An anomaly within the Schnaas canon, Demonium is a lush and keenly photographed movie that still retains the genre director's signature absurdity. An old castle awaits a motley ensemble of family members for the reading of a will. Unfortunately for them their encroachment has pissed off someone with a mile-long mean streak and a penchant for bloody murder. The heirs/victims must stay in the spooky castle for three days to receive their inheritance. A bunch of caricatures + an ancient castle + two enigmatic hosts + horror movie x (Andreas Schnaas) = sloppy, blood-pooling death. Reportedly filmed for one-million bones, Demonium shifts Schnaas away from splatter-meister to adroit filmmaker. He works well in enclosed situations creating some surprisingly vivid close-ups of the actors; some of the wider shots seemed to bleach out and appear pale next to the well lit facial shots. Unfortunately with an eclectic cast of various ethnic descents the acting varies from acceptable to dry to utterly vacant of emotion. Schnaas definitely deserved more recognition for this film...
Directed by Andreas Schnaas
