Adult children caring for aging parents is such a familiar phase of life, so it’s no surprise that horror filmmakers tap into its more uncomfortable, fear-filled aspects. remains, accessand manor These are all recent examples – but it’s hard to find a film that tackles this subject as horribly as an Australian film. Demonic Chaos.
Demonic Chaos Co-written and directed by Steven Boyle, making his behind-the-scenes debut after a legendary career as a special effects artist; his many credits include Star Wars, matrixand hobbit Franchise. But even if you know entering Demonic Chaosit still won’t prepare you for visceral It’s – with an emphasis on body horror and “slithering, oozing bio-horror” – sometimes separate, often combined, and executed with careful care from a man who knows how to terrify an audience.
The main story unfolds in just two locations: a car repair shop run by Graham (Christian Willis), and the dilapidated farmhouse that Graham fled with no intention of ever returning, but which is still occupied by his older brother Jack ( Dirk Hunter) occupies. When Jack shows up drunkenly in Graham’s garage, insisting that so much time has passed and ominously mentioning the “blood oath,” it’s clear that Graham would rather do anything than return to his childhood home . Its walls and outbuildings, especially the chicken coop, are filled with memories of the family’s troubled patriarch (Lord of the RingsJohn Noble), whose death prompted Graham to leave.
But the past still seems to have a strong hold on the place – the violent atmosphere his father left behind has begun to take on a decidedly supernatural overtone, and Philip now exhibits violent emotional shifts that entirely mirror his father’s downward spiral.
It would be an easy route to make the story “Philip is possessed by his late father” or even “Philip is possessed by the demon that previously possessed his late father”, but Demonic Chaos As it turns out, he’s not interested in describing exactly what sort of mysterious nightmare has been unleashed here. (There is a touch when evil lurks Instead, it focuses on how the brothers must overcome their differences – especially Graham and Jack – and work together to protect their family, even as they are exhausted by years of bickering. “You see enough weird stuff that after a while it starts to feel normal,” Jack admitted at one point.
If the film’s dementia/end-of-life metaphors are a little too obvious, pairing that with a narrative of healing a broken sibling relationship brings a welcome complexity to the story. The stellar performances help; Noble’s character, glimpsed in flashbacks, is downright terrifying, and the chemistry between Willis and Hunter makes the love-hate extremes of their brotherly relationship feel real.
But in reality, the main reason for checking Demonic Chaos It was for what Boyle had brought to the field of special effects. John Carpenter’s thing and alien The movie may have provided some inspiration, maybe even a little evil dead 2 Throw it in there too. What appear to be mostly practical effects—grisly wounds, brutality of mutilation, eviscerated animal carcasses, vats of blood—increases the sense of fear exponentially, especially when it comes to the story’s various biological time.
Demonic Chaos Releases September 6 on Shudder; it’s also available to stream on AMC+.
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