By DR. BENNY GRAVES
Starring Samantha Eggar, Stuart Whitman and Roy Jenson
Written by David Lee Fein, F. Amos Powell and Alfredo Zacarías
Directed by Alfredo Zacarías
American Panorama
Look at the poster for DEMONOID. Just look at it! A juggernaut of a demon stands, holding a sword aloft in his right hand, his left hand absent. Clutching his thighs are two barbarian babes who would fit right in on the cover of a Conan paperback. Behind him is an ancient city, its history unknown. Between the demon’s legs yawns an infernal void out of which a disembodied hand with yellowing talons lurches at you! This image sets up some lofty expectations, and I was skeptical going in for two reasons: My friend’s VHS copy was exceptionally dark in terms of picture quality, and at the time of DEMONOID’s release, so much of the draw of horror movies was their poster art. There are images on horror movie posters that don’t even appear in the films, but if the art got butts in seats, a little license was allowed. While (sadly) there’s no scene in which Red Sonja-esque babes clutch a demon’s quads, there are plenty of reasons to absorb this flick through your eyeballs.
Mark and Jennifer (Roy Jenson and Samantha Eggar) are a couple with a silver mine that holds a darker secret (of course). While exploring the mine, they discover a temple and a metal casket containing a severed left hand. When the casket is opened, this inexplicably preserved hand merges with Mark’s mitt. However, Mark and Jennifer don’t realize that 300 years before, the temple was used as a place for demon worship and human sacrifice, rituals that included the symbolic severing of the victim’s left hand. The appendage sealed in the casket embodies the will and power of a diabolical entity, and by becoming one with the hand, Mark becomes a slave to its will. When he attempts to part with the hand, it survives, seeking out new victims, with the ultimate goal of getting to Jennifer. What follows is non-stop insanity as a variety of unsuspecting folks learn the power of… the DEMONOID!
My guard was up the instant the intro ended. Featuring devil-worshipping monks, dismemberment and out-of-left-field nudity, it’s just too damn good to be true! I waited for the other shoe to drop. To be more exact, I expected the opening to be the most exciting part of the movie. No doubt, interminable scenes of exposition were on the way. Or the film would take a detour into overwrought character dynamics. Yet, I have to hand (rimshot) it to DEMONOID. As it progressed, my grin only got bigger. Through the loosely explained mechanics of the evil hand, we see car chases, violence, exploding graves and more.
Director Alfredo Zacarías (The Bees, Capulina vs. The Mummies) creates outrageous set pieces, taking full advantage of the hand’s perspective. It’s almost like a prototype of Ash’s severed hand from Evil Dead 2, a little stinker with a Looney Tunes-like commitment to extreme violence. As Jennifer, Samantha Eggar of The Brood fame brings it all together, classing up the joint while remaining fully dedicated to the ludicrousness of the material. Vinegar Syndrome did a beautiful Blu-ray release that you’d be a fool not to own. DEMONID is also available to stream on Plex and Night Flight Plus. Gather your fellow B-movie degenerates, pump yourself full of potions, and I assure you, you’ll have a hell of a time!
Death to False Horror,
Dr. Benny Graves
