To its credit, Demonic attempts to mix crime thriller and found footage horror style into one parallel story. A group of cops arrive at a crime scene to find strange evidences and a sole survivor of what seems to be occult related incident. The movie works by using narrative of the survivor while the cops collect the proofs to collaborate his story. It wants to add tension to analysis aspect or bring more thrills to the horror, but sadly the conflicting elements simply don't sync together.
The story starts with usual found footage style of paranomal investigation. It mostly uses fixed camera angle or first person view of the cameraman, occasionally it changes to average horror view. The scenes would fast forward after the incident as cops review the evidences, it has neat gimmick as not many movies present actual finding or commentary of these tapes. However, the problems are already apparent as the shift between the timelines can be jarring.
The viewpoint change feels disruptive to both elements. The tension built in the found footage perspective can be cut short, while the crime investigation doesn't really have depth aside from "good cop bad cop" antic. There's not much personality for the character either. These paranormal investigators are far from appealing, in fact they might be interchangeable aside for who is dating whom. The lead character has connection with the haunted place, but don't expect any emotional investment from the bland delivery.
It does offer several good scares. These are made by setting the haunting zone with unnerving cinematography. Visual is mostly greyish for the horror part, which insinuates the tension and separates it from the rest of the movie. Still, it's pretty straightforward and expected. Not to mention it shifts just as the atmosphere sets it, the investigation part suffers from this too just as they start to uncover the mystery the pace reverts backwards. With the inconsistent delivery, even the intended twist feels lacking.
While there are a couple of decent results, the mix of two genres proves to be more incompatible rather than meritorious.
The story starts with usual found footage style of paranomal investigation. It mostly uses fixed camera angle or first person view of the cameraman, occasionally it changes to average horror view. The scenes would fast forward after the incident as cops review the evidences, it has neat gimmick as not many movies present actual finding or commentary of these tapes. However, the problems are already apparent as the shift between the timelines can be jarring.
The viewpoint change feels disruptive to both elements. The tension built in the found footage perspective can be cut short, while the crime investigation doesn't really have depth aside from "good cop bad cop" antic. There's not much personality for the character either. These paranormal investigators are far from appealing, in fact they might be interchangeable aside for who is dating whom. The lead character has connection with the haunted place, but don't expect any emotional investment from the bland delivery.
It does offer several good scares. These are made by setting the haunting zone with unnerving cinematography. Visual is mostly greyish for the horror part, which insinuates the tension and separates it from the rest of the movie. Still, it's pretty straightforward and expected. Not to mention it shifts just as the atmosphere sets it, the investigation part suffers from this too just as they start to uncover the mystery the pace reverts backwards. With the inconsistent delivery, even the intended twist feels lacking.
While there are a couple of decent results, the mix of two genres proves to be more incompatible rather than meritorious.