Demigod: In Horror Movies At Least, There's a Reason Americans Shouldn't Travel
By Thom Ernst
Rating: B+
Horror films like director Miles Doleac’s Demigod aren't kind to young Americans who travel too far from home turf. And they can get even worse when the young couple is claiming an unexpected inheritance from estranged family members.
It seems that Robin (Rachel Nichols) and her husband Leo (Yohance Myles) aren't horror buffs and have never seen Legacy of Blood, Two on a Guillotine, or the aptly titled No Place Like Homicide! (Truthfully, I'd be surprised if they did see those films). And so, Robin and Leo drive deep into the Black Forest until their cell phones no longer work, there to reclaim the home Robin's grandfather left her in his will, a place she vaguely remembers.
Rachel Nichols finds pagan stuff going on around her country inheritance in the Black Forest
Their first evening begins wholesomely enough, enjoyed with a couple of well-earned cocktails in front of a warm fire. Not even the wary gaze and cryptic warnings of Arthur (Doleac, who also directs), a local hunter, and his young daughter, Amalia (Rachel Ryals), can ruin their appreciation for their newly acquired property. After all, what do the simple superstitions of provincial town folk matter to sophisticated visiting Americans?
But the night has a way of transforming the forest from comfortable tranquility to a shadowy menace. Soon Robin and Leo, along with Arthur and Amalia plus several other captured souls, are chained to a tree, confronted by witches, a grotesque masked giant, and a Gollum-like creature before being let loose in the woods to be hunted down. It's The Most Dangerous Game meets any one of the installments from the Wrong Turn franchise.
PROUDLY SUPPORTS ORIGINAL-CIN
Director Doleac divides the film between folklore and horror. The folklore is revealed in broad daylight, delivered by witches who are no more of a threat than if they were over-zealous participants in a live-action role-play. But as daylight fades, which happens quickly in a dense forest of tall trees, things turn dangerous.
Demigod is a modern-day horror film based on old-school horror themes. Paganism once again takes a lead role in terrifying those who thought they knew better than to be afraid of the dark.
And it's all for the greater good of the forest—horror films frequently have the environment in their best interest.
Doleac creates a nifty little thriller that draws from films as wide-ranging as The Wicker Man to Midsommar with a bit of Race with the Devil. Demigod has been aligned, in tone, with Mandy which came out in 2018—it's not immediately apparent, but when it happens, it's a reference that's hard to miss.
Demigod is an inexpensive film with minor and occasionally lame effects (red-glowing demon-eyes, really?). But the film works because of the movie's dedicated performances, some fittingly extreme (the witches and demons) and others reliably frightened.
Demigod is a small but effective seasonal treat; One of the few independent horror films that get tossed into the October horror real-estate that deserves a look.
Demigod is directed by Miles Doleac and stars Rachel Nichols, Yohance Myles and Rachel Ryals. It is available Friday October 15 in selected theatres and on V.O.D.