Demon (2015)

One of my all time favorites.

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Don't listen to the negative reviews

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

I was thoroughly enjoying this and it just ended. What's up with that? I wanted more answers. That was disappointing. I will say that one of the best and somewhat comical aspect was just how much drinking went on. These folks were lit! I mean all of them were wasted to the point that it could've passed for a zombie flick. I like it but I had to lower the rating because of all the questions that were left unanswered.

Itay Tiran, who played the bridegroom, did a fabulous job. His transition from happy-go-lucky to (not so much) was better than any acting I've seen in American horror lately. He had me on the edge of my seat at times, and sitting back to admire the job he did at others. Covered in sweat and crushing a glass in his hand, or curled against a wall bleeding vulnerability, he sold it all. I can't say I'll deliberately go out of my way to look up films from this area again ('cause I'm lazy), but if I see his name in anything, I will check it out.The supporting actors all did a fantastic job as well, with Wlodzimierz Press giving my second favorite performance. He doesn't have a huge role, but it is a pivotal one. Every time the camera came to rest on his face you knew what he was thinking and feeling. It was in his eyes, the tilt of his lips, and his body language. I wanted to hug him.Acting, location, direction were almost spot on across the board in Demon. Not perfect, but great nonetheless. It was definitely a film that demanded your full attention. I just wish I knew what in the world had actually happened! Seriously. If you like Inception type endings, you need to see this film. It's been a ridiculously long time since we were able to walk out of a movie completely baffled (in a good way) about how something wrapped up. There were a lot half-started sentences, hand-gestures, and whuffed breaths involved in the hashing out of that ending on the ride home. All that, and no resolution either.I will say that Demon is not your typical possession film. If you're expecting pea soup and head rotation, you'll need to look elsewhere. There are no dramatic scenes involving levitation, dramatic invocations of god's name, etc. It's an atypical take on the subject that is completely refreshing.I have a theory, of course, but I can't say because I don't want to spoil it for anyone! Now, if only I could figure out if I actually liked the movie or not

This movie could have been so good. Great acting , atmosphere, insight, writing. It was a treat to see something so Polish. You really get to visit a small polish town and meet the locals here. But they just went so far off into left field with the plot. First of all, it's not the normal possession film. The groom gets possessed by a ghost. Not a demon. In fact it's weird that the title of the movie and everyone thinks this is about a demon.. a meek, sweet, murdered Jewish girl isn't a demon! The movie just went a little south.. misdirected. The entire thing. From the title , to how characters reacted and handled the mishap, the end, it just wasted itself. It isn't a horror movie at all. It's a drama . It might be a comedy in Poland, but in America it isn't. The humor is polish and drunk. So it misses a beat there just with the cultural lost in translation thing. I think there is a subtle prejudice too throughout this movie and I can't honestly tell if it's a good thing or a bad.. I can't tell if they are serious or if they are trying to show how bad prejudice is. I also sort of fast forwarded the end of the movie but as far as I could tell, there was no big town secret that came out. TNhe bride here really stole the show though. She is going to be a star if she doesn't get hooked on coke. She is talented , fetching , beautiful and charismatic.. if anything it's her showcase. Hopefully we will see her in more movies. Also the sad Jewish man was superb. The grooms performance was just .. weird. Like I said lots is lost in cultural translation , there is a lot here that we just don't get because we aren't polish. So would I rent it? No. Would I pay to go see this? No. I would say probably the only way this movie should be watched is if you're polish , want to go to a polish wedding, or if you enjoy foreign movies for the sake of being foreign. There really isn't a plot here, no mystery, no real character development that you want to see or know about, and no substance. Like I said, pretty much a waste of money, film and movie time. This should have been a play. It just isn't a film. And there isn't enough wackiness to make it an art house film either .. all in all, just blah and the ending was blah too. Nothing happened. Nothing is resolved . Obviously the writers here didn't attend a writing school... it was all very anticlimactic. It would have been nice if we found out who the ghost was, why she was there, who murdered her. Why she died. And also to have her either leave the groom, or be set free , something . Like I said I did fast forward the end, it just got so tedious that I wanted to see if anything actually happened and all that it seemed like happened was nothing. The groom takes off, never to be seen again and the end.

"Demon" (2015 release from Poland; 94 min.) brings the story of Peter, an English guy who is about to marry his Polish fiancée. As the movie opens, we see Peter arriving at a construction site, and in conversation with his future father-in-law, who expresses doubt about the upcoming marriage, given the apparent short courtship between his daughter Zaneta and Peter. But the wedding plans are on. Later that day, Peter arrives at the countryside home of Zaneta's family, which is in dire need for some fixing up. When Peter does some cleaning up in the yard, he comes across the remains of a skeleton, and before we know it, strange things start happening. At this point we're not even 15 min. into the movie, but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.Couple of comments: this is perhaps billed as a horror movie, but it really isn't. It really is more of a psychological thriller, rooted deeply in Polish family traditions. Much of the movie plays out over the course of the long wedding night (ceremony, followed by the wedding reception, dinner, and post-dinner celebration). I noticed in the movie's credits that it is in fact based on a theater play, and the movie certainly reflects that (and that is not meant as a criticism). Rather than a horror story, you instead get the constant feeling that something creepy is going on. There are a number of worthwhile performances, including Israeli actor Itay Tiran as Peter/Piotr and Andrzej Grabowski as the patriarch of Zaneta's family. Given the nature of the film, I don't want to disclose much more, but I can only tell you that I became transfixed as this played out, and couldn't hardly believe it how quickly this all went by.The movie premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, yes, over a year ago. (Sadly, the movie's director Marcin Wrona took his own life not long thereafter.) It opened without any pre-release fanfare or advertising at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati this weekend, and I couldn't wait to see it. The Friday evening screening where I saw this at was attended poorly, just a handful of people. Given the lack of marketing, it didn't really surprise me. If you are in the mood for a creepy (in the best possible way) and haunting psychological drama, I'd readily recommend you check this out, be it in the theater, on Amazon Instant Video, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray.