PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Mixing two ingredients is a classic way to revitalize things that have become a bit overdone on their own. Mix some jelly into your peanut butter sandwich? Wham. You’ve got PB&J. Mix some comedy into your horror movie? You’ve got a nice way for audiences to get relaxed in between being caught off guard by the newest scares.
When presented with a film that blends a psychological thriller, demonic possession, and reality-shifting straight out of a Benson/Moorehead project, you might think you’re headed into that PB&J territory, right? Well… yes and no. As a film, Matt Cunningham’s 3 Demons is more like someone adding another great ingredient—let’s say chocolate chips—into your sandwich. On their own, each ingredient is good, and while sometimes two ingredients blend well, mixing the three of them together doesn’t really work. Sure, peanut butter and chocolate mix nicely, but adding the metaphorical jelly just does not satisfy.
Synopsis for 3 Demons (2022)
The film fixes on a deputy that is tasked with watching over the body of a recently deceased woman until her family can arrive and claim her. As his curiosity gets the better of him, he inadvertently concludes an unfinished ritual. The conjuring now complete, strange and sinister forces begin to target him. As his past is unearthed, he’s forced to face his own demons with terrifying consequences. Haley Heslip, Laura Golinski, Jovonnah Nicholson, Zoë Cunningham, and Sherryl Despres also star.
The film has a decent hook, with inexperienced Deputy James Fisher (Peter Tell, also the film’s co-writer) assigned to watch over a body at a crime scene until the family arrives to identify it. What starts as a simple task meant to last an hour or so becomes more and more complicated as every fact of the situation is recontextualized.
Time loops and bends, making every moment uncertain. Are we in the past? The present? How reliable is Fisher? An opening with him in an asylum makes every element questionable. By the end of the film, we’ve been confronted with so many questions, it’s difficult to empathize and care about the events.
As for the film’s titular 3 Demons, it’s difficult to critique. For a large portion of the story, it is unclear if they are a hallucination, a mind game like something out of Midsommar (our review), or if they’re fully there and lurking. When we get a clear shot of them, which for two of them is pretty often, the budget restraints are forefront, unfortunately. Luckily, the third, the big tree demon, is handled much better. It’s often kept in the shadow, slightly off frame, and the fine details aren’t noticeable. By the time they fully come out to play, it’s still a mystery what their motive is.
That being said, small budgets can also push creators to bend and break rules, and 3 Demons has a few moments where it does so, and much to my surprise, I was caught off guard by them. Cinematographer Keith Golinski is clearly having some fun with shot framing and some camera moves taken straight out of Raimi’s first two Evil Dead movies. While the film couldn’t go full Fede Alvarez with its homages, the gore content still has some moments that shock. In fact, right at a point where I was thinking, “If the film did this, it could shock the audiences out of the timeline confusion,” the film exceeded expectations. It did so in a nasty but effective way that I can recap with just two words: Demonic cunnilingus.
If you’re looking for a decent midnight movie to watch with friends and fiends, 3 Demons may not be the first draft pick, but if you’re looking for something new that shows a filmmaker willing to try blending new ideas with old techniques, I’d say it wouldn’t hurt to rent!
3 Demons is currently out on DVD, Digital, and On Demand. It was released July 5, 2022.
