Director – Max Dementor (Conjuring the Devil, Lifeform)
Starring – Max Dementor, Sienna Aldridge (Man on a Cross, Serene Isley’s Bound Beauties), and Maria de Jesus Castellon (Flesh for the Beast: Tsukiko’s Curse, Monster’s Inside Me)
Release Date – 2010
Rating – 3/5
The weekend saw me having a movie marathon that was somewhat forced on me. My gaming computer shit the bed on me so I wasn’t able to spend my days off playing my usual games. Instead, I hit play on the 4K player and dug into some movies. After watching the SRS Cinema’s release of Garden Tool Massacre I decided to toss in a Wild Eye release I had not seen yet. This time I went with the 2010 film Demon Mother that was originally released under the title Shapeshifter. I want to thank Wild Eye nd MVD for sending this one my way!
**Spoiler Alert** The film follows Ben (Dementor) who has haunting dreams of killing people that has invaded into his personal life. It has put a strain on his relationship with his girlfriend and the medication he’s been taking doesn’t seem to work anymore. Soon he meets a mysterious redhead that is much more than a beautiful woman. She shows him what she really is and in turn tries to get him to release the beast hiding inside of him. He’s reluctant to at first but soon finds himself hunted by a group of monster hunters who knows he much more than just human. **Spoiler Alert**
I didn’t know what to expect from Demon Mother when I tossed it in. The artwork made me think I was going to be watching a no-budget rip-off of The Ring but the movie was not that at all. In fact, I have no idea what the movie’s poster was eluding to because it wasn’t anything I saw in this film. With that being said, I liked this one but it did take some time for it to warm up to me. I can see many genre fans turning this off without giving it a chance which is a damn shame.
The acting for this one is very uneven but I wouldn’t say it was bad. The cast has very little experience which shows in a lot of the scenes but their dedication to their roles and the characters they brought to life made it enjoyable. The film’s director is also the star of the film but a good portion of his scenes are overacted which did make for some unintentionally funny moments while he was crying.
The story for this one reminded me a lot of the supernatural horror shows I watched growing up like Brimstone, Angel, and Buffy. It’s an action/sci-fi centered film with horror elements tossed in. I liked it for the most part but the beginning of the film is extremely bland and uneventful which did make it a bit tough to stick with. However, once the ball gets rolling it was fun.
Finally, the film has a few death scenes that are extremely bloody and graphic. The effects shown really surprised me and one kill in particular was gorgeous. I couldn’t stop thinking about. Overall, Demon Mother will be a turn off for some but if you stick with it you will find a fun film buried beneath the slow start. I recommend checking it out.
