Movie Reviews

‘Demonic’ Blu-Ray Review – A Once-Promising Director Fumbles His Detour Into Horror

By Dillon Gonzales
April 23, 2022
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From the director of District 9 and Elysium, a young woman unleashes terrifying demons when supernatural forces at the root of a decades old rift between mother and daughter are revealed.

For thoughts on Demonic, please check out our discussion on The Video Attic:

[youtube https://youtu.be/2W5u38ileqo?t=2727]

Video Quality

Demonic debuts on Blu-Ray with a 1080p presentation in its original aspect ratio that captures the film pretty well. The movie itself has a natural color palette that mostly pops off the screen when it comes to daytime environments, but there is a great amount of detail and clarity even in the darkest scenes. The moments of blood that pop up provide some striking visuals that bring with them a nice vibrancy. There is slight loss of detail in fast panning shots, but it is not pervasive throughout. For a movie that relies on darkness to build tension at various points, it is important to have deep black levels, which this thankfully does. There is some light banding in some of the darkest moments, but objects hold up pretty well in the shadows and retain their depth. When Carly goes into the virtual world, the detail becomes less crisp for obvious reasons. There is no damage or digital noise detectable in this transfer. There are not very many moments that are going to jump off the screen, but this is a solid video presentation overall.

Audio Quality

The film comes to Blu-Ray with a satisfying DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track. The movie does not provide the most intense workout, but the environmental sounds provide a very immersive atmosphere for the story. The low end of the track is especially active during moments of violence and frights with a bit of wall shaking happening. The dialogue and sound effects are appropriately balanced with the music where nothing gets lost in the track. Surround channels get some nice activity during the outdoor scenes and with the interior ambiance during any lead up to an unsettling reveal. This track is quite precise and effective, and will be appreciated by horror fans who pick up this disc. There are English SDH and Spanish subtitles provided.

Special Features

There are no special features included on this release.

Final Thoughts

Demonic makes you question how director Neill Blomkamp went from a Best Picture nomination with his debut, District 9, to what is one step away from a direct-to-video horror film. There are some intriguing concepts that could make for a decent frightening feature, but this effort fails to register much in the way of momentum on any front. The acting is lacking, the editing is a bit erratic, and direction is overall just uninspired. You really want to root for this director to get back on a solid path, but this is not the effort to get him there. RLJE Films has released a Blu-Ray featuring a strong A/V presentation and nothing in the way of special features. There are a few elements that work within this one, but most will be okay skipping this.

Demonic is currently available to purchase on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: RLJE Films has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.