Daemonium: Underground Soldier (2015) User Reviews

Daemonium Underground Soldier: What a peculiar film

[Platypuschow · 4/10 · 7 March 2019]

This Argentinian made film is a truly bizarre one and very hard to categorize. It's what I imagine you'd get if you blended Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1996) with the Russian mess that was Night Watch (2004).

It tells the very muddled confusing stories of a man who makes a deal with a demon, a genetically modified woman with a dark secret and grizzled wizard.

A wizard you say? Yes but this is no fantasy movie, it's futuristic with laser swords and your generic looking stormtrooper types side by side with demons, portals and other tropes.

It's a weird blend of genres and it just doesn't work. The tones are inconsistent, one minute its dark, serious and gory. The next you hear splashing noises when a fat guy runs and the wizard is throwing out cheesy puns. It's like they threw a bunch of random ideas and scripts into a hat, drew a few at random and made a movie out of it.

It's not entirely bad, if this had been better formed it might have made for a passable effort but the story is so disjointed, the movie has no real protagonist and I was left scratching my head more than once.

If you want a jumbled film full of Buffy the Vampire slayer like demons, cheesiness and that Night Watch (2004) appearance and visual style then this may be what your looking for.

The Good:

Some nice practical effects

There are some decent ideas in there, if you look really hard

The Bad:

Manages to look both cheap & professional at the same time

Disjointed plot

Far too many unforgivable story flaws

Inconsistent tone

Say what?

[kosmasp · 4/10 · 16 February 2017]

In Germany there is a saying, that goes (translated): "this seems Spanish to me". You say that if you don't understand something. Either literally or mostly metaphorically speaking. In this case, both can be true. It's Science Fiction, that is something everyone can agree on. It has a lot of CGI in it and good fights evil.

It also has someone trying to take over the world, a McGuffin (for better or worse) and some action. Also character changes that are so mental that you'll have a hard time to follow them. Let alone the "story". Not to mention the robots/humans and different versions of them. Motivations? Well, who cares right? You do? Maybe not watch this then ...

Some neat effects, but the story and tone are all over the place

[Vartiainen · 3/10 · 7 August 2019]

A fantasy, science fiction slash horror film from an Argentinian film maker Pablo Parés, where the forces of science fiction and the horrors of fantasy meet. The story, very loosely, going that a demon was unleashed upon the world by unscrupulous men in a bid for power. Now, years later, one of the men corrupted by that demon is looking to open a portal for its re-emergence and it's up to the original wizard, who opened the portal, to stop him. Plus there's a really big sideplot about a scorned lover turned BDSM themed assassin. Make of that what you will.

Daemonium is one of those so bad it's good films. A film you should definitely watch with some beers and a couple of good friends. Don't watch this alone and sober, I cannot stress that enough. It's nowhere good enough to hold up under any kind of critical scrutiny.

Granted, the effects are surprisingly nice. The costumes are elaborate, as are the various masks. The demon especially looks badass.

But, sometimes there is too much of a good thing. The film has some real problems focusing on what kind of a world it wants to build. Every single trope in modern media seems to be valid at the same time. We have wizards, cyberpunk assassins, demons, futuristic soldiers, post-apocalyptic gypsy courts, science gadgets, swords, armour, tarot cards, robots, and everything else under the sun, all happening at the same time. And that gets confusing, fast. In the hands of a more talented storyteller, this could be made to work, but here it just muddles the waters.

Still, there is passion in what the film is trying to pull off, and I can imagine the appeal that can have. Not a good movie by any stretch, but an interesting one, and I can see myself recommending this to certain friends of mine.

What was that all about?

[BA_Harrison · 1/10 · 29 December 2016]

Directed by Pablo Parés, co-director of the low budget Plaga Zombie splatter series, Daemonium came as something of a surprise to me in terms of overall look and feel, the movie featuring impressive production values, with slick cinematography and lighting, inventive costume and prop designs, and some fine digital effects trickery.

All of this counts for nothing, however, when the narrative is such a total mess.

I wish I could give you some idea of the plot for Daemonium, but I have to confess that at no point did I have a clue what was happening (IMDb's plot summary, presumably written by the film's makers, does little to clear up matters). The film opens with a hot chick who turns out to be a robot (the same actress also appears as a bad-ass angel without wings). There's a bad guy called Razor who has a big scar on his face. Razor's pregnant wife becomes a PVC clad ninja with some mean rope tricks. A wizard called Fulcanelli pulls off some serious David Blaine shizz. A white-haired woman in a plastic mask wields a cool light-sabre style weapon. And an ugly demon comes through a portal and kills people. But what ties these characters together is completely unfathomable, the unnecessarily showy editing doing little to help matters.

Trust me when I say that, at an excruciating two hours long, the whole shambolic wreck proves a real test of one's resolve.

strange movie

[demented_one · 5/10 · 2 June 2017]

This movie is a perfect example of when you have a good cast, and good spec fx budget, costumes stunts etc but absolutely no story.

All this movie is - a collection loosely kludged together fight scenes involving drug deals going wrong - instead of drugs, it is magic and demonic stuff.

I forgot to count how many because of the sometimes lengthy fight scenes that followed.

plus whomever wrote the screen play had no research on the angels and demons that were in the movie.

If you like demons doing kung fu - (I wonder how they all learn kung fu in hell?) then this movie is definitely for you

May God have mercy on your soul.

[mrmiach · 1/10 · 4 March 2018]

We watched this as a group that enjoys horrible movies. This movie is beyond any word used to describe horrible. God awful and pure crap are too good for this film. The best we could figure out is this atrocious excuse for a flick is that someone took something from just about every sci-fi and horror film/TV show and blended them all together. Yes, there is even anime references and plenty of over the top cheesiness. I myself wanted to delete what IMDB has for a plot and rewrite it to say "Absolutely none". We all believe this was all filmed, edited and produced on a used iPhone 7 and iPad for special effects. If you know you have 2 hours left to live you should watch paint dry or water boil long before you consider ever watching this slop.

From the mind of an incongruous writer and "To the PAIN!"

[bernardlcrawford · 1/10 · 15 January 2017]

As per usual with me I utilize movies similarly as other utilize music as I am preoccupied with other endeavors. I am surrounded by 3 forty inch screens with the one the right playing movies. Believe me with EVERYTHING being a rehash of something else it does not take full attention to understand a story plot. If the dialogue is atrocious and I laugh, the movie was worth it. If the movie demands a closer view, I will then pay full attention to it in a full viewing.

This movie was an enigma. Every time I glanced at it, there was no coherency in it at all. OK so I make the decision to watch said film. (I use the word film because there is nothing else I can think of to name these atrocities to the human race.) I had my Dewalt drill fully charged for emergency trepanation. I believe the synopsis to be incorrect and nonsensical in that Razor has to summon back the demon from Hell or it is inevitable he dies. I am sure he would rather not have to do that since demons are foul and rarely are conscious of practicing good personal hygiene and offend all.

I did love the "He-man" moment when that demon in his ratty, decaying form said essentially "I HAVE THE POWER" and transformed into a slightly less ratty and decaying demon and got his nether world kicked. There are quite a few characters in this movie that are blind in the left eye. I think it was the group's initiation rite which used a BB gun. They should know better!

The writer thinking he was experiencing a coherent and cohesive moment thought: "I WILL throw everything into this movie and Richard Simmons!" I must saying getting Richard in the film as the Razor's gay brother to get his minion into shape through aerobics was as brilliant as the pink shorts Richard wore.

Donald Trump was adequate as the demon. No make up was needed nor lines since he just ranted unintelligibly during his scenes just like he does in his daily life.

The musical score was created by my 8 year old neighbor Billy that is continually locked in his parent's basement with his laptop and aging 8-bit Nintendo gaming unit and a frozen TV dinner.

Face it, do we REALLY want to or CARE what exactly this heinous conveyance of an incongruent idea means? NO! This is one of those movies that absolutely offers nothing. Not good enough to care to watch and not bad enough to be funny. It is what I call a "Purgatory" film. It is in a nebulous state with nothing positive to offer anyone and just exists. Our current film production is overwhelming repleat with these. In their attempt to become your one and only source of movie entertainment, all studios are pulling their property from other sources and creating their own service for you to pay for. So unfortunately we are left with tons of excrement such as this that streaming sources are filling their coffers with for us to view. It is never ending. There will be hominids that will love this picture but remember the people in psychological asylums have Internet access also.

What Did I Just Watch?

[mariajonasfahlsing · 1/10 · 11 March 2019]

From the beginning to the end of this film, which is exactly the same scene by the way, there is very little going for it. The acting is mediocre to terrible. The story itself makes little to no sense. The costumes are strange and never explained. I have no idea what was going on or why, much less why I should care about any of the characters or what was happening. The special effects makeup looks like it was done by a novice.... I could keep going, but this movie doesn't deserve my effort.

After watching this mess, my head hurts, I am mightily confused and a bit angry, and I want my money back even though I did NOT pay to see it. The filmmakers should compensate me for my pain and suffering.

Worst film I've watched in a long time. It's so bad that it isn't even Rifftrax-able.

Whatever it is, it defies expectations

[benjaminweber · 6/10 · 9 June 2018]

Daemonium is a strange film. It sets out to do something ambitious: tell a story about good versus evil in a strange world slightly different to our own in an inventive way. Does it succeed? Sort of.

The story-telling here is non-linear, and jumps around. This can be brilliant if done well. In this case, it sort of works, however the pieces of the story don't quite fit together at the end, which denies the audience the moment of revelation when everything fits together. At the same time, there clearly is a set timeline there, which leaves the audience frustrated by the plot rather than with a sense of wonder at the bizarreness of it all, as with Un Chien Andalou.

Some of the visuals are great. There's one scene where a character has a vision of what has happened in the past, and the way it's shot actually manages to emulate the visual feel of TV programs from the past, such as Star Trek. The visual theme also feels consistent throughout the film.

Most of the film is okay. The acting is all either good or okay, with none standing out as particularly bad. Some of the fight scenes are entertaining and exciting. However, towards the end the quality of these scenes begins to drop significantly. The big final fight scene in particular is a big let-down, looking more comical than dramatic.

The camera-work needs improving. There is an overuse of Dutch angles, particularly in the opening scene, some of the editing is too choppy, and shakey camera shots happen far too often.

So overall, I'm not sure about this one. It has some interesting ideas and has the guts to try them, but it's let down in several places by bad camera-work, or plot inconsistencies. So I give it a 6/10, because there were a lot of good and inventive ideas about both the story and execution. However, not all of these paid off, and other elements, such as the final battle, weren't given the attention they needed.

For the People Who Didn't Get the Plot

[darkdaxtervc · 9/10 · 16 October 2017]

First off I must say I really enjoyed this movie and the inventive the props and costumes, as well as all the classic horror/thriller homages, and nerdy cultural references (I mean the whole magician seen looked like they took people from Comic Con, and many people in this movie make stuff for conventions like it).

Razor starts out as a humble soldier hired into an elite gang of mercenaries (The Wolf Pack) protecting/serving a prestigious government official in a post-apocalyptic Spain. This government official seeks to trade the new Satanic Messiah's corpse to a powerful Archdemon in exchange for power. He breaks the rules for negotiating with demons, showing disrespect and angering him, resulting in his own death and almost the entire wolf pack, save Cortes 'The Wolf' himself (saved by Fulconi's magic, essentially playing possum) and Razor, who naively makes the deal instead. The Archdemon gives Razor demonic power by marring his flesh (similar to the Messiah), but in the process this warps his mind and personality. Razor begins calling himself Razorback and begins a bloody coup, taking almost complete control of Spain, leaving his pregnant wife, Lisa, at home. Mimicking his own ritual, Razorback has cursed his best soldiers (which is why they also have white eyes). The official's wife and a rebel squadron kidnap Lisa with the plan of forcing Razorback's hand.

After month's of torture (and a miscarriage), it becomes clear that Razorback no longer cares for her, so their best assassin Arteeka trains Lisa with the promise of revenge against her ex-husband. She becomes Shabira (a sexy bondage ninja), and while trying to infiltrate Razorback's training compound assists in killing Ursula (his second-in- command). Upon seeing the box's marking on a rebel, Razorback becomes curious and eventually discovers the truth: That the Messiah's corpse will eventually be reborn in Hell, giving the Archdemon immense power, and allowing him to freely crossover and rule the world. The time he has left is represented by the dual helix blood hourglass. Furious, Razorback hunts down every magician he can find and orders them to slow or reverse the process. Unfortunately, they only speed it up (he is pained at each incremental drain of life force), so he executes them all.

He then changes tactics, building up arms, and seeking to summon the demon again before he reaches full power, and to kill him first. Thus he targets Falconi and puts up a random. Cortes' goons find Falconi in the slums, and he narrowly escapes capture, teleporting himself and Rebecca to the middle of nowhere. It is here he describes how she came to be. She is actually the Archangel Azazel, who came down to conquer Earth. When the Messiah made the original pact with the devil, he gave their magic to humans and used it to imprison her, as she was too powerful to kill at the time (decimating her legion afterwards). Razorback freed her, cut off her wings, surgically wiped her mind, and created three autonomous clones of her (claiming she was one as well).

Falconi tries to contact the rebels and stop Razorback's plan but ends up getting turned over instead, and the entire rebel faction is wiped out. Razorback summons the Archdemon, only to have his demonic powers taken away and the demon-hybrid soldiers revolt. Most of his forces die as well (including Kato), leaving Rebecca to fight the demon. Her powers gradually awaken, leading the demon to go Super Saiyan and a fight straight out of your favorite fighting game. Rebecca regains her memories and is about to kill everyone else, when her schoolgirl clone stops her. This reminds Azazel of her kindred angels (and Rebecca's kindred droids), but is a trap to kill her before she finishes regrowing her wings and regaining her power.

I don't know why people had such a hard time following this, quite honestly. I only rate it a 9 because it was a bit melodramatic, and there wasn't enough magic. Regardless how you feel about the movie, I think we can all agree that Caro Angus is one of the sexiest beings on the planet.

If you find this movie confusing blame the subtitles

[lucasdluengo · 7/10 · 22 October 2017]

Just wanted to write a review because I completely disagree with half of the reviews here. Most people complain that this movie is incomprehensible. But the plot is pretty straightforward. I have to assume that the problem is in the subtitles or the dubbing. I'm from Argentina and had no problem understanding why the same actress does several roles and why some characters change through the movie. Beyond that, the plot is very original (unless you've seen too much anime), the acting is decent and the FX are pretty good.

Terrific movie. Must watch.

[matthewtheuer · 7/10 · 8 October 2017]

This is the most original film I've seen in awhile. I read other people's reviews & felt I just had to speak up for this movie. It DOES have a plot, develop characters, follow a story line, etc etc. It was very creative and fun to watch. Please give it a try & disregard the reviews that say it doesn't make sense.

Overcharged, overstuffed, and over the top...but severely underdeveloped

[lemon_magic · 8/10 · 19 September 2017]

I actually wanted to give this movie a 7.5, and not an 8, but the IMDb system doesn't let you do that, so I rounded up, because for all its many problems, this movie won me over.

You'll notice that the other reviewers complained about the lack of coherence in the story line. I get that, and I agree with them. This is, in some ways, an awful movie. But it's awful in interesting ways...it's the movie that the first "Underworld" COULD have been.

The deal-breaker for most people is going to be that you are dropped into the middle of a situation with very little backstory or exposition or character set up, and you never really get anything more than the barest sketches of anything resembling that as the movie progresses. And characters the movie has been following die abruptly and the movie then switches to OTHER characters who pull out new abilities and fighting moves and backstories from nowhere, with very little justification or setup. So the end result is like watching a series of "Metal Hurlant" episodes, or (as one earlier reviewer cleverly noticed) extended versions of the old animated "Aeon Flux" cartoons.

You never know quite what's going on, or why people are doing what they do, and the fact that one actress plays several different roles (with the barest throwaway description of "synthetic combat robots" or some such silliness) only adds to the confusion.

However, if you can put up with that, you can groove on some wildly inventive character designs, costumes, makeup, and fight scenes. And for all the lack of actual character development in the screenplay, the actors pump huge amounts of energy into filling out their cardboard roles. "Falcinelli", who seems to be sort of the "hero" in this, is especially good. All you ever learn about him is that he's a low level street wizard who mostly uses a Tarot deck to work his magic and is something of a scoundrel who enjoys cigars...but man, he is fun to watch in action.

So: should you watch this? I can't tell what kind of mood you will be in when you start watching, so I can't tell whether it will pull you in or annoy the hell out of you. But you might like it.