DEMON
Directed by: George Louis Bartlett
Starring: Ryan Walker-Edwards, Jacob Hawley, David Schaal, Jemma Redgrave, Gary Beadle, Rachel Jackson |
When an unpaid train fine comes back to haunt him, office worker Ralph flees London to a forest motel where a temporary hideout becomes a nightmarish purgatory, and his situation starts to spiral out of control…
DEMON is an interesting independent film which reminds me of early Coen Brothers films, centering on an everyday protagonist and twisting his world into something nightmarish that he is ill equipped to deal with.
We start with a childhood memory, presented as VHS footage showing a young Ralph with his mother, receiving news that his father has just died in an accident. The footage is graiiny and in colour, but then switches to vivid black and white as we see a grown-up Ralph try to get a bank loan to cover the cost of the fine. Ralph has let it spiral to this point out of a sense of ego and indignation but now he's faced with a court summons as a result of his neglect.
Ralph instead contacts Kent, an old friend, who helps him rent a room at the Forest Lodge motel, a low key location and not somewhere that anyone would associate with him if they came looking. The front desk clerk is a little flustered as it turns out the hotel is the centre of a news story concerning people engaging in public sex in the local woods, and he is constantly on the phone telling reporters to go away! This seems like a throwaway moment early on but If you listen to the local radio and tv news reports its an enduring theme which pays off later in the film.
Ralph tries to run away from his problem but instead makes things much worse and invites other unforeseen consequences. Your mileage will vary in this film depending greatly on how much you sympathise with Ralph's predicament.
While most of the film is in black and white, there is one "fantasy" sequence when Ralph has a confrontation with the bailiff which turns into an old-school beat-em-up video game, which is quite a fun sequence.
The film has a great cast. Ryan Walker-Edwards does manage to keep Ralph a likeable person despite his shortcomings and bad judgement. He does at least have one moment of clarity, regarding his friend Kent who leaves a heartfelt message on his answering machine. Jacob Hawley, who plays Kent, is the stand-out for me, and that answerphone scene is the highlight of the film. David Schaal is an actor who reminds me a little of Hammer's Michael Ripper - a good character actor you're always glad to see on screen, and he's really good here as the bailiff Mr Kinny, who perhaps enjoys his job a little too much.
THE VERDICT
Demon is a very compelling character study of someone who is at odds with himself. You may not agree with his decisions, and some of them are squirmingly ill-thought out, but Ryan Walker Edwards keeps you engaged with Ralph even when you are watching him try and get cash-back to pay for a taxi.