"I See the Demon" Review: Strong Performances Can’t Save an Underdeveloped Horror Mystery
Halloween season means my inbox starts looking like a video store’s horror section. As a film critic and horror fan, I welcome the steady stream of titles, even though not every discovery will become a new favorite. Archstone Entertainment’s “I See the Demon” caught my attention with a title that made me expect possession and an emergency visit from a priest.
Director Jacob Lees Johnson takes a different route, mixing horror with science fiction. I appreciated the ambition, even if the finished film left me wanting more. Johnson, who shares screenplay credit with Martha Duzett and Davey Morrison, centers the story on an emotionally vulnerable woman whose surprise birthday party becomes increasingly unsettling.
Unexplainable phenomena interrupt the celebration, turning an occasion meant to make her feel loved into something she cannot easily escape. That is about as far as I would go with the setup. The discoveries deserve some room to work. Alexis Zollicoffer is the film’s strongest asset.
Her performance has a believable quality that gives us someone to connect with as the situation grows stranger. She grounds the material without making every reaction feel like an announcement that we are watching a horror movie.
The supporting ensemble, including Noah Kershisnik, Mallory Everton, and Jon Heder, also deserves credit. Their conversations have the comfortable rhythm of people who know one another. That may sound like a small compliment, but horror loses me quickly when friends sound like strangers reading information aloud for the audience. Here, the relationships give the birthday gathering a welcome sense of familiarity.
Visually, “I See the Demon” has plenty going for it. The color choices and shot compositions show care, and Johnson gives viewers images worth paying attention to. This is hardly a case of a filmmaker simply pointing a camera down a dark hallway and hoping the sound department handles the scares.
Unfortunately, the story never grabbed me the way the performances and presentation did. The repetition is intentional, but knowing that doesn’t make it more engaging. There is a difference between making me feel trapped alongside a character and making me impatient for the next development. Too often, I found myself in the latter category.
The science-fiction elements offer possibilities I wanted the screenplay to explore further. Instead, the film spends considerable energy sustaining its uneasy atmosphere without giving those ideas enough room to develop. I liked the twist. Getting there, however, should have been more compelling.
“I See the Demon” earns points for trying something beyond the possession movie its title suggests. During a season crowded with horror releases, that willingness matters. Still, strong acting and attractive visuals can only carry an underdeveloped story so far. This concept has a better movie inside it, and I wanted to see more of it.
Final Grade: C+
“I See the Demon” is on digitial now.
