Demon Lover Diary (1980) User Reviews

Set parasites

[dustdevil04 · 7/10 · 2 April 2009]

Interesting documentary about the making of the pretty lame "The Demon Lover". Both films are curious to watch one after the other. What is pretty good in this one is the level of self exposition of the filmmakers of the documentary -they are the central characters: not the movie, not the filmmakers of "TDL", but the crew of the documentary. That level of exposition make these cinema verité obsessed crew look really silly and not committed at all with the project they are participating in but only concerned about the material they can take from that film for their own purposes -some sort of parasites or something. The cool part is that it comes out without an intention from the documentary crew to look that way. It's at some point naif and at some point kinda creepy and remind me a little to the crew of "Cannibal holocaust", documentary filmmakers that will do as much as they can to complicate things in order to get their stuff. It's kinda sad to see them complaining like they are mistreated genius (I mean FOR Christ! the cinematographer talks like he's Greg Toland or something and the photography and camera work of "TDL" is the cheapest crap ever!!), and talking crap all the time against a couple of directors -pretty weird guys, truth to be told- that risked everything to make their dream come true. I should agree that it's good for anyone who wants to make an independent movie mostly if you learn that you should take good care what kind of egos you bring to your set, and that "friends" sometimes can be sometimes first to stab you at the first chance.

Terrifying...and terrific black comedy

[El Gato-4 · 9/10 · 3 September 2002]

In a perfect world, this movie would have launched the reality entertainment craze...but was too far ahead of its time to do so. I saw it at the Walker Art Center around 1980 with the filmmakers present. The film is both hilarious and terrifying. Excellent. Somebody beg the filmmakers to do a video release.

See this if you can

[seattledocs · 10/10 · 8 February 2005]

This is one of the best documentaries I have ever seen. People compare it to "American Movie," which I loved, but this film really gets some in-depth interactions behind the scenes of an indie film. All the backbiting, infighting, feelings of frustration after years of hope and planning. If you like this, I also recommend "Driver 23/The Atlas Moth" by Rolf Belgum, as well as the Half Japanese documentary "The Band that Would be King" and the Wesley Willis documentary "The Daddy of Rock and Roll." Just make sure you don't have any sharp implements around while watching the first and last ones, especially if you are an independent musician or filmmaker, it may hit pretty close to home.

has stayed with me for eighteen years...

[Shepard-6 · 10/10 · 10 January 2001]

Having first seen this movie at the old Thalia theater in New York when I was in high school, I still think about this film. Scary, funny, insightful. Anyone who wants to make a low-budget film should be forced to watch it. Someone please, please put this on video.

"the demon lover sucks, the demon lover sucks, hi-ho the dairy-o the demon lover sucks"

[dem0nio · 10/10 · 16 November 2003]

Oh were shall i begin? I think i'll start by saying that comparing this to American Movie is unfair. Why you may ask? Because this is 100% real, where as American movie isn't. Sure, i dug those wacky b*stards Mark Borchardt and Mike Schank just as much as the next person did. But that doesn't make up for the fact that some of that film was staged. Sorry to burst your bubble, but it's true.

I don't understand why Donald Jackson despises this film so much. I think it shows him to be a passionate guy, albeit dim witted when it came to the process of making a film. But hey, times change and people grow, i think films like Lingerie Kickboxer and Return of the Roller Blade Seven speak for themselves about the skill level of this "genius".

I'd really like to know what happen to some of these people,such as Ray Poll,Kyra Nash and the rest of the oddball lunatics that graced this film. I have read that the little guy at the party is some sort of comic book creator and may have had something to do with Howard The Duck!



I also happen to be a big fan of Demon Lover. It's one of those "so bad, it's horrible, but lets get drunk and make fun of it" kind of films. Sad but true, i own Demon Lover on beta and three different VHS labels.

Demon Lover Diary is a hilarious film from beginning to end. Starting with Jeff calling Don to discover that he's been fired before he even gets there. Then we have Ray, the token homosexual that goes way out of his way to maintain his heterosexual front. Some girl commandeers his jacket. He complains that "if it was a guy i'd go punch him and take it back". And then there's Mark(who's now a producer of DVD extra's i do believe)that has a "fling" with one of the "stars". How third grade was that whole debacle? Then we have yet another "star" doing a dead-on Charles Bronson impression and cracking up our resident Frank Zappa look-alike. And then of course the infamous Ted Nugent cameo, or should i say Ted Nugent and his firearms. We can't forget Don's mother. Jeff,Joel and Mark are staying at her house. Apparently they trashed their room. Old Mother Jackson gets medieval on their asses and goes off on a frothing tirade! Priceless!

It took me 5 years of lying, cheating and stealing to Finally track this sucker down. And you know what? It was more than worth the effort. BUT i'd give my left testicle to own a DVD of this CLASSIC.

How about it Jeff?

I better now go before Ted breaks out the automatic weapons..................................................................... ...............................................................

10-10

Pretty Amazing, Ahead Of Its Time

[shark-43 · 9/10 · 2 August 2003]

This film is hard to get a hold of - the copy I saw on VHS was pretty bad but it still was amazing to watch. The reason I think this movie is better than American Movie is because by the time they decided to make a documentary on the struggling filmmaker in American Movie - hell, everyone has seen reality tv - documentaries were making money in theatres, it was no big deal to shove a camera in someone's face - nowadays people almost EXPECT it. But to do that back in 1975 was pretty daring and original and for this girl to show up with a camera on her shoulder and follow her boyfriend around as he tries to shoot this chaotic, low budget truly awful horror film is fascinating. It's Project Greenlight circa 1975 with a bunch of hippies running around disagreeing about pretty much EVERYTHING!!! Entertaining, frustrating, insightful. Seek this out.

Terrifying

[hartleyfan · 9/10 · 20 July 2000]

I saw this amazing movie in my film class, and it showed such a bleak picture of filmmaking that I had to think more than twice about the career path I am heading down. It's the true story of 2 young filmmakers (Jeff and Joel) who travel to Michigan from their Cambridge home each making a very different movie. Jeff's acquaintance Don Jackson has asked him to be the cinematographer on a low-budget horror movie he's producing and directing. Joel has just come along for the ride and thinks it's the perfect opportunity to make a documentary (something they both studied at MIT). Unfortunately for Jeff and Joel, (but fortunately for us) Don has no idea what he is doing. From the little bits of it that we see, the movie Demon Lover, The (1976) ) is absolutely terrible. And to make matters worse, Don is extremely annoyed by Joel's presence on the set. Throw in some behind-the-scenes romance between one of the film's young stars and Joel's sound recorder, and you have quite a film. Unfortunately, as far as I know Demon Lover Diary is not available on video, and can only be obtained from Jeff and Joel. While the basic premise may sound similar to the more recent and slightly more well-known American Movie (1999) it is really quite different and much better. Believe it or not, Demon Lover, The (1976) was eventually released and IMDb says it is available on video. I would really love to get my hands on it. Don Jackson is still making movies. His credits include such classics as Lingerie Kickboxer (1998) and Return of the Roller Blade Seven (1993)

Ever wonder how bad movies are made?

[lxoshe · 22 October 2000]

This excellent documentary follows a hapless young film-maker (Jeff Kreines) deep into suburban Michigan circa 1975 to film a wretchedly bad B-movie at the behest of a pair of clueless and somewhat deranged producers (Donald Jackson and Jerry Youngkins). The filming of the B-movie ("The Demon Lover") never really gets off the ground due to the inept actors and technical crew, which consist mostly of the producers' buddies and their ditzy girlfriends. The "actors" and "technicians" spend most of their time lolling about the set guzzling beer and making out while the producers quarrel with the Kreines over all kinds of nonsense. Tensions between the producers and Kreines mount, culminating in the hasty flight of the camera crew after... get this... a shoot-out with rock star Ted Nugent. This is a documentary, folks... I'm not making this up.

Jackson, the crazed producer and writer of "The Demon Lover," went on to make a number of B-movies with titles such as "Toad Warrior," "Guns of El Chupacabra" and "I Like to Hurt People." Ironically, the maker of this documentary (Joel DeMott) and Kreines made only one other movie that is listed in the IMDB. This is a sad testament to the triumph of monomaniacal persistence in the face of reason and decency.

Back to Film School with You!

[kjm · 23 June 2002]

I was caught up in the lore of DLD - until I finally saw it. It has a huge flaw, and it's not the purported ineptness of the narrative film-makers. It's the unethical and condescending, manipulative and immature behavior of the documentary film-makers, Joel DeMott in particular. She boasts early on that she's never been to the Midwest and that supercilious attitude carries her right into a disaster of her own making. This film is more about the breakdown of the documentary film than it is about the breakdown of the narrative one. I left DLD with no respect or empathy for Joel and Jeff. And I can't believe that anyone would rate DLD higher than American Movie in any respect. American Movie is better made, explores the psyche of the demented "true believer" much better, and actually says something honest about the world. DLD just shows how sheltered a young East Coast privileged girl can be, and how poorly prepared she is to make a documentary.