handed me a copy of The Demon’s Rook. Whereas the first was the uncomfortable equivalent of jizzy leg hair, The Demon’s Rook fired it’s load at full arc with firework streamers and full fanfare into a money shot of win. The differences between the two films could not be more jarring, with the shortcomings of the first being the lovable ridiculousness of the second.
The reason I compare the two movies other than proximity of time I watched them is that the two movies were both crowdfunded. Whereas Da Sweet Blood of Jesus managed to burn $1,418,910 movies, The Demon’s Rook molded a $7,000 dollar campaign into an hour and a half of pure splattery bliss. Da Sweet Blood of Jesus was overwrought symbolism with little care to making the film fun or watchable. The shots were certainly pretty, with high quality cameras and lighting that close to a million and a half dollars can afford. The Demon’s Rook looks like it was made in the 80’s in both effects and video quality.
I can understand being turned off of the movie in the first 15 minutes. The Demon’s Rook’s first 15 minutes are kind of awkward, with a bad child actor, grainy visuals, and confusing narrative providing a poor intro to an amazingly entertaining practical effect splatterfest. Stick with it, and the story starts making sense in a slow burn while the action explodes like a backdraft.
I can’t really discuss the plot too much, since the slow unveil is part of what makes it great, and I actually liked this movie so I won’t just go spoiling it willy nilly. The framework is that a young boy named Roscoe is visited at night by a demon named Dimwos, who has been telling him dark secrets that are reflected in the child’s crayon drawings. We briefly meet the parents and neighbor, and after the parents are mysteriously incinerated the child is led into a glowing hole in the middle of the forest. Fast forward to years later, and Roscoe, now a man, is crawling out of the hole. Mostly naked and hair long, something is amiss, but the film keeps the details tight until the mid movie revelation.
Seemingly pursuing Roscoe are three demons, who for the rest of the film will use their various powers to kill people in every way imaginable. Characters will be transformed into demons, possessed into murdering each other, eaten by zombies, ripped in half, cranial exploded, and sexy demon mind controlled to death. Characters will be introduced, slightly developed, and swiftly murdered. Don’t expect many characters to make it to the end of the movie. Almost all character development is for the purpose of you putting a character to the face currently being removed.
Meanwhile, Roscoe works up the courage to use his demon powers to fight back against the darkness. You have to respect a movie where a man’s Super Saiyan power up light blast is enough to melt a demon’s head. I’m not sure if there is some kind of internal logic as to what demons have what powers, but I really couldn’t care less. Maybe one of the demons was the possession one and one was the cranial explosion one, but seriously it all just blurs together in a cacophony of violence. It is like that video from hell in Event Horizon extended into a whole movie.
On top of that, the plot is enjoyable. Simple, dumb, and creative, it is the perfect vehicle for the movie to ride on. It is enough to give the movie a point, and never did I feel like things just didn’t make sense. It didn’t write itself into a corner with too many rules for the demon universe, and gave just enough for it all to have more purpose than spectacle. I wouldn’t read the novelization, but it doesn’t need or try to be.
There’s nothing else I can say without gushing. All of the general concepts are covered, and anything I say at this point would just be me giddily fan boy squealing about my favorite scenes. There is so much to like about this movie, that anyone looking to turn their brain off and have a old school practical effect good time is gonna have fun. I wouldn’t show my mother this movie, but at this point I’m having to stretch to find reasons not to like it. Other than the awkward and slow start, the movie is a constant stream of awesome. A must watch for any true horror fan.
Special Features:
- Filmmaker commentary
- Making of a Demon featurette
- Deleted Scenes
- Gag Reel
- Goat Witch short film
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Film
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Special Features
Categorized:Reviews
