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Horror Short Sunday: ‘Demon’

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This Horror Short Sunday you are in for one hell of a treat as we bring you writer/director Caleb Slain’s expertly crafted short film Demon!

An injured man wanders out of the moonlit desert onto an eccentric loner’s property only to discover his rescuer has a dark secret hidden in his shed. Demon stars Brent Henri, Sopha Savage, and Kirk Baltz. You may recognize Baltz from last week’s creepy Horror Short Sunday feature The Armoire. 

Demon digs its claws into you from the first frame as we see Marco staggering towards the glistening campfire in the distance, and being met by the business end of a rifle. We then jump ahead to Marco being taken in by his surprisingly hospitable (and a bit loony) host Bill. It isn’t long before Marco finds something Bill’s been trying to keep hidden in his shed a few dozen feet from his shack. 

As Marco wanders between the shed and Bill’s shack, you’ll begin to notice the film is now one continuous uncut take until the very end. The decision to let the camera role as the plot unfolds really pulls the viewer into the scenario with unflinching tension.

Those who have seen Mike Flanagan’s The Haunting of Hill House will recall the Two Storms episode similarly utilizing mind-blowing long, uncut shots. While Slain’s production was nowhere near as large, the behind-the-scenes posts on the short film’s website details just how daunting filming Demon was. 

They decided to go completely insane and cinematographer Drew Dawson ended up shooting in the middle of the desert using no artificial lighting. This means they were completely at the mercy of the full moon cycle for natural lighting on only 12 available nights of the year. Add that to a film that requires intensive rehearsal and choreography because there are almost no cuts, and you have a recipe for disaster that miraculously came together.

Technical achievements aside, Demon also delivers brilliantly on the narrative. Without going too much into detail, the Hitchcockian premise keeps the audience in a state of uncertainty as Marco tries to figure out what exactly Bill has locked away in his shed. The actors rise to the occasion delivering superb performances in a film that is executed like an uninterrupted stage play. 

In the sound department, the original soundtrack by Wlad Marhulets gives Demon a haunting western feel that enhances the uneasiness of the situation. The audio during the final moments of the film makes the viewer’s imagination run wild, and is a solid example of less is more. 

Slain’s Demon is a bold feat that swings for the fences, and absolutely pays off.  It’s one both the film buffs, and aspiring filmmakers should equally appreciate. 

Check out the full video for Demon below! I highly recommend watching in a dimly lit room for best viewing experience! (Mature audiences only, viewer discretion advised, NSFW)

Tune in next week to discover more amazing short films for Horror Short Sunday!

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‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments

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It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.

We already knew about the Sébastien Vaniček upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.

Evil Dead Rise

“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.”

That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”

Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:

High Desert Hell
The Gemini Project

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‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening

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Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.

Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.

Happy Sad Confused

Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.

Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.

The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.

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Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date

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Jake gyllenhaal presumed innocent

Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s in ‘Presumed Innocent’

Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.

These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:

According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”

Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.

Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.

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