Directed by Emily Hagins, Sorry About The Demon is a horror comedy that follows slacker Will as he navigates his recent breakup all the while dealing with his brand new roommates from hell.
Will, played by Jon Michael Simpson, is a hopeless deadbeat who is completely devoid of any real direction in his life, causing him to flit between careers and never show any real sort of commitment to anything, including his girlfriend, Amy. After Amy terminates their relationship, Will finds himself moving into a house which is rented out by a family that seems far too desperate to be rid of the property. As he settles into his new environment and new norm, he begins to realise that he may not be the only tenant residing in the property.
Playing to its strength of slapstick style qualities, it manages to avoid veering into the cringy, instead being a delightfully straightforward and thoroughly entertaining story
Will begins to experience supernatural phenomena in the form of ghosts that have a habit of appearing in sudden intervals, as well as an all-powerful demon that has a habit of communicating through the unusual medium of cake decorating. Despite initially attempting to coincide with the paranormal entities of the household, when his ex-girlfriend Amy becomes the demon’s prize conduit, Will realises that he must figure out a way to banish the demon back to the hell portal from whence it came.
Sorry About The Demon absolutely follows the typical genre tropes that audiences would expect to see in any haunted house and demonic possession horror, however, the film embraces these stereotypes and revels in them, creating a hilarious and endearing love letter to films like Poltergeist (1982) and The Amityville Horror (1979). Sorry About The Demon is entirely Raimi-Esque, marrying the demonic with the comedic, which at times borders on the utterly ridiculous but in a most likeable fashion. Jon Michael Simpson’s turn as protagonist Will, is reminiscent of a young Bruce Campbell as Ash in the Evil Dead series, causing the character to be a lovable goof despite his tendencies towards man-childism.
From the opening credits which are in a kitsch 1950s Americana-type style and devoid of any sort of indication the film is in fact full of demons, spooky dead children and black goo, Sorry About The Demon has its tongue firmly in its hellion cheek. Playing to its strength of slapstick style qualities, it manages to avoid veering into the cringy, instead being a delightfully straightforward and thoroughly entertaining story about facing one’s demons and thoroughly checking a property before renting from a suspicious middle-class family.
Sorry about the Demon premieres on Shudder on January 19th
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Ygraine’s Archive: Sorry about the Demon (2022)
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