DEMONS RISING

Directed By William Lee

The first film I saw at the festival was Demons Rising, by William Lee.  How lucky was I that the first film I watched was soooo much fun!  The story is; an evil book – the evil book to end all evil books, called the Liber Malorum, is discovered and mayhem ensues.  The book is created by a group called the Magians and during a black mass the Liber Malorum is brought forth.  The book has many powers; one of which is turning its readers into demons.  But unlike other “book of the dead” films (The Evil Dead I & II, The Mummy, even Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets) the reader of the Liber Malorum’s evil passages has the power to control when (or if) they are turned into a demon. If someone has enough self restraint they can overcome the power of the dark book. Of course, EVERYONE wants the book. Enter our hero Kyle Rush, small time thief of occult objects and weird things.  Kyle is hired to find the Liber Malorum and bring it back to his mysterious employer Montorio.  Unfortunately, things go terribly wrong for Kyle and his unlucky fiancé.  After the book falls into the very wrong hands of Montorio, Kyle realizes his mistake and vows vengeance. As he sets out after the book and Montorio, he encounters the strangest and perhaps most elaborate cast of characters ever brought together in a horror film. It is at this point in the movie that director William Lee creates a film that defies explanation; quite possible the first ever action-adventure, horror, martial arts, crime drama, cult, vigilante, gangsta flick ever made.  The unobtrusive diversity represented in this film is awesome to behold and even better to digest.  Without being overtly preachy or symbolic this multi-cultural cast of characters is a breath of fresh air.  In a somewhat stagnate, and predicable, genre…Demons Rising humbly (and clueless-ly) delivers an engaging romp of mismatched people looking for an answer to save the world. The dialogue is sometimes stiff and the performances, border on camp, but this ambitious film is well worth the view.  Who cares if you can’t remember all the plot points or all the characters names, what is important is that you will love the experience, an experience that you will want to share with others.  Even during the last half hour of the film, when the projector starting freezing up every 10 seconds, the audience wouldn’t leave the theatre.  After the film had to be replaced 3 times and finally the Director’s screening version – complete with counter figures scrolling through the middle of the screen – still no one left the room.  Everyone wanted to see the end.  They had become invested in the plot and the plight of the characters.  The “standing room only” crowd refused to be deterred from this film.  That should say it all.  Just when you expect to laugh at lines because they are so “bad”, you’ll find yourself laughing at lines because they are actually funny.  Now granted, the obviously rubber body parts, off the mark stage punches, and low budget, could be distracting to a first time independent horror film viewer, but to a trained eye, you will see that this film is much more.  The massive overdone cast of characters, convoluted storylines, and inability to reach real “scares” are the only minimal pitfalls; all in all, a substantially ambitious, and thoroughly enjoyable film.  I highly recommend this movie.

For more information on Demons Rising go to:

http://www.cinemalexzikon.com/demonsrising.html

Gypsytishy