Demonsoul

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.

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.

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.