‘Demon Hunter’ is an Irish supernatural horror about a girl who (as the title suggests) hunts demons to avenge the death of her younger sister and eventually gets caught; however, the detective on her case needs her help after something takes his daughter. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this film, but it really surprised me. It’s kind of charming, and as someone who loves things like ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’, I really enjoyed it. This is also Zoe Kavanagh’s first time directing, and with barely any credits to her name it’s impressive what she managed to achieve, particularly in terms of image quality and VFX as well as make-up effects – the demons look awesome.
There are only a few problems, mostly to do with sound editing; sometimes it was obvious the dialogue had been dubbed over, or there was some static noise in the background. This was mostly in the beginning, however, so it isn’t a consistent weakness and isn’t as distracting later in the film. In addition, some of the action was hard to follow as it was so fast-paced and was mostly filmed close-up, which is particularly the case in the last fight scene. The fight scene in the opening was much easier to follow because the action was much clearer by being filmed slightly further away.
On the other hand, there is all-round decent acting – I particularly liked Michael Parle as Falstaff, the villain. Sometimes Taryn (Niamh Hogan) was hard to take seriously but that was most likely down to a few strange lines of dialogue (I guess that comes with the territory of supernatural films, and they made me laugh anyway so I can’t complain). This isn’t a film you need to take seriously to enjoy, but it’s not in the “so bad it’s good” category either. Furthermore, Aisli Moran did a great job playing Taryn’s younger and very adorable sister Annabelle, especially considering how dark her story was. Finally, some of the camerawork and angles were interesting and it seemed like a lot of effort was put into thinking about how to make the film look more unique and dynamic.
Overall, despite some issues with sound editing, this is a very enjoyable film and I would recommend anyone who is a fan of the supernatural/occult genre to give it a try. It was particularly good for a first-time director, and I will look forward to seeing her future projects.
There are only a few problems, mostly to do with sound editing; sometimes it was obvious the dialogue had been dubbed over, or there was some static noise in the background. This was mostly in the beginning, however, so it isn’t a consistent weakness and isn’t as distracting later in the film. In addition, some of the action was hard to follow as it was so fast-paced and was mostly filmed close-up, which is particularly the case in the last fight scene. The fight scene in the opening was much easier to follow because the action was much clearer by being filmed slightly further away.
On the other hand, there is all-round decent acting – I particularly liked Michael Parle as Falstaff, the villain. Sometimes Taryn (Niamh Hogan) was hard to take seriously but that was most likely down to a few strange lines of dialogue (I guess that comes with the territory of supernatural films, and they made me laugh anyway so I can’t complain). This isn’t a film you need to take seriously to enjoy, but it’s not in the “so bad it’s good” category either. Furthermore, Aisli Moran did a great job playing Taryn’s younger and very adorable sister Annabelle, especially considering how dark her story was. Finally, some of the camerawork and angles were interesting and it seemed like a lot of effort was put into thinking about how to make the film look more unique and dynamic.
Overall, despite some issues with sound editing, this is a very enjoyable film and I would recommend anyone who is a fan of the supernatural/occult genre to give it a try. It was particularly good for a first-time director, and I will look forward to seeing her future projects.
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