RIP 62 Minutes
Main Cast: Adam Berasi, Angie Guido
Director: Ryan Cavalline
Jimmy is a small-time thug who’s trying to take off with half a million dollars of his boss’s money. He’s trying to convince his girlfriend Tina to start a new life with him, but Tina says she can’t go, so Jimmy (who wants no loose ends) shoots her before two more thugs show up at Tina’s house to take Jimmy out. Jimmy’s a better shot, though, and he manages to escape with one dead hood back at Tina’s, and the other one stuffed into the trunk of Jimmy’s Grand Am.
Jimmy then goes to see his boss, Tony or Johnny or something like that. Doesn’t matter. Anyway, the boss tells Jimmy that, because Jimmy’s trying to take off with his money, Jimmy’s wife has been killed. Jimmy freaks out and blows everyone away, then runs home to find that, indeed, his wife is no longer with us. Before he can properly plan his retaliation, the killers who took out his wife reveal themselves. A struggle ensues and Jimmy is taken to the basement where he is to be executed.
A strange thing happens at that moment, and Jimmy looks up to see he’s suddenly alone in the basement. He chews his way through the duct tape around his wrists, grabs his magic revolver from the floor (it’s one of those cool movie revolvers that never needs reloading), and goes back upstairs where he finds the thugs who killed his wife. Jimmy takes them out, then jumps back into his Grand Am and a voiceover reminds Jimmy and the viewer that Tina’s grandfather had a cabin in the woods where Jimmy can hide out, and no one will know where he is.
Only problem is, the cabin isn’t entirely secluded. The devil sure knows where it is, anyway. And when he shows up to claim Jimmy’s soul for all the horrible things he’s done, all hell breaks loose. Wow, I can’t believe I actually used that line. And it’s not even that accurate because, depending on your standards, what really happens is the already crappy DEMON SLAUGHTER gets even worse, worm holing around stupid and barreling full force straight into ridiculous.
See, writer/producer/director Ryan Cavalline doesn’t make very good movies. At least, judging by this one he doesn’t. His dialogue is stuffed with WAY too many F words (when it’s literally every fourth word in your monologue, it loses its impact), his effects are shameful, and his actors are such only in that they are acting like they know what they’re doing. Truth is, however, judging by DEMON SLAUGHTER, Ryan Cavalline is all heart. But in this business, heart’s not gonna be enough.
Then again, maybe my expectations are just too high. Maybe I’ve been spoiled by too many good gangster-horror movies like DUSK TILL DAWN. Maybe I should give Cavalline and company the benefit of the doubt and try to enjoy the movie on its own merits.
And maybe Cavalline could go that extra mile and, when Jimmy’s wife is shot repeatedly in the bare stomach, when Jimmy discovers her underwear-clad body in the bathtub, perhaps showing a bullet hole or two would add to the illusion. Ya think? Or maybe when Jimmy’s shotgun runs out of shells and he tosses it down, don’t have him pick it up ten seconds later and start shooting. Or perhaps if the sound wanted to stop fading every five minutes leaving me with only the picture to watch while the actors mouth words I can’t hear, that might also be something you’d want to look into before the movie’s official premiere.
I mean, I’m no expert, these are just things I, as a moviegoer, would like to suggest that in my limited wisdom might add to the effect of improving the quality of your movie. I’m just saying. So yes, it’s entirely possible I’m just being too hard on Cavalline and DEMON SLAUGHTER, but it’s also entirely possible the movie just sucked. You can’t have two thugs outside firing automatic weapons at your trailer without any damage to the inside. Surely a window was shot out somewhere. But Jimmy just strolls down the hallway while they’re outside shooting as if nothing’s happened, calmly collects his bag, and heads for the back door. You know, I can overlook the predictable plot device that allows this movie to devolve into absurdity, but for God’s sake if you’re going to show so many shootouts in one movie, show the damage as well. Nothing screams “fake shootout” quite like a hundred gunshots with nothing being destroyed.
Cavalline regular Adam Berasi plays Jimmy, and he wants to play a good bad guy, but I think his eagerness got in the way and he’s overdoing it through the whole movie. And Cavalline’s dialogue wasn’t helping at all. Truth be told, the two biggest things holding this movie down were the dialogue and the acting. I reiterate to all low-budget filmmakers: your friends are NOT actors, so stop using them.
But those problems aside, the quality of the entire thing was just bad. The whole movie looked cheap, from the quality of the video (no film stock here, this was straight RCA video camera quality) to the locations, to the props, to the “special” effects. DEMON SLAUGHTER had aspirations that the minds and money behind it couldn’t live up to. The end result was a tragic mess. I don’t mind a cheap movie. Some of my best memories are of cheap movies. But there’s a fine line between cheap and competent, and cheap and amateur. I don’t think I need to specify on which side of that line DEMON SLAUGHTER falls.
C. Dennis Moore is the author of over 60 published short stories and novellas in the speculative fiction genre. Most recent appearances are in the Dark Highlands 2, What Fears Become, Dead Bait 3 and Dark Highways anthologies. His novels are Revelations, and the Angel Hill stories, The Man in the Window, The Third Floor, and The Flip.
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