13 Demons (2016 Video) User Reviews

This. Is. Not. A. Movie.

[immystified · 3/10 · 11 October 2017]

Three stars is probably a little high for what this was. I would not call it a movie, just as the game the movie title refers to "is not a game." ... which they made explicitly clear for the last 5 minutes of this mess.

It had potential but it never got off the ground, and the ending was a major disappointment (see above). The acting was rather bland, but some of the writing was really awkward, so I don't know if I can fully blame the actors. I suppose they did what they could with it.

There is no horror. They try to make it seem like its a supernatural force driving the 3 men to play the game and do what they do, but it never really fully develops this idea, or gives the viewer enough hints that that is what is happening. The viewer is left to guess whether they are actually possessed or if its all in their head. While typically this wouldn't be so bad of an idea (other movies have done it and done it well), it just fell flat with this one.

There is no action. Fight scenes are slow, bland, and boring, with the actors just basically standing there. The one scene I would classify as an 'action' scene was a laugh -- though it did make me look up and listen to Single File's Zombies Ate My Neighbors (no, its not a zombie movie but if you know the song and get to the scene I'm referring to, you will understand).

At least I love the song, which is far more than I can say about this movie.

Are the positive reviews serious or are they friends of the creators of this mess?

[RhymesWithBlinvy · 3/10 · 11 October 2017]

I just caught this movie on Netflix and it's listed as a thriller. That could not be farther from the truth. This thing is so laughably bad that you cannot take one second of it seriously. Every directing decision made was questionable, why were they all so wooden? Why did they stare at the TV as if they were coming to a realization but then say nothing and go back to the game? Why did characters repeat their lines over and over again? I'm not kidding, there was a scene that seemed to go on forever where the characters were just shouting at each other "This is just a game!" and "This is not a game!" over and over.

If you've seen Mazes and Monsters, Skullduggery, or Dark Dungeons (or read the Chick Tract it's based on) you know exactly what this is going to be and you will thus not be able to take any of it seriously. The very idea that a board game could possess you is ridiculous and has been done a hundred times before. If it wasn't something that over scared religious types used to try to discourage people from playing harmless role playing games, the concept might have worked. They tried to insist this was reminiscent of Jumanji but then this movie might have been interesting. This is more like the movies I listed above, especially given the weird 70s/80s roto-scoping effects.

It's ridiculous to treat this concept seriously, at least Dark Dungeons knew what it was and played it for laughs (unlike the Tract, obviously) but this movie actually thinks it's making a serious and compelling thriller.

If you can take this image seriously, then maybe this movie is for you: http://www.starburstmagazine.com/images/feb17/13-demons.jpg

If you laughed at it, then you might be like me and enjoy watching terrible movies to riff on them with friends. Is this a "great concept"? No. Is there "great acting"? Hell no. Is this a "great movie"? Absolutely not. But is it enjoyable? Hell yes. I gave this thing a 3 out of 10 only because I managed to get some really good laughs out of this.

The part where the guy straps a serving tray to his chest had me in stitches, I don't think that's what the director was going for but take what you can get. I was entertained. I'll never watch it again but if you enjoy so bad it's good things and you can make it past the incredibly dull beginning, you might find some good laughs and enjoyment out of this, if only once.

Concept couldn't save this mess

[jackmeat · 3/10 · 9 July 2017]

My quick rating - 3,3/10. A fairly decent idea couldn't save this mess of a film. I like the thought that a group of 3 people get so wrapped up in a fantasy board game, they start acting it out, almost like being possessed by it, and go on a murder spree. Of course they were trying to lean towards it being supernatural, but this movie just didn't develop the idea enough to know either way. The acting as well was just really poor. I struggled to believe any of the bad dialogue that was thrown at the actors in the first place but to act it out so miserably just didn't help. Also the lack of scenes even showing what happened further led to a waste of time. I'd suggest not bothering with this one.

Not sure what movie others were watching

[achievers1-254-568802 · 1/10 · 8 July 2017]

This was the worst movie I have had the misfortune to watch in quite some time. The concept of serial killers murdering children and innocent people because they thought they were heroes from a low budget game is not entertaining or interesting. I'm not sure why I sat through it except morbid curiosity.

It's bad. Is really bad. One hour and thirteen minutes of my life just gone.

I'm calling the police

[laurenrodino · 1/10 · 24 August 2018]

This is the worst thing I have ever seen in my life. This is the first time I've written an IMDB review because I am THAT PASSIONATE about how awful this was. The script was hot nonsense and the writer should be arrested. It seems like they had 15 minutes of plot and they just drug it out by making every scene absurdly long and boring. My friends and I MST3K'd this and I still want my lost time back.

Insanely boring

[Leofwine_draca · 1/10 · 14 January 2019]

Ever sit and watch someone else playing a board game without taking part yourself? Yeah, me either, but that's the premise of this Dungeons & Dragons-themed indie horror. The running time consists of three guys sitting at a table and rolling dice, with the occasional CGI insert utilised to break up the monotony. As a lifelong D&D geek I can report that this film is insanely boring and a +10 stamina drain.

I want the 1 hr 13 min of my life back!

[phillipgreen72 · 1/10 · 16 July 2018]

Very bad video. I wouldn't call it a movie. It is a production of some sort. Watched out of sheer boredom and reminds me to get a life and put down the Netflix for a while. ...Two main actors rambling on with some jib jab nonsensical banter. Just a painful experience to watch. Would rather wash my eyes with bleach or find some fresh asbestos to munch on, etc. No Plot, no ending, no twists; nothing - Stay away.

Not for Everyone

[knifebat · 8 October 2017]

This is a unique film for a unique audience. The concept is right up my alley because I play board games, I like fantasy stuff, and I read D&D novels.

Mixing in the board game with a horror film is also something I enjoy. I can't think of many films that do that. If you like Beyond the Gates like me, then this is worth taking a look, I enjoyed both films very much because they are not your typical Hollywood films.

To enjoy this film you got to be able to enjoy Troma and Full Moon type movies. If not, don't even try it.

Reviewers seemed to complain that in Beyond The Gates there was not enough actual board gaming. This film on the other hand has lots of board gaming, it was very interesting, made me want to play a similar board game! Definitely one that doesn't posses you!

I thought that the dialog written is clever and fortunately I had subtitles to make sure not miss anything. The delivery by the actors were good too, I just didn't know whether to laugh or cringe, the film puts you in that awkward place where it's serious, but funny but serious.

The only real complaint I have about the film was when they went to the other world in their minds, the way it was filmed was seizure inducing.

Overall I enjoyed this unique film, glad I saw it!

Worst movie ever

[basselalhindi · 1/10 · 26 August 2017]

This movie was clearly done with no budget. It reminded me of the cinema used to be in the 1920s, though, in my opinion, this movie would have been also bad by the standards of that time. I do not recommend it at all. Bad dialogue, bad direction and horrible effects revolving around three dirty men sitting around a table the WHOLE time...The only thrill you might get watching this movie is waiting for one of them to get up and go take a leak somewhere.

utterly horrendous

[blackdogwhitewolf · 1/10 · 5 October 2017]

I've seen some bad films. Some really bad films. But this is, by far, the WORST film I have ever seen. An hour and 20 minutes of my life I will never get back. Why did I keep watching? Sort of like a bad train wreck, you can't look away.

Three stoner geeks play a game, 13 Daemons, that has supposedly been banned for 20 years, and become consumed or obsessed or, I don't know, so toasted they can't tell real life from fantasy. It's a lot is crappy dialogue, crappy acting, and unbelievable crappy special effects. The best part of the whole thing is when one of these guys dons pots and pans as armour, and a rubber mallet as his weapon. He calls his parents with this long lament about his new path, etc., then confronts a mechanic. Guess what. They both die. Damn, *I* died from how utterly awful this film is.

They didn't even spell "demon" right...and there was much rejoicing

[nogodnomasters · 4/10 · 3 August 2017]

The film looks like it takes place in the late eighties while analog TV and regular phones exist. Three D&D types come across a banned game called "13 Daemons." We know who dies and who lives in the group as the film opens with a police interrogation with the film as the back story. They really get into the game and believe they are Golden Paladins needing to kill demons.

Most of the film consists of three guys rolling a regular die and reading from a book that slowly possesses them. The other part consists of an interrogator saying "It's a game." While our guys say, "It's not a game." What was with the pants of the fat cop standing behind these guys? The dialogue was hit and miss. Special effects consisted of a costume and a filter.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity. Complete sausage fest.

Had to watch this one twice; one of my recent favorites

[klf1242 · 10/10 · 8 October 2017]

A word of warning from Weisthor; I was voted worst Chinese Kung-Fu movie picker, by my friends. Nevertheless, with that caveat, I feel most people who are tired of zombie, or giant critter movies, will love this one. The only other horror movies I have liked recently, are: Vincent Price, starring in "The Fly", (1958), and "Dark was the Night". I have always liked stories about King Arthur, and his loyal paladin Ivanhoe. I also used to watch Renaissance actors, practice with shields and swords, at the college armory. Couple this with all the police shootings, of people high on PCP, and you have the main backdrop to 13 Daemons. When I read of people attacking the police, after driving their cars into a auto dealership, or taking a swan dive off a 32 story balcony, this movie makes it realistic. Hallucinogenic drugs can cause people to see what is not there. Someone will be swinging their arm in the air, because in their mind, a Tiger is coming at them. For me, this movie is one more lesson of why you want to think twice, before Puffing the Magic Dragon.

So-so concept redeemed by great acting

[sean-42199 · 7/10 · 7 October 2017]

I always feel compelled to give a shout out to movies that pleasantly surprise me, and this is one. I almost didn't watch it, because the box cover makes it look like a cut-rate "Warcraft". It is most definitely not that.

"13 Demons" is really the spiritual successor to movies like "Mazes & Monsters", in that it marries the D&D panic of the early 80s with a more general fear of what happens when nerds go berserk. I will say that the structure of the film is problematic, in that it spells out the entire plot in the first five minutes, and doesn't provide any grand revelations. What is left, then, is a character study.

Fortunately, I found this film very compelling in that regard. The three main actors (one of whom is the director) quickly transition from broad stoner stereotypes to more interesting, obsessive personalities. The arc of their transformation is interesting to watch, and they play well off of one another. The dialog, which appears to cause some people consternation, rang very true to a gamer and general nerd from the 80s, and the delivery of said dialog was top notch.

I would never claim that the film is without flaws -- it has some very jarring issues. Somebody went absolutely nuts with the fake sweat, to the point that it is actually distracting. The two main characters are very difficult to distinguish at the beginning of the movie, as they both appear very similar when smeared in blood. And, as previously mentioned, the first 10-15 minutes of the movie can be a slog because of the annoying stoner stereotypes.

That said, I was absolutely pleasantly surprised by this film. I thought the acting was positively stellar, and I am willing to forgive a lot for films in the "Satanic Panic" sub-sub-subgenre. And, since I was expecting "World of Fightcraft", I was absolutely delighted to discover an entertaining, subtle character film.

And, yes, I realize that it does not speak well of me that I was willing to watch "World of Fightcraft".

Just plain wrong

[knackstorm · 2/10 · 15 January 2020]

There is barely anything redeemable about this movie. The acting is terrible, the script is horrible, the concept is a disgrace and the effects, well they are another story altogether. Obviously there was no budget at all for creature concept so they hide this behind some weird and irritating tunnel, flashing light sequence so you can't actually see the demons (don't be fooled by the poster because that's as close as you get to seeing anything). Written and directed by the same person I can only hope he has now returned to his day job a long long way from the film industry.

The Explanation

[fmvd2000 · 11 July 2017]

This is all a spoiler that I'll spoil because the movie never explained it but obviously set it up. The board game is old and "Dust" as fine as smoke comes out of the box and the rule book,they cough and their eyes burn and the three players keep smelling burning wet leaves, and that is a sign of mold infestation. They were basically tripping on a fungus with the game providing the theme of the hallucinations, that is why in the view of the demon world it looked like a psychedelic 60'smovie

I'm a of B rated movies but this was terribad.

[jimjester · 1/10 · 30 September 2018]

I get what they were going for. I expected to see more scenes where the characters were actually vanquishing demons. Or what they thought were demons. It really lost me when one of the characters appeared to fight a mechanic with a small rubber mallet.

Conceptually interesting, sadly not very well done

[alexfiles · 4/10 · 21 October 2017]

The idea is strong. I loved the beginning! I was amused, horrified, and engaged by the opening in the police station. As a gamer, I totally accepted the vibe of the three friends and how they approached the game.

I thought the concept reminiscent of Frailty. I feel like the creators had a cool idea but (a) didn't have enough money to show it well, (b) didn't take sufficient time to explore good methods of visualizing what happens; (c), didn't explore the story in enough depth. I would love to have enough money to flesh out the stories (maybe put subplots in connecting the "demons" to the gamers pre-gameplay?), and devise better visualizations of the IRL "gameplay."

If you like gaming - I mean, *really* like gaming - this might be worth watching and enjoying for the mock play and the evolving engagement of the players. As an overall movie, it should have been either shortened into an X-files-type TV episode, or lengthened into something more.

Worse movie ever.

[jimjhudson · 1/10 · 2 June 2019]

The only thing more amazing than how bad this movie was. Is how so many people here were able to write multiple paragraphs of review. It is simply enough to say it is the worst movie ever. CrazyFrog

This blows so hard, i no longer need BJs.

[manthsaenz · 2/10 · 27 June 2018]

Great movie, to drink to... spoilder...please let the mechanic be shown, beating that Literal pot-head to death. btw, i was fully erect the whole movie once the old english galantry started spewing Paladin speech...::boiiiingggg:

Worse Movie Ever!

[fun_kay · 1/10 · 14 October 2017]

It's not awful. It's worse than awful. The one star is for the concept - which is great - the execution, including acting, dialog, overall story line, is just terrible. There is no real plot here, just some hazy visions with poor visuals that depict what is happening. Do not waste time watching this movie.

Where did the budget go???

[kittiekatsflying · 2/10 · 12 October 2017]

So I didn't manage to finish watching this as I pretty much got bored and figured what's the point.

Some Possible Spoilers: When the 'movie' first started I kept saying please don't start with an interrogation scene, please don't and there it is, yup, interrogation scene.

After getting most of the way through this movie waiting for it to start I ended up stopping, pretty much after the kid thing. Now they didn't show anything because I would have turned it off right away but still.

The acting was okay from what they had to work with but I just felt even the opening with the three of them talking about the game and the director using the same type of shots for so long and not even that interesting of a shot, I figured the movie was in trouble. Most of it takes place in the one room that's dark. The first time I saw that super long effect in which they slayed the demon I thought wow, I remember playing with those bad effects 20 years ago. I couldn't believe that they kept using that cheap effect. It was just so bad. I seriously wonder what happened to that 1 million dollar budget because there's no way they spent it on the movie.

Stupid, corny but has an interesting concept

[GingerStarWarsnerd · 5/10 · 6 August 2021]

This movie is terrible. Awful acting, it's so bad not even good. The only reason I give it a 5 star is generosity. This film is based of the controversy surrounding the very first Fantasy Role Playing Game Dungeons and Dragons. It was considered "Satanic" due to the ability to use magic and such. This film was more of a serious comedy than funny comedy. It definitely does show that people can blur the line between fantasy and reality.

A good movie that shouldn't be

[timcurll · 8/10 · 17 October 2017]

Honestly I don't review movies but was so surprised by this one that I couldn't help myself. The terrible reviews are understandable, this was clearly a film done with friends and a tiny budget and there are a lot of odd choices here in terms of scripting, but damn. I was captivated by a low budget, schlock horror movie, and I'm not a genre devotee so that's saying something. The acting is surprisingly good, and in a weird way the campy schlock effects and make up become creepy and surrealistic in the context of characters playing a campy, weirdly written schlock board game. Like the game itself, this movie was shocking in its ability to grip in spite of so many obvious shortcomings. Any case, the real reason I'm giving this flawed but fun flick such high marks is because I really want to see what this film maker and his team could do with some real money. I would watch a big budget remake of this with glee.

Interesting Idea

[macadam122 · 6/10 · 5 July 2017]

Some fun concepts at work here though the acting / script at some points was a bit lacking. The basic plot line is that three fairly hard-core gamers take on a new game only to fall into the quest itself in a fairly intense way. It's a bit Jumanji (which is actually mentioned at one point) though with the higher budget and of course, bigger stars, Jumanji did it better, but the small cast and the close quarters filming keeps it intense. Not terrifying, not too bloody, but a fun enough watch if you're not doing anything else. And it raises the question - how 'into' a game can you get without starting to lose touch with reality?

I really like this...

[punkergrl-68450 · 5/10 · 30 May 2019]

Good music... The directors scene was the best! I laughed and watched it again with my boyfriend. Thanks!