Executive produced by Luther/The Wire star Idris Elba and directed by Arjun Rose, the film which is released on the 28th of this month stars Tulisa Contostavlos, Misfits Robert Sheehan, Jason Maza, Jennie Jacques and Shanika Warren.
What Demons Never Die swiftly and successfully does is showcase a team of ten or so fine British actors and actresses. Despite boasting a wide and varied cast, the movie gives the talent enough space to breathe and ignite with the split screen and group scenes near the beginning, which is notably refreshing.
Although I personally don't feel like I got to know the characters individually, the different personalities are immediately likable. Leading man Robert Sheehan as the charmer and his on screen girlfriend Jasmine played by Jennie Jaqcues holds an altogether impressive and concrete performance throughout the film and tackles the films more dramatic scenes with confidence.
Only known for Hollyoaks, Emma Rigby plays a bulimic model called Samantha. TV/Radio personality Reggie Yates and 'Outcasts' Ashley Walters play two detectives who I thought weren't really that convincing. Their an odd pair to be taken their roles seriously.
Jason Maza and Jacob Anderson's comedic abilities pretty much dominated the audience, with Maza going from Jack-the-lad Kenny to demented, dead serious Kenny. Anderson's character was mostly stoned which could of been one dimensional but he manages to breathe some genius into it.
The film deals with some very loaded themes and starts off as a dark, individual quirky look into the real reasons why people feel that killing themselves is the only way out of the pain they are in but then forks off into a range of influences, jumping from genre to genre, from audience to audience quickly losing any original voice it hinted at having. Before you know it the movie begins to feel somewhat unfathomable and despite the serious subject matter, superficial or forced.
The film could of easily shown a mesh of fantasy horror and a dramatic street life, the disparate, undecided execution of the movie leaves the foundation of the film choppy and unfluid leaving no space to create a real intent, or a sustained simmering on top in order for the horror promised to really take it’s place. So Demons Never Die ends up having no angle of its own, which a film like this could have really ran with.
For example, the relationship between Archie and Jasmine is sadly never believable as anything more than a friendship, because the relationship development which should happen, can’t happen whilst the script (and soundtrack) is attempting to tick all of it’s audience boxes.
This is particularly evident in the film’s last two thirds, with there being something for everyone: Skins fans, Adulthood/Kidulthood/Anuvahood fans, Twilight fans, Final Destination/Scream fans, Blair Witch Project fans…we also get some American Pie scenes. All of this cutting and pasting starves any suspense and drama of room to organically grow and bites at the original flow the film could have easily followed.
As for the killer, it showed no explanation as to why they were committing such crimes. In Scream, we all know why the killer was a killer. Either they did the killing because of revenge or it was re-creating the murders and in Demons Never Die, I kind of missed that.
After being confused and left blank by certain scene's, the film carries a particular energy and the twist at the end of the movie does have the desired effect, only because after the main antagonism at the end is done with, the space, which should have existed throughout the picture briefly, appears here.
I would still purchase this film on DVD and I do recommend others to see it and judge it for themselves. Out of 5 I would give it a 3 and that's only because 2 and a half seems slightly harsh.
Demons Never Die is out on 28th October.
This movie is a complete mess to me. It doesn't make any sense and not at all scary. I have seen good and bad movies but this one is annoying.
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