THE Demon Disorder is a visceral and often grotesque body horror that the king of parasites, mutations, and medical anomalies himself, David Cronenberg, would be proud of.
The debut from SFX icon Steven Boyle, this Australian film is a rather warped, demonic family drama for fans of harrowing anatomical transformations and Boyle’s masterful effects.
The Demon Disorder, now streaming on Shudder, tells the story of Graham (Christian Willis), Jake (Dirk Hunter), and Phillip Reilly (Charles Cotter) and their deceased father George (John Noble). Their pasts collide when a family secret is discovered, leading their father’s dingy garage to become the site of revenge from beyond the grave.
Boyle’s film proves a distressing journey into a hellish vision that will leave audiences entertained, grossed out, and a little depressed for all its gloomy, low-lit, and dusty surroundings.
The films opens with Graham Reilly, a lonely and broken car mechanic, who has effectively retired from life. Living alone in his garage workshop, he hides from the world and his haunted by his past. It has been this way since the death of his father and the estrangement from his two brothers. Struggling with his demons, this is a life he has accepted.
Everything changes when his brother Jakes arrives one day out of the blue to confide in Graham that something is horribly wrong with their younger brother, Phillip. Jake believes that Phillip is possessed by their deceased father George.
When the three brothers are finally back together, it quickly becomes evident that the sins of the past will no longer stay hidden. The big question is, how can they defeat a presence that knows them inside and out?
It all comes to a blood-soaked finale of Evil Dead proportions in a grubby, junk-filled garage where secrets and the deceased will no longer stay buried.
This is one uncomfortable watch with cult status pending.
(3/5)
