p align=’justify’>A goateed Michael Rooker stars as a troubled, world-weary (and gun-toting!) priest arriving in a small town to hunt down the title demon who lives in the shadows and darkness (Do you know of any demons who like sunshine and rainbows?). It gets its strength from killing off the locals. Kevin Zegers plays a young boy who may be the key to destroying the demon, for reasons not worth getting into here. Suffice to say, he’ll be used as bait for the demon (who wants to kill him), much to his mother Leslie Hope’s disapproval. A dreadlocked Tony Todd has a small role as the town loon, whilst Shawn Alex Thompson is the local sheriff and Hope’s lover.
Although the alleged ties to a Bram Stoker short story in the screenplay by Michael Stokes are questionable (many claim to be unable to locate the source at all), this Jamie Dixon flick is fine schlock for those not expecting “Citizen Kane”. It also has a really cool poster/cover art, and for once that doesn’t prove to be a disappointment (I’m looking squarely at you “Night Terrors” you lying hunk of garbage).
It largely manages to overcome a meagre budget (the FX are uneven and sadly dated) and a mostly uninteresting, no-name cast. In particular, Andrew Jackson is a flop as the crucial title character. Armed with a spectacularly hokey voice-box deal that reminded me of the villain from “Police Academy 6: City Under Siege”), he makes you appreciate Tim Curry, Michael Ironside and Julian Sands all the more. It’s a shame that Tony Todd is limited to an inexplicable supporting role, because he could’ve played the role in his sleep and without the aid of the voice-box. He’s wasted, though also kinda hilarious and clearly enjoying himself at the same time. Gravel-voiced Michael Rooker comes off best in a rare good guy role, though as always, he’s got a troubled side to him (This is the “Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer” guy after all!). In that sense, his casting-against-type works much like Donald Pleasence in the “Halloween” films, where he’s almost borderline psychotically driven to eradicate evil.
It has a slight Stephen King vibe about it, with its mixture of small town characters and Satanic/demonic disruption (though it’s not as epic-scale as something like “The Stand”). The opening scene in particular is lively, and the music score by Eckhart Seeber is appropriately doom-laden and over-the-top. It helps if you are predisposed to liking this Satanic/demonic/ conspiratorial side of horror, as I indeed am.
The overabundance of small-town characters clutters things a bit too much, and the film has one climax too many, but overall this beats the living hell out of “The Awakening” and “Burial of the Rats” (not to mention John Carpenter’s thematically similar “Prince of Darkness”) and provides a solid genre ride on the B level. I just wish the FX were better. But that’s what you get when you’re too stupid to realise that practical FX look better on screen than CGI when you can’t afford the top-shelf stuff.
OVERALL SUMMARY
It’s undemanding, schlocky, pseudo-religious fun for fans of this kind of thing, and fans of Michael Rooker.
