Demonsoul – review

Director: Elisar Cabrera

Release date: 1995

Contains spoilers

Demonsoul was a micro-budget British film and, well let’s just say in the first instance that it wasn’t great and yet there was something in it that kept me watching – and not just the pathological need to watch everything with a vampire in it!

blood sacrifice

It began with a satanic type ritual, a couple of monks (it turns out later that they’re undead) chanting as a man is led to an altar by a woman, Selena (Eileen Daly, Razor Blade Smile, Wichcraft X: Mistress of the Craft and Sentinels of Darkness). He lies upon it as she straddles him and begins to cut him with a dagger – a blood sacrifice. She turns and looks directly to camera and then we see a woman, Erica Steele (Kerry Norton), bolt wide awake.

in therapy

The next day we see her at her psychiatrist’s (Suzanne Ballantyne) and she tells her that she has had another nightmare and it involved the woman again. She does not know who the woman is but it seemed that she looked to her for approval. Erica asks the psychiatrist about hypnotherapy but she is dismissive, putting it in the same boat as astrology. Back at work and Erica's friend Rosemary (Janine Ulfane) suggests hypnotherapy but she is content to listen to her shrink – despite having nightmare’s every other night.

Eileen Daly as Selena

She heads to a comic book store, her boyfriend Alex (Drew Rhys-Williams) is in the rooms above it. He is kissing Erica’s neck when she spots Selena out on the street. She runs out of the shop but the woman has vanished. Erica then looks back to Alex and sees him in the window in Selena's arms. She runs back to the flat to find Alex and Selena having sex. She awakens from the nightmare and realises that she had fallen asleep, and thus into the dream, whilst Alex held her. She decides to try the hypnotherapist Rosemary spotted in the newspaper.

creepy hypnotherapist

When she gets there she meets a woman (Sue Scadding, also Witchcraft X) who starts talking about past lives and suggests she was a famous actress before (Marilyn Monroe, in fact). The hypnotherapist, Bucher (Daniel Jordan), comes in just before Erica bolts. He is actually a past-life regressionist. He is also a creepy dude who leans in just a little too close, as he puts her under, then suggests that she won’t feel his touch or remember anything as he goes on to molest Erica. In her mind she meets with Selena, who fondles her and calls her mistress.

fangs on show

Okay, long story short, Erica has the soul of a Countess Durna within her. Durna was a vampire and Selena her servant. Erica met Selena as a child (we get flashes to that moment a few times). Durna is trying to take possession of Erica’s body, can cause the woman to sprout fangs every time she is in control, and each drink of blood brings her closer to permanently possessing the body. Bucher realises what he is dealing with and wants to partake of her power. Of course Rosemary and Alex are dragged into it as well.

random vampire girl

There really isn’t too much lore. A bite can turn and, at the end of the film, there are a large number of vampires hanging around the disused church (it would seem to be). Durna's spirit is taking control of Erica's body but it was hard to tell whether the vampire was implanted as an additional spirit within her body (possibly when Selena met her as a child) or whether Erica and Durna were actually one and the same. The twist at the end makes any guesswork on this pointless.

beneath the fanged archway

The acting was generally poor – Kerry Norton made a fair fist of Erica and Eileen Daly is fun to watch – however the rest were pretty darn wooden. There was a fair bit of in-shot microphone work, poor framing and the camcorder quality print leaves a lot to be desired. However, from the director of Witchcraft X we should expect no less.

Yet, despite this, I found myself drawn to the film, whilst all along knowing it was pants. There is a little something – perhaps in the rarely trodden path of vampiric possession. Much better than Witchcraft X – but that isn’t difficult – somehow compelling and yet, ultimately, not a good film. 2.5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.