Demons at the Door
A review by Michael O'May
In conjunction with the interview we conducted with FX man, Director and all around cool dude Roy Knyrim we will be reviewing a few flicks he has directed and or done effects for.
Demons at the Door: (2004) V. Director Roy Knyrim- Although I think this was made closer to 1999-2000
People hate this movie and that’s understandable. But it’s a fun movie and that’s all that counts.
Somewhere in some desert a small military/science team is guarding a gateway to hell. When an Arab terrorist (skillfully played by a toothless biker with a Brooklyn accent) blows open the gate it’s up to the small team to band together and stop hell from spilling over into our world.
The demons of hell for some reason can’t come over completely into our world so they decide to fuck with the team guarding the door to help get them out. What follows is lots of blood, slime, tits and racial humor that to me a fan of the B movie should be a requirement. Ultimately our heroes have to trek into hell and face off against Satan himself, who happens to be a Chihuahua. Yes a giant Chihuahua who dies a horrible CG head exploding death. Don’t ask me but I thought it was funny.
Not everything fires on all cylinders as the effects are cheap, the acting is bad and the plot has holes big enough for Ron Jeremy to fuck, but really that’s what makes this movie great.
Rick Benedetto stars as Captain Rick Castellano and does a pretty good job filling the muscle head hero role, the acting isn’t at a Pacino level but for the money I’m guessing they paid him he delivers and as the film trots along he begins to grow on you. You’ll be reminded of every guy you’ve met who owns their own pizza shop down the street, drives a cab, or snakes your pipes because you accidentally flushed a whole kitten down the drain (I was young ok, I’m sorry), he really has an everyman quality to him that you cant blame the director (Roy K.) for exploiting. The rest of the cast isn’t half bad either for a movie this caliber, the lines are delivered clearly (most of the time) they emote the best the can and you get pulled into the story as strange as it may be. I may also note that the demons, while guys in suits, are voiced all by what seems to be teen age girls run through a voice modulator, it’s a strange effect that works considering all the demons usually do is tell you to fuck off.
The effects while weak are the movies strong suit. You get way more bang for your buck with the blood, gore, slime, and monsters than you would for any other movie of this caliber. And the Demons themselves while they look like Power Rangers cast aways are still way better than any other no budget movie may offer. I was impressed but other people who have reviewed this weren’t, but whatever fuck those guys. The only real un- redeeming shit effect in the movie is the CG, it’s just horrible, right down to bad green screen, fake fire and really bad photo shop type stuff, but if I’m right about when this was made (99-00) it stands to reason because practical and cheap CG still wasn’t everywhere.
As a director and a film maker Roy Knyrim clearly was just having fun while he made this, it never attempts to be deep, moving or even (at times) understandable, its just supposed to be fun plane and simple. I can say with confidence its fun so if you want a good time with a pizza and some Jones soda track it down and turn your brain off for 90 minutes.
2 Z’Dar’s out of 5
