Demonic review – tricky structure revives haunted house horror

Fashioned out of well-worn, if not hackneyed, horror tropes, Demonic is no meta-level deconstruction of the genre, but it’s a more than competent, fugue-like manipulation that freshens familiar components with a tricky structure. Here, once again, is a collection of stupidly curious kids investigating a haunted house where a mass murder happened a generation earlier. Naturally, they are equipped with massive arsenal of night-vision cameras and recording devices to produce spooky found footage and audio. What’s a little different is that their story gets told in flashback, the grisly fate of most of the victims already known, as two investigators – Frank Grillo’s detective and Maria Bello’s psychologist – examine the evidence and grill Dustin Milligan’s survivor. It’s a smart enough work to make one wish it were a bit better, with less cheesy dialogue, sharper characterisation, and scary bits that didn’t always rely on jump cuts and sudden, percussive audio shocks. But the final twist is sick fun.