Demon Slayer (2003)

A Masterpiece!

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

"You kids have done and excellent job...except for the maggots." Up until the priest says this, you might actually think that this film is trying to take itself seriously.This is a fairly enjoyable film. The SciFi channel shows it on a regular basis and it is a whole order of magnitude better and more competently made than, say, "Intermedio" or "Shapeshifter".One irritating thing about this film is that, being a B-film, there's no sanitized overdubbed version. Since there's a lot of profanity, you get these ridiculous gaps in the conversations that make you think you're on a cell phone. SciFi will gladly show you knives penetrating flesh, spurting blood, rolling heads, and entrails, but you sure don't want to be exposed to the F-word.Also, like most teen movies, there are a lot of naked boobs. The "Blur Squad" probably had to work weekends to get this one ready for TV.But at least the color balance is consistent and the editing isn't making you scratch your head. (In "Intermedio", for example, the director wanted to show characters going back the way they came in a crawlspace under a house. To do this, the film was simply reversed from the previous scene, resulting in all the writing on the characters' t-shirts being reversed as well. Lesson from film school...don't put any writing in scenes you're going to flip into a mirror image.) Worth watching on a Sunday morning.

"Demon Slayer" is a rather entertaining film.**SPOILERS**Trying a new method of reform on teens, troubled youths Alicia, (Michelle Acuna) Claudia, (Hanna Lee) Tyson, (Howard Williams Jr.) Phillip, (Adam Huss) and Tamara, (Monique Deville) along with Mr. Cobb, (Layon Gray) are sent off to clean an old asylum for community service. While cleaning up, Alicia finds a book that shows the asylum was built on a brothel whose members worshiped an evil Aztec God and performed sacrifices on it's customers. As the asylum starts to take its toll on the group and they begin killing each other, they must work together to deal with the threat.The Good News: This was a pretty good surprise. The film's greatest strength is it's high watch-ability. It's cheesy enough to and features a sequence that will keep your attention just when it looks like it will get a tad boring, and it keeps the film watchable. The various visions are pretty creepy, and the best is the snake gag in the bathroom. Rather than being a traditional gag, there's a small twist to it that makes the scene work. It has a couple of nice shock moments here and there as well, and the constant nudity helps a lot as well. The gore isn't over-the-top but is kept in check and the few gore scenes, which are mainly the deaths, are more effective for that. The kills aren't new, but the spinal column ripped out was very effective due to the fact that it was a pretty gory scene and the rest of the film wasn't. The film never really drags except in the beginning for a while, and it really isn't all that bad.The Bad News: There really wasn't a whole lot of things wrong with it. The most obvious one is the very slow beginning. It's at times really a struggle to get through the first half, as there's a lot of bickering amongst the group that really doesn't do much other than drag out the film with useless scenes that are merely reinforcements of what was known earlier. It doesn't really do anything other than get old fast as there's another scene of the group arguing with each other. That puts all the action at the back end of the film, meaning that it really gets going towards the end and is a little slow as it starts itself off. It's a little clichéd as well, as there's several other films with pretty much the same general plot. It hardly finishes itself in a predictable manner but then it doesn't really show much change while doing so either. These are the two main problems with the film.The Final Verdict: It's a little clichéd, but that doesn't really stop the film from being all that bad. It's slow parts are made up for with it's sleazier side, and when it gets going, it's mightily enjoyable. Highly recommended fare.Rated R: Graphic Language, Nudity, several Sex Scenes, Graphic Violence and drug use

'The whores are evil, and only a disjointed story can save the day.' ****SPOILER****Five delinquents are given the chance to do community service by fixing up an old mental hospital. Of course, the patients killed the staff and themselves, and the whole thing was built on the site of a demon worshiping bordello. Well shot with good camera work, but the story and dialog were weak and the sound was frustrating. The fact that the 'demon slayer' character was introduced an hour into the film is the best example of the too-slow pacing.There were some neat bits of editing when the lead had visions of the past, but nothing strong enough to outshine the clumsy script.

ok, we all remember "piranha," and the sequel. and we remember the triumphantly average "battle beyond the stars." and we've all at one point or another, tuned in to some really bad Roger Corman movie late at night... and maybe we don't even know who Roger Corman is, but we've all seen at some point in time, one of his many horrible 'B' movies. and of course, we all understand that these movies are somewhat meant to be stupid. no story, no character development, and atrocious acting... and i reluctantly saw "Demon Slayer," expecting all of the above to once again stand true. but HARK, i was surprised beyond belief to see that this movie was in fact pretty damn good. (albeit a corman film...) i'm not comparing this to anything but other corman films, in which case it deserves a 10!! no joke. it still has it's moments of 'B' movie plot-points. but overall, i think this newcomer, "James Cotten," (who apparently wrote and directed it) is going to be big someday. in my opinion, if this movie gets distributed correctly, and advertised correctly, it could become an underground cult-classic. (a-la, evil dead, evil dead II, and army of darkness...)good job guys! oh, and the sound design was truly stand-outish. very slick work.