Writer: Jeremy Wechter (Screenplay)
Starring: Julia Kelly, John Anthony Wylliams, Christopher Daftsios, Ryan Redebaugh, Lindsay Goranson, Jessica Renee Russell
Plot: On a mission to bring the Devil to Earth, an escaped demon manipulates a group of friends hanging out on a video-chat. Since this ruthless demon can possess multiple people at once, knowing who to trust is the key to survival.
Tagline – evil is going viral
Runtime: 1 Hour 26 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Suspenseful Chiller
Story: E-Demon starts as we learn about the Quad Murders which involved 4 college friends at the same time across the whole of America. Kendra (Kelly), Dwayne (Wylliams), AJ (Daftsios), Mar (Redebaugh) bring back the memories of their favorite freak out stories like when they were at college which involves trying to prank each other.
As the night unfolds we learn that a mix of freak outs and paranormal events blend into the unknowing of just what we are watching as each household gets an unknowing incident.
Thoughts on E-Demon
Characters – Kendra is the ambitious of the four, she is about to get her big break and her reputation for being part of the freak outs at college are famous. Dwayne is the family man, married with children, this moment with friends lets him share the proud moments of being a father. AJ is the most financially successful of the friends, he has helped make the experience with the calls available to go hands free and is also one that always gets the freak outs going. Mar is the one whose life hasn’t gone the best way, he is the slacker of the group who has been the main prankster.
Performances – The best complement you can give the whole cast here is that, it does feel like they are real friends, the interaction, the stories that feel like they have all lived them, this is what we needed from the cast with nobody standing out more than anybody else.
Story – The story here follows four friends that while on their weekly group call around America where they can catch up in a way that the modern era has given us. This takes a turn when their harmless pranks turn real and they are left to face a demon that is spreading through the phone call, yes this could sound over the top, but we do need to ask the question, have we seen this before? The answer is no, we have seen the ‘Unfriended’ franchise use the skype or video chat call for horror which we get to see as the base to everything here. This is a story that gives you a false start, only for the final half of the story to become edge of your seat and worth watching until the shocking conclusion. The story is told in a format where somewhere in the deep dark web, people are showing the recording of the call as a warning of something much bigger happening in the world, which is nice twist on the found footage idea.
Horror – The film uses the horror to give us shocking images of just what is happening between the characters, the possession based horror works and gives us an acceptable reason for everything which is going on.
Settings – Set in four houses, through the web-cams makes us believe the horror we are seeing, these people are in their homes which is the best part of anything happening, the weaknesses in this part of the film is when they leave.
Special Effects – The effects in the film are used well to give us shocking moments without needing to use too many too often.
Scene of the Movie – The final moments.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – One character does seem to not have an ending to their story.
Final Thoughts – This is a horror movie that does start slower than it needed to, only for it to finish on a pace unlike anything we will see in the found footage skype call genre this year, original ideas and chemistry between the actors only helps the cause.
Overall: Strong contender for best found footage film of the year.
Rating