E-Demon is a 2018 horror film following a group of friends entirely through web-chat as they try to survive against a demonic virus that plans to bring the Devil to Earth.
There’s been a recent wave of films that take the aspects of our digital lives and exploit them to show the darkest elements that they could potentially pose with films such as The Den, Unfriended and the most recent cinema-hit Searching. This new way of filmmaking is not only cheap and therefore opens up the possibilities for independent filmmakers, but it also delves into the fears that many of us millennials have or should have…
E-Demon, which comes from director Jeremy Wetcher, follows a group of four friends across one evening as they Skype each other and unexpectedly release a viral demon that possesses people through their digital cameras. As the night wears on, every friend is subject to horrific acts by their family or inflicts horrific acts on those closest to them. Through only the screen and messages, the friends need to quickly stop the murders from occurring and find a way to stop the demonic virus from spreading.
Prewarning: If you’re not a fan of films that focus heavily on social media and tell their story through a computer screen, this film isn’t going to be for you and I wouldn’t even bother checking it out. However, if you’re a little more open minded and quite enjoy the aspect of digital and how truly terrifying it can be when a demon possesses people through the use of chat rooms, then you might just find E-Demon is for you. The title of the film alone immediately indicates that it could be a load of trash, however this is quite a deception and meant that I entered the film expecting nothing more than something that felt like it had been put together by a student working on their first year project. The acting is strong and believable; leaving the audience feeling like they are watching genuine interactions between friends that turns into something more sinister. The dynamics between the foursome gives us an understanding of their friendship and also why certain deaths that happen could be overlooked and seen as just pranks to the friends, whereas to anyone else they would have a sense of immediate alarm. It’s this friendship bond and sense of defined characters that helps to push the film along and keep the audience watching from the beginning.
Although the storyline seems fairly straightforward, it comes with a few twists and turns that are unsettling and down right disturbing, including scenes of incest and child slaughtering. Unfortunately the world of demonic possession is often overused and therefore leaves the majority of us with preconceptions about what we will and won’t see in a demon-focused film but E-Demon decides to disregard a lot of those tropes and push past the conventions to show us scenes that are difficult to watch including the incest scene, which also includes rape – so the audience is given two very disturbing concepts in one. This idea of presenting the audience with bleak and depressing ideas is followed through until the very end of the film, leaving the watcher feeling desperate, depleted and helpless at the scenes that have unfolded, which is how so many horror films should end, because who really wants a happy ending?
One other aspect that really needs to be noticed and praised is that the script went against one of the most overused tropes in horror history, and one that is also very racist. Who always dies first? Either the blonde bimbo or the black guy – this is a standardised heirachy of victims. But E-Demon runs as far away as possible from both of those things (no giant bouncing breasts here) and ensures that Dwayne, played by John Anthony Wylliams, is not the first victim. Kudos!
As with most independent films there are some elements that feel a little rushed and needed more attention, but they don’t take away the overall tone of the film. Look past the b-movie feeling title and give this indie film a watch before you’re afflicted by the demon inside your laptop!