JP Nunez
I don’t know about you, but I think The Demon Disorder is a great name for a horror movie. It’s short and to the point, and the alliteration makes it roll off the tongue with an almost poetic ease. It immediately caught my attention the first time I heard it, and when I saw the trailer, I was totally on board. I just had to see this film, so I requested a screener as soon as I could.
The Demon Disorder was directed and co-written by Steve Boyle, and it stars Christian Willis, Dirk Hunter, Charles Cottier, John Noble, and Tobie Webster. In the movie, Graham and his two brothers, Jake and Phillip, have grown apart ever since their father died, but that all changes when Jake steps back into Graham’s life unexpectedly.
He claims that Phillip is possessed by a malevolent spirit, and needs his brothers’ help. But this isn’t just your garden variety demon. In fact, it’s not a demon at all. Phillip is possessed by the spirit of their father. The old man has come back to get his sons to fulfill a blood oath they swore to him before he died.
On the whole, I have very mixed feelings about The Demon Disorder. There are parts of the film I really enjoyed, but some elements felt boring and clichéd. For instance, the acting here is quite good, but this fine cast is wasted on mostly lackluster characters.
Most notably, the relationship between Graham, Jake, and Phillip is about as generic as it gets. They were estranged, and this unexpected spiritual affliction brings them back together. That’s literally all there is to it, and despite the good performances, this shared arc feels entirely by the numbers. It plays out almost exactly the way you’d expect, so it doesn’t have anywhere near the emotional resonance it should.
The only character in The Demon Disorder who had any real impact on me was their father, and that’s only because he’s brought to life so brilliantly by John Noble. This is the guy who played Denethor, the steward of Gondor, in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, so it’s no surprise that he’s amazing here too. He doesn’t get a ton of screen time, but he still nearly managed to bring a tear or two to my eye.
Along similar lines, the horror in The Demon Disorder is also pretty hit or miss. On the one hand, when Phillip is in his possessed state, he’s a walking cliché. His eyes turn black, he growls, and he ferociously attacks his brothers like they’re in 28 Days Later. While that might sound fun on paper, the execution makes this guy feel like every other black-eyed possession victim you’ve ever seen.
But on the other hand, this movie features some of the best practical effects in years. They look like they came straight out of the 1980s, and I mean that as a compliment. To take just one example, about 25 minutes into the film, there’s a scene where something comes out of Phillip’s mouth, and it’s gag-inducingly disgusting in the best way possible.
What’s more, we’re not really sure what this thing is, so it has an air of mystery about it as well. Then, when the bizarre bodily intruder is finally out, director Steve Boyle switches gears from gross-out gore to white-knuckle tension, and the second half of this scene is so effective it might give you a slight case of anxiety.
On top of all that, The Demon Disorder also features some truly gnarly body horror, like a human eyeball growing out of one character’s chest, and it all comes to a head in the final 15-20 minutes. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I can say that this is hands down the best part of the entire movie. In fact, other than that one scene about 25 minutes in, this is the only part that truly impressed me.
In particular, there’s a monster here that’s absolutely gorgeous (in a disgusting kind of way, of course), and whenever it’s on screen, it’s utterly captivating. The creature design is the thing of nightmares, and like just about everything else in this film, it’s brought to life with amazing practical effects.
So on the whole, where did I come down on The Demon Disorder? Did I think the good outweighed the bad, or was the fun stuff hidden behind too many boring clichés? At first, it was tough to say, as my feelings about the movie flip-flopped more often than a politician trying to pander to their voter base.
One minute, I noticed something good about the film, but the next I was really let down by something the movie did poorly. It was a legit roller coaster of quality, but as I pondered it a bit more, I realized that the last act tipped the scales for me. It’s just that good, and it ends the experience on a high note.
So despite all the ups and downs, I walked out of The Demon Disorder with a smile on my face, and the way I see it, that’s all that matters. Sure, the story and the characters aren’t up to par, but the gore and the gruesome body horror are so fun they outweigh those flaws (but just barely).
The Demon Disorder is set to hit Shudder and AMC+ on September 6.
