So, the premise of Demon Hunter goes something like this: Half demon, half human, all stoic Jake Greyman (Sean Patrick Flannery – playing himself) works for the Catholic Church. His origins, to the best of my recollection, were never explained. But he decides that he doesn’t need to be evil and helps the Church destroy demons that are being born into the world. In his mission to track down the main demon (of lust) Asmodeus (Billy Drago – playing himself), he teams up with a nun. This nun happens to look like Angelina Jolie, but she is a nun nevertheless. Along the way, there are ample opportunities to give in to his demon impulses.

Now this might sound like a delicious treat that I would love to eat up over and over again, but no. It isn’t. It’s played out, and has been played out for a long time now. There was an anime series called Nightwalker several years ago about a vampire who ran a detective agency while trying to seek redemption with help of a beautiful police officer. There was a fantastic Canadian television series named Forever Knight (a spin-off of the film Nick Knight) which was about a policeman who happened to be a vampire fighting other vampires (and crime) for retribution. More recently, there was the television series Angel (a spin off of Buffy The Vampire Slayer) whose titular character was a vampire who fought other vampires and demons in effort to get his soul back. You might say, “Hey those are vampires, Demon Hunter is half-demon.” I say, “Fuck off. Why does everyone look like television vampires then? More importantly, why does Jake out his victims with a crucifix-shaped wooden stake?”

It’s hard to be critical of a genre that you love, and I wanted to enjoy Demon Hunter with the same amount of glee that I do the aforementioned programs, but it just didn’t sit well with me. I could be more forgiving of the story if it actually went anywhere because for all the unoriginal aspects, it is still a great framework for a horror tale. The idea that the Catholic Church has half-breeds working for them that can be sent in (as in the opening scene) as a clean-up for botched exorcisms is a cool one to toy around with. Regrettably though, it isn’t used again in the film.

Like other low-budget horror, sex is added not because it is needed for the film, but because it sells. So, cliché as it is, we have a nun named Sister Sarah who is unbelievably fit and appears to have collagen implants in her lips. We have a Succubus demon who is fond of corsets. Somehow, while she has the fakest looking plastic horns I’ve seen in years, they still seem less real than her CGI demon wings. We have an heiress victim Nancy who, being Asian, fills both the ethnic quota and the bare tits quota. Finally, we have Billy Drago, who plays the Demon of Lust, which isn’t all that far removed from the Demon of Fear that he plays on the TV series Charmed.

Our stoic, leather-clad, spiky hair hero doesn’t do much either. He is simply the stereotypical brooding fighter of evil. Angel, minus the self-deprecating humor. He’s also supposed to make lines like this cool and believable…

Priest: All I’m asking is that you show a little respect for the dead.
Jake: Why should I? They don’t seem to show any for me.

…but he doesn’t.

There are some good things about the film though. Aside from some bad CGI shots, the film looks really good. It was shot on 35mm and the outside scenes look pleasantly warm. Since this is usually a vampire ripe genre, we don’t often get to see these types of daytime exteriors. The soundtrack was also pretty good. Not the score, mind you, but the soundtrack, which features songs from bands with names like Soul Circle, Bloody Mary and Triple 7. It all has this generic Nine Inch Nails and Thrill Kill Kult vibe giving the film a distinct 1996 feeling to it, although I am sure it wasn’t the intent. I liked the songs.

But other than the minor praise, the film is entirely forgettable. Like, 20 minutes after watching it, I almost forgot to write about it.

Yep, Demon Hunter is that forgettable.

DVD Presentation
Being a recent film, Demon Hunter has no reason not to look good. It does, too. It’s presented in anamorphic widescreen and the video quality was great, but there are no visuals here that are going to awe you at all. Audio comes in both 5.1 and 2.0 flavors. The mixes work, but they are generally unexceptional. What really kicks into surrounds is the soundtrack. Otherwise, most action goes to the front. All in all though, Demon Hunter offers up a good presentation for what it is. So kudos on the presentation.

And the Extras Are?
Demons Among Us – (43:40) - The film was 78 minutes long, but has a documentary over half as long. As you might expect, it’s too much cake with overkill icing on top. Very little of this would be of interest to anyone, even fans. There is lots of talk about the nuances of the script, there is lots of talk about the overt sexuality of the script, and lots of pats on lots of backs. If you watch this, you will be rolling your eyes so much that they will be perpetually locked in counter-clockwise rotation. Don’t waste your time.

Audio Commentary with Writer Mitch Gould and Actor Nancy Yoon – In the first five minutes Mitch Gould admits that the wrong draft was green lit when his rough draft was emailed to the producer instead of his final script. He also corrects Nancy Yoon by telling her that the film isn’t scary. I didn’t expect much from a commentary without the director, but it was surprisingly interesting and Mitch has a lot of stories to tell. They do fall into the watching-the-movie trap though.

Theatrical Trailer – (1:30) – I first saw this trailer on one of Anchor Bay’s releases from last year, and I was excited to see it since it looked so unbelievably silly. Now, I can say that it wasn’t very accurate for the film, but it’s worth checking out to see how misleading it was.

Fight Sequence Rehearsal – (2:24) - I really liked watching this. Essentially it is the practice run for the actors' climactic fight scene. What sets this apart from similar features is that it is edited in exactly the same fashion as the film itself, with cool angles and all. It becomes a perfect comparison clip to watch and then go review the scene in question. Cool.

Anchor Bay Trailer Gallery
A bunch of previews for Anchor Bay’s other releases. First is their promo bit for their Masters Of Horror (1:55) releases, then comes the trailers for recent DTV releases Room 6 (1:50), It Waits (1:07) and The Fallen Ones (1:56). The film trailers look like made for Sci-Fi material, although The Fallen Ones looks the best and comparable to the horror/action/comedy of the remake of The Mummy. It Waits looks like shit, and Room 6 is silly and has lesbian nurses.

The Bottom Line
There is little that is original in Demon Hunter. It’s considerably too short, and there isn’t much character development. Not even a finale worth speaking of. A nice twist is included, but there isn’t really any resolution. Based upon this, I am guessing that Demon Hunter was intended to be first in a series of films, with Jake Greyman intended to go through several demonic adventures. I doubt this will happen, and as it stands there isn’t much of a film here to recommend. If you watch it, you won’t hate yourself for doing so, but this isn’t something you are going to keep coming back to.

Demon Hunter had the potential to be either high-camp or gritty, but instead falls into that trap of being totally forgettable. The DVD is an excellent package though. If you enjoy the film purchasing it would be an easy recommendation.