THEDÆMON (2024) [FrightFest 2024] 

Following his father’s suicide, a man goes back to the lake house from his childhood where more than meets the eye await him and his loved ones. 

Written and directed by Matt Devino and David Michael Yohe, this film will appeal to fans of the weird, Lovecraft-adjacent, oddly paced, character-driven horror films. It’s one of those that is hard to describe without giving too much away and it works just fine that way. While the story is a bit slow, the pacing is not off-putting or anything bad, it’s just different. The characters here have decent development and work great in the story, with one odd choice of a character that is clearly meant to build up another and then he’s gone, giving the cast characters they can really work with. The writing and direction are good here, but some of the film’s content/story may not work for everyone. 

The cast here is solid in their parts, bringing the ensemble cast energy needed for a film like this, where the leads all end up in the same location together and going through an ordeal as a group. Stealing the whole show is Adriana Isabel as Jess. She’s fantastic here and while everyone else is very good, she steals every single scene she is in and runs away with the whole movie. Considering the story is not about her character exactly, this is something that stands out. She’s great here. Cast as the central character to the story, Tom, Tyle Q Rosen shows that he can handle almost anything and can make the audience question if his character is crazy and how crazy he is actually is. His work here sets the story up and makes the film what it is. The rest of the cast is good, but both Isabel and Rosen are above and beyond the best of the bunch here. 

Almost a character of their own, the special effects here are both great and just ok. Let’s explain. The practical special effects here are phenomenal and make you squirm in your seat while watching the film. The CGI effects are uneven. Some of them are really good and look fantastic and some elements of them are just not as on point. They aren’t back, but given the level of the practical effects, they come up a bit short. 

Working with all of the above, the cinematography by J.R. Kraus (and his team) is beautiful, at times dark, at times light, always just the right images for the scene. The work here is calculated and planned to give the right framing and lighting to any situation. There is a lot of very pretty and mildly creepy sequences here that are almost entirely made this way by the cinematography. The work here is solid and looks so good, it pulls you in if you ever lose interest (happens here and there) in the story and it gives another layer to the story.  

THEDÆMON is an odd movie that will not be for everyone, but those who love these types of films will adore it. It’s beautifully shot, very well acted, has an interesting story, and the way the directors bring it all to the screen works great. The practical special effects add to it all in just the right way. This is a very visual film, so it should be seen on the biggest screen possible.