Originally Posted by jackhammer

^^^^

Demons is cheesy briliance. Directed by Lamberto Bava, son of the legendary Italian director Mario Bava.



Oh dear Oh dear. What is Happening to Cronenberg? Whilst I am definitely all in favour of artists branching out, in the case of Cronenberg his emotionally cold and sterile world views were perfect for his particular brand of body horror. When we hit the real world this emotional detachment is a hindrance as we try to find allegiances with the characters on screen.

It certainly isnt a bad film but it could have been so much better. Naomi Watts is severely under used which is a shame as she is a fantastic dramatic actress. Vincent Cassell is quite frankly an embarrasment ( whose idea was it for a French actor to play a Russian with a smattering of English lines?). The language of the film annoyed me too. The film is about Russian gangsters so why are we treated to British inflected Russian accents punctuated by sentences of Russian? Surely we could have watched the film with the language Russian itself punctuated by English. A Russian father and son who come from Russia are hardly going to speak English all the time are they?

The violence ( as is the norm for Cronenberg) is expertly handled-brutal and without compromise. However I was never engaged in any of the characters and finished the film severly dissapointed.

I won't say to ignore this film at all, as it has a lot of admirers but a new Cronenberg film was usually cause for celebration and intrigue-how will he mess with us now. Lately though his direction and choices are becoming increasingly banal.

For a similar themed view of London and tangible plot points try 'Dirty Pretty Things' from a couple of years ago. Far more rewarding.