Review - The Demon

The Demon - was this a story about one family’s struggle to come to term with the kidnaping of their daughter or was this a story about an actual demon who stalked women . . .

. . . or was this a story about naughty little strumpets who for some reason had a house alone while Daddy was away or was this a story about a man with ESP that wasn’t so perceptive after all?

Honestly, I’m not sure because the plot was a tiny bit hard to follow. Having said that, I did kind of enjoy The Demon you just have to pay attention while you are watching it. That by no means means that you will come out understanding the film 100%, but at least you will have a shot then.

We start off this film with the Parker family being attacked by some strange man who tries to suffocate the mother (Moira Winslow) whilst making away with their baby girl into the woods. This segways into the introduction of Col. Bill Carson (Cameron Mitchell) a bit later in the film who also has a touch of the old ESP. He ends up somehow trying to assist Mr Parker (Peter J. Elliott) in finding the man who has destroyed his family with the fair warning though that this is no ordinary man we are dealing with here but a demon of sorts.

And this is the only real indication that this stalker/killer is anything but just that - a stalker and a killer. I’m not sure about the whole demon reference or the occasional scenes that drift back to the ocean as there didn’t seem to be much of a call for either in the film.

Back to the naughty little strumpets though as the cousin team of Mary (Jennifer Holmes) and Jo (Zoli Marki) are being stalked by our aforementioned “demon” (I parenthesize demon because I am pretty sure that a real demon would not have to wear black leather gloves with fake claws attached - they would have the real thing, right?). They are both young and in love with strapping beaus but are they any match for this demon? Well you would have to watch the movie to find out. And as I stated earlier - be prepared to pay attention though I am not sure what good that will do . . .

There was definitely a scene in this film involving Joan Parker and the Colonel that was fabulously unexpected and made me howl will laughter while simultaneously shocking me. And the ending did leave you a bit unsettled which is sometimes a good way to be left at the end of a film. At least it elicited some type of emotion which is more than I can say for a lot of films these days.

So I give a hesitant recommend to The Demon. If you go into it not expecting to understand it in all of it’s 70's glory then you may just enjoy this strange little ditty.

Directed by
Percival Rubens

Writing credits
(in alphabetical order)
Percival Rubens

Cast (in credits order) verified as complete
Jennifer Holmes ... Mary
Cameron Mitchell ... Col. Bill Carson
Craig Gardner ... Dean Turner
Zoli Marki ... Jo (as Zoli Markey)
Peter J. Elliott ... Mr. Parker
Moira Winslow ... Joan Parker
Mark Tanous ... Bobby
Diane Burmeister
George Korelin
Vera Blacker
John Parsonson ... The truck driver
Ashleigh Sendin
Graham Kennard
April Galetti
Jannie Wienand
Amanda Wildman