DEMONS NEVER DIE

Demons Never Die (2011)
Directed by: Arjun Rose
Written by: Arjun Rose
Starring: Ashley Walters, Robert Sheehan, Tulisa Contostavlos

Film: Demons Never Die

Starring: Ashley Walters, Tulisa Contostavlos, Robert Sheehan, Reggie Yates, Jennie Jacques, Andrew Ellis, Emma Rigby, Shanika Warren-Markland, Femi Oyeniran, Jack Doolan and Jason Maza

Written and directed by: Arjun Rose

Executive Produced by: Idris Elba

Rating: 15

Running Time: 90 Minutes

Out Now To Rent and Buy

What is it all about!

A cast of Misfits, Hollyoaks, Adulthood and The Office all get together for an Urban London style Scream Slasher where a bunch of kids decide to have a suicide pact only to find a masked killer with a real big knife wants to kill them anyway…..

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_FuDM59JdA[/youtube]

Hughesy Verdict!

Right lets start this with a spoiler, one that has to be shared but I promise does not ruin anything about the film! You see this is without doubt a Scream kind of horror, set in the path of those popular Adulthood films with a soundtrack booming through it that consists of Jessie J, Wretch 32, and Rizzle Kicks. Now this kind of music does nothing for me but it might appeal to a few of you out there and it shows what kind of market the film is set to!

Now the spoiler is a minor one, something that most fans will guess by looking at the cover. You see this is determined to be the English Scream , the blueprint of that Wes Craven film ripples through most scenes, right through a chase scene in a room (reminds you of the scene in Scream 2) all the way towards a party in the house at the climax. So if they going to follow this path then its quite obvious that they are going to need a Drew Barrymore style opener and yes…….you see where this going?

Step forward our very own X-Factor judge Tulisa who we see right at the start scribbling Murder on a piece of paper only for then to be found dead in what apparently seems like a suicide. So the girl from N Dubz is only in the film for a mere four minutes yet she gets top billing in the cast……not bad considering you have someone like Robert Sheehan in the cast who thanks to his memorable performance has Nathan in Misfits, would probably attract more of a cult fan base to the film than someone who helped a couple of young girls win the worst X Factor in living memory.

Anyway with that spoiler gone her suicide makes a group of teens decide to end their lives and we see this through webcam with a Brady Bunch kind of set-piece, you know the one where all the floating heads appear on screen. Why they decide to kill themselves is a mystery but their self pity really does not offer the sympathy that is required for an Horror Audience, in fact I was quite happy to see these miserable bastards put out of their misery because for feck sake, they just moaned a lot for no apparent reason.

Now after the death of our beloved Tulisa, oh what will her little Muffins do now?, its time to see yet another death and this time its a good set-piece. The hot girl gets stabbed and left for dead and you think the film will kick on. I mean could we have a good little angle in that these kids who wanted to die, now realise how life is important and now want to live? Well not quite!

You see in the most silliest plot holes I have seen in a long long time, the police and everyone believes that a second person has now killed themselves which left the entire logic of it all fill me with rage. Who trained these guys? Have they watched CSI? Now I am not expecting Columbo style detective work here, especially with Reggie Yates leading the case but come on you thick bunch of idiots. I mean the way the second person was killed is quite clearly a murder. I mean she was butchered for feck sake, it was not a suicide, but why bother with a little thing called forensics’ when all you can do is just look at a body and go…

“Hey look, she has been stabbed many times”

“Yeah……suicide…..no way was this murder!”

“Yeah I agree…move on!”

I would say the film improves but sadly the figure of Ghostface haunts every frame of this movie. Its not funny or clever just depressing and old hat and I found myself quite bored after a short while which is quite sad because the cast are a watchable lot. From Hollyoaks‘ Emma Rigby, 4.3.2.1‘s Shanika Warren-Markland to Jason Maza from Rise of the Footsoldier, the cast are an attractive bunch and I can see why the film must have appealed to them from the off. Sheehan in particular just oozes star quality and shines thorugh this film which is a good thing because its great to see a star in the making, I just wish he starred in another season of Misfits than agreeing to this poor shocker.

And a shocker it is! The biggest flaw and the worst thing that any slasher can do is that its just not fun. Its very hard to get the blueprint wrong of a slash because fans after all these years are just not tired of a psycho in a mask killing people but here its just too bland to entice. There is no thought in the mask and overall design, the slash scenes are poor and as for the reveal, well?…..

The only thing that keeps Demons Never Die from unwatchable is the guessing game and they do well to fill scenes with red herrings, but when we hit the climax and get a rather ill judged handheld night vision camerawork finale-yes they have like a found footage POV moment- the time for the killer to be unmasked is good because you never guess who it is. But before you go, oh great! You won’t get it because its so daft and illogical that you will be wondering if all this is a joke. Forget about the hints of big conspiracy at play here (and believe me there are scenes that suggest something at play), we get nothing. Just an unmasking and that is it!

No reason why? No Motive? The question why will be ringing through your head long after the credits roll….

Why did the masked killer kill those teens? Why did the police think they were Suicides at the beginning? Why did the teens want to die anyway? Why all the answered plot threads? Why did Little Minx win the X Factor, but most of all….

Why am I watching this shite!

FINAL THOUGHTS

For such an attractive cast and a good sounding concept, the film falls flat in what it tries to achieve. Not enough grit for the Adulthood fans and not enough scares for the Scream fans, I can see both sets of the audience left deeply frustrated at the poor plot and laughable outcome….. One of 2012’s worst horror films!