THE
DEMON (1979)Director: Percival Rubens
Diamond Entertainment
THE
DEMON (1979)Here's a film that has veteran schlock actor Cameron Mitchell collecting booze bucks while expanding his bad movie credits at the same time. In it, he plays an ex-Marine colonel with ESP who is hired by a family whose daughter has been abducted. Watch Mitchell overact in the girl's bedroom, feeling the vibes of "The Demon," amongst pin-ups of David Soul, ABBA, and Grizzly Adams. I guess that they have strange tastes in South Africa.
Yes, that's right, the film was made in South Africa, so everyone has English accents except Mitchell and star Jennifer Holmes. She plays a teacher who is stalked by "The Demon," a mad killer with a sharp claw glove. He executes most of his victims by strangling them with a plastic bag. Holmes went on to star in the first season of the CBS hit, "Newhart," but her role was soon taken over by Julia Duffy. Where is Jennifer Holmes now?
THE DEMON has a lot of loose ends since there is no explanation as to what he really is (supernatural devil or just some nut case), or what his motives are. The film tries to unfold a couple of romances, and a twist here and there, but it just comes off as a big bore (even the nudity is boring), and it gave me the opportunity to catch a few winks in between murders.
The transfer is fine for a budget release of this sort. Diamond is basically releasing OK video masters to DVD, so there is a lot of definition lost in the dark scenes. Although the picture is mostly free of grain, it is a bit fuzzy in certain scenes. Colors look somewhat dull and muted, but the overall presentation is acceptable for a feature film of this ilk.
THE DEMON is a title born from the days of "ma and pa" video store rentals, and it probably should've stayed there. But if Diamond is going to continue releasing inexpensive (less than $10!) obscurities that are good enough to own, more power to them! Like all of their releases, there are four chapters, and there are also some extras in the form of bios of Holmes and Mitchell, some interesting facts about the film, and original ad taglines ("The screams you hear may be your own!"). (George R. Reis)