The plot focuses on a couple, Robin and her husband Leo, who are revisiting the home of her grandfather after his passing in Germany. Twisted memories begin to come flooding back as she, Leo, and some others are taken hostage for a strange hunt by the creature lurking in the woods. Will Robin and Leo make it out alive? Can she remember the secrets of the woods to save herself and the others before it’s too late? And what exactly is hunting them?

While DEMIGOD was never truly scary, there are some very enjoyable moments in it. The cinematography from Nathan Tape was lovely and, while there was nothing really new added to, there were some beautiful and clever shots, especially focusing on the intimacy of the characters and the expanse of the woods. The music was atmospheric and added to each scene rather than detracted, creating a slick balance of tension and vulnerability of the characters. The acting, especially Rachel Nichols and Yohance Myles, was terrific. And the creature design and effects were frickin’ stellar. It’s hard to get a cool-looking creature design without looking cheesy and DEMIGOD pulled it off.

The things that fell a bit flat were the pacing (slow to fast to slow to fast to the lackluster climax), the villains (very stiff “mwhuahaha” variety), and some of the writing was too thick with villain exposition instead of something more organic. I was also hoping that Robin would make that switch from victim to hunter and go all You’re Next, but it never really happened.

I like Doleac’s gothic style and other-worldly designs, but I would like to see it punched up a little bit more. I feel like he has some good ideas and an interesting background to flavor it with, but needs to go a little wild. And also, he’s a fine actor, but I wonder if he focused on just certain aspects of filmmaking. I think that might improve the impact of his work.

Overall, DEMIGOD might not win any awards, but it’s a fun enough romp through the woods if getting hunted by the ultimate hunter is your jam. DEMIGOD is now in select theaters and available On Demand from Gravitas Ventures.

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J.M. Brannyk

When not solving mysteries throughout Detroit with Jellybeans the Cat, J.M. Brannyk enjoys mostly supernatural and slasher films from the '70s-'90s. Aside from writing, Brannyk dips into podcasts and is the composer of many podcast theme songs. Also check out some other stuff on Hauntedmtl and Gayly Dreadful.

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