The Daemon (2024) by Matt Devino and David Michael Yohe


Director: Matt Devino, David Michael Yohe
Year: 2024
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural

Plot:
Receiving word of his father’s death, a man goes to a lakeside house to investigate things only to become so estranged from his family that they go searching for him where they uncover evidence of something sinister lurking in the area pulling those who venture into the area into its deadly embrace.

Review:

This was a frustratingly enjoyable if flawed genre effort. When this one works best is the central setup and the potential within this one hoping for something more impactful to emerge. The main idea of the tragedy that sends him out to the secluded lake that houses a series of traumatic incidents to him that allows for the other couple to come find him which signals the start of something happening at the lake the more that goes on there the more the group find themselves subjected to something otherworldly while staying there gives this an intriguing enough mystery to figure out. The series of hallucinations that take place, and the way everything works off of the setpieces created by the creators due to the build-up provided here allows for some fun times as things spiral out of control in a more over-the-top manner that the finale brings about as this one focuses more on the threat becoming more actualized than implied that had taken place before.

Beyond that setup, though, the film struggles with keeping things interesting or thrilling for much of the running time. Way too much focus is made her in trying to get these wholly unlikable and just plain uninteresting people to be the main focus as their petty problems, overdone traumatic backgrounds, and barely endearing traits that are supposed to make us endearing to them but only manage to produce a feeling of boredom for much of the film. It takes way too long to get going with the film going through the motions of trying to get these troubled people into the area to be affected by the supernatural force there as its build-up to that point is bland and uninteresting. It doesn’t help that so much of this is so easily handicapped from the start where it’s easy to see coming which makes the attempts at being mysterious wholly flat with these cliched, uninteresting characters waiting around for the inevitable to happen, all of which hold this one down overall.


Overview: *.5/5
A somewhat intriguing genre effort let down by some major setbacks, this one manages to be enjoyable enough for what it is while still having some big factors keeping it down. Those who aren’t bothered by these drawbacks or are intrigued by this one might want to give it a shot while most others out there should heed extreme caution.

THE DÆMON - Trailer 1 from Isotropic Films on Vimeo.

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