Demon
Hunter
Sean
Patrick Flanery, Billy Drago, Collen Porch
R1
DVD
In Demon Hunter, Flannery plays Jacob Greyman, a half-breed
human and demon mix that somewhat ambivalently works for the Church slaying recalcitrant
demons and dispatching fallen souls when exorcisms have failed. Armed with a dagger
come crucifix, martial art skills and a rambo
attitude Greyman is the court of last resort.
After the opening scenes where an
exorcism fails due to a priest falling for a lustful encounter and Greyman dispatching the overexcited spirit with gusto, he
is joined by Sister Sara (Colleen Porch) to go head-to-head with the mighty Asmodeus (Billy Drago) who is impregnating earth women with
his infernal seed.
The script is intriguing but does seem a
bit derivative of the Blade and Underworld films. I do like the way it takes the
traditional demon tale and subverts it. There is no clear line in this tale
between good and evil and when you add in “demonspawn”
who are human children created by demons with earth women then you have all
shades of grey. The Church is certainly shown in a compromised light and in the
end the Demon Hunter (who is incidentally a demonspawn)
shows more ethics than any of them. While it is primarily a horror film there
is quite a lot of sex and softcore action along the
way as well as some cool car chases and fight scenes.
Demon Hunter is let down by its limited
budget, the special effects are a bit below par and while it attempts to be a
bit like Blade, its lacks the high end special effects to make it all work. This
is somewhat mitigated by solid performances by the actors so that it really ends
up as a bit of a B grade gem. The fight sequences are really quite impressive and
their sheer physicality elevates the clashes which occur above stock standard movie
action.
The DVD release from
There are some nice extras including an interesting
commentary, trailers and a featurette.