Not every movie selected for MST3K is a cinematic stinker, and one of their most recent riffs is a perfect example. Demon Squad (2019) is a terrific noir-horror hybrid whose ingenuity, creativity, and humor overcome (and overshadow) it’s small budget. Paranormal Investigator Nick Moon (Khristian Fulmer) has been hitting the bottle too often since his divorce, but he is offered a chance at redemption when Lilah Fontaine (Leah Christine Johnson) hires him to find a lost dagger that once belonged to her missing archaeologist father. The case leads Moon into a demon-filled underbelly of the American South where rivals forces all want their claws on this dagger, which holds deadly, inhuman powers. Fulmer and Johnson are charismatic leads, and Erin Lilley is fabulous as Daisy O’Reilly, the over-worked, under-appreciated receptionist (Lilley also co-wrote the script with director Thomas Smith). From the screenplay to the locations to the cutting to the effects, it’s an exceptionally crafted movie, and the filmmakers understand how to make up for whatever budgetary and technical constraints they were facing. Fingers crossed Nick and Daisy saddle up for a sequel soon.
–Cullen Gallagher
0 comments:
Post a Comment