Demonsoul (1995) User Reviews

Not Worth It!

[Jennicat · 1/10 · 13 February 2005]

We bought this movie in a box set that contained three other movies for approximately $5, and I still consider this a waste of money. Shot with poor quality cameras, actors that ham it up, and sporting a jumpy plot line that can't quite decide if it wants to be a movie about vampires or Satan-worshipers, this one is just plain bad. Couple all these "features" with poor sound quality, and often inane shots which don't relate to the action going on (a cut scene to a random squirrel during a foot chase scene springs to mind), this one is a complete miss. It makes me wonder if this was someone's student project, it is very unpolished, and difficult to watch.

ooh aah - look at the camera - smile - ooh aah

[manicgecko · 2/10 · 16 October 2006]

I am really having a hard time determining how bad this movie is. Of course it has the stiff acting and low budget effects that I expected, but even with the less than stellar production value - I found myself wanting watch more of the movie and turn it off at the same time. Ms. Steele is cute, a plus for wanting to continue to watch and her acting wasn't all that horrible. But I definitely would have spent more time casting her boss (who must have just graduated from high school a semester early.) and the caveman psychiatrist who uses hypnotism just to get a cheap feel on his female clients. I also would have decided whether this was to be a possession or a vampire movie and stuck with that theme so maybe we could have avoided the male hero being attacked by giant Jawas in the park as squirrels watch sedately gathering nuts. Also a hint to movie personnel - when going into bondage scenes - even light bondage as this movie was - at least tie the rope to the chair, it make the scene that much more effective.

Not the stinker of the movie I expected - but I am also glad I did not pay more than a buck to watch it.

It Bites

[dmsesquire · 2/10 · 24 July 2017]

Another straight-to-video special from our friends at Brentwood Communications. This one plods along for a good long while doing its impression of worst-movie-ever-made. It's shot with television cameras and videotape. The lighting is so poor, the shadows threaten to upstage the actors, which wouldn't be difficult in this scenario. At least we can see the actors: We can barely hear what they're saying, because the dialogue is rendered inscrutable thanks to the shoddy audio. The sets are slapped together to make it look like the characters actually are someplace. An amateurish production all around, with performances to match. The only actor who emerges unscathed is Janine Ulfane as Rosemary, the concerned roommate of Erica Steele (dig that protagonist-sounding name) played in fits and starts by Kerry Norton. Erica is having nightmares about Selena (Eileen Daly) who appears as if she just placed last in an Elvira, Mistress-of-the-Dark lookalike contest. There is much vampirism and munching of the flesh. To its credit, the "film" gets better as it reaches its denouement, and spares us a campy shock ending. By then, however, we are numb.

Cheap DIY horror, British style

[CharlesFort · 4/10 · 26 May 2005]

Erica Steel (Kerry Norton) is plagued by dreams of a mysterious woman, and seeks a hypnotist to reveal her past life which is haunting her. Turns out, she has a vampire/demonsoul also in her, who would like to take over her body.

While I have seen much worse, the sad digital film quality, lighting, sound, lackluster acting and direction really takes the watch-ability out of this one. There are a few cheap bloody scenes, and some decent breasts, but overall more DIY camcorder tripe. Part of a Brentwood 4-DVD set called Too Hot for Hell. The rest of the set doesn't really fare any better.

All Kinds of Everything

[gavcrimson · 6/10 · 23 March 2021]

A fairly rare example of a British SOV horror film from the 1990s (although tellingly it bypassed the UK market). Erica Steele (Kerry Norton) is plagued by nightmares about black masses, vampirism and the mysterious Selena (Eileen Daly). Visits to pervy hypnotherapist Dr Bucher- who uses hypnosis as an excuse to grope female patients- don't help and soon Erica is seeing vampire Selena on the street and having visions of Selena shagging her boyfriend Alex. During one of his touchy feely sessions Bucher discovers that Erica is being controlled by Dana, no, not the Irish singer, rather Selena's long dead lesbian lover of the same name. Dr Bucher M.D (Medical Deviate) attempts to enter into a pact with Dana, even offering his secretary to her as a blood sacrifice. Only for it all to backfire on Bucher when Selena and her hooded followers kidnap him and Alex leading to some light BDSM and spirited blood drinking by leather clad vampires. Demonsoul does have Eileen Daly's sapphic vampire shenanigans going for it, although arguably that shtick was better served by Razor Blade Smile a few years later. Alas, its pretty asleep when she isn't onscreen, with SOV production values making 1990s Britain even more colour drained than usual, then there is some flat supporting actors and echoey sound recording to test your patience. Along the way though there is gore, nudity, kinkiness and a few truly bizarre moments to wake you up like Alex being mobbed by cult members in a park, which apropos of nothing is intercut with shots of a cute l'ttle squirrel going about its business. The editor of The Dark Side magazine also shows up as the head of a lunatic asylum towards the end. Overall the 1990s were an underwhelming era when it came to British horror films, and while Demonsoul isn't afraid to get sleazier than most, I'm not sure it totally succeeded in turning the tide. Still it is sad to discover that the film's director Elisar Cabrera (billed here as Elisar C Kennedy) died recently at the young age of 49.