PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Ever since I was a child, I have loved horror films about little creatures terrorizing people. The Critters, Gremlins, and Ghoulies films are some of my favorites. Horror movies featuring tiny terrors are in short supply these days but they are set to make a resurgence thanks to director Dustin Ferguson. His segment, Demonoids, from the anthology webseries Tales From The Grave (which is coming to DVD this fall), features the eponymous creatures terrorizing a group of friends in a funhouse. Check out the trailer for Tales From The Grave below then read on for my thoughts on Demonoids!
Demonoids was written and directed by Dustin Ferguson (Meathook Massacre 2 2017) and stars Mike Crawford, Schuylar Craig, Clint Beaver, Vanessa Smith, Jamie Wede and Dustin Ferguson as the voice of the Demonoids.
Four friends break into an abandoned haunted attraction on Halloween night in an effort to raise an old man’s ghost. However, their seance brings the Demonoids to life and they must fight to survive as the monsters trap them and bump them off in the freakish labyrinth.
Demonoids is a fun throwback to the ’80s creature features you know and love. With a running time of just 12 minutes (including the opening and closing credits), it forgoes the unnecessary character development and shows us what we want to see in a film of this type – a group of stupid, young people doing stupid, things before dying grisly deaths. Demonoids wears its influences on it sleeve, taking most of its inspiration from Ghoulies, which is just fine with me since I’m a huge fan of the series. The creature designs (as seen above) aren’t quite like anything previously seen in these types of horror films and I love that that didn’t just go CGI with the effects. They went old school, simple and effective.
My only complaint is that by the time the story is set up and the creatures are introduced, the short was almost over and I was left wanting more. Luckily for me and anyone else who digs these types of films, the Demonoids will be returning in their own movie, Spirit Board, which has been described by director Dustin Ferguson as Witchboard meets Ghoulies. I can’t wait! Check out the amazing poster.
Final Thoughts
Demonoids is a fun little short that features all the necessary elements to please fans of tiny terror creature features, gore and monsters. The short left me wanting more mayhem from these evil little critters and thankfully I will get my wish as Spirit Board is set to shoot later this year. If you want to check out Demonoids, you can do so for free on YouTube for the next 7 days.
