Demons Never Die and Averageness: A Relationship and Movie Review

Director/writer: Arjun Rose.

Demons Never Die is a United Kingdom shot slasher that is so very ho-hum. Involving the issue of suicide, this film feels more like a hyper extended music video from first time director Arjun Rose. Detectives are oblivious, blood splatter across multiple walls unbelievably means suicide and characters turn up to a party where a friend has promised a murder spree. Does this film sound dumb? That is because Demons Never Die is a very generic and poorly constructed film.

The story is fairly simple with the first scene involving a crying girl, abortion and a six foot tall killer. She finds herself in a pool of blood and detectives find her and her room covered in gore also. Honestly, the bloodshed is all over the place; yet, the ignorant detectives still put this one down as a suicide. Later, a group of kids form a suicide pact after hearing of Amber's death. They seem pretty apathetic about their plans. So, a killer decides to help them get on with their deaths. This masked villain takes each character down with knife attacks while occasionally whispering into the film of entertainment. All of these elements and the characters themselves congregate at an elaborate party where things get even bloodier and more silly.

Do I At Least Look Good as Det.?

This reviewer never bought actor Ashley Walters performance as Detective Bates. Walters just does not have the authoritative presence needed for a police detective. His character is also oblivious. Bates only starts to suspect murder after three victims have been knifed to death. Maybe he is just interested in the donuts that are a perk for detectives in film.

Other problems crop up. Director Arjun Rose uses the visual sphere for affect to his credit, but the long musical interludes are completely pointless. The pauses seem focused on promoting the film's soundtrack, but the pacing suffers. An issue with the writing crops up involving the theme of suicide. This topic is given some attention early and then it is dropped halfway through. It would have been interesting to see this plot point developed fully. Why where these teens contemplating suicide? Was it just to copy Amber's supposed self-destruction? This plotline seems like it is introduced without thought, attention or care. Finally, this film is just too generic. Outside of the suicide plotline and the narration from the killer, Demons Never Die is completely forgettable and completely average. This film will soon be out of the short term memory banks of this film fan once this review is completed.

And horror fans might not make it all the way through to the final frames. Others, who are looking for something very light and shallow, might enjoy this film; however, this reviewer would have liked to have seen the director take more chances. Perhaps Rose is testing the filmscape and his skills, but his next film needs to be more controversial. All in all, Demons Never Die is as inadequate as its police detectives who cannot tell self inflicted stab wounds from externally caused ones.

Overall: 5.75 out of 10 (a major theme is introduced and then forgotten, generic, uninspiring characters, dimwitted characters).

Another review of this film is available at Flicker Myth (Cat Fyson):

Demons Never Die Reviewed at Flickering Myth

More info' on the film is here:

Demons Never Die on Facebook

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Posted in: movie review,serial killer,teen,teenagers,united kingdom