Demon
Orchard, The | Release Date: September 9, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
80
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
17
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerSep 9, 2016
Starts slowly and ominously and gradually accelerates into a frenzy. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangSep 8, 2016
Perhaps it’s best to appreciate Demon not for what it implies but for what it simply and unmistakably is: A bravura testament to a talent silenced far too soon. Read full review
90
The New York TimesManohla DargisSep 8, 2016
Mr. Wrona is very good at thickening the air with mystery, and right from the start he slips in enigmatic details and figures — the prowling bulldozer, a keening woman, a scowling man — that disturb the ordinary scene. Like pebbles dropped in water, these disturbances create concentric circles that spread, disrupting everything. Read full review
90
ScreenCrushMatt SingerSep 7, 2016
Whatever Demon’s autobiographical elements, this film feels incredibly personal; like a howl of pain ripped straight out of someone’s soul. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovSep 28, 2016
The Polish/Israeli co-production picked up the Best Horror Feature award at Fantastic Fest 2015, and it’s a shame that Wrona is gone, but at least we have this superlative example of his cinematic brilliance. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comSimon AbramsSep 9, 2016
The horrors of Demon are disturbing because you can see how ordinary they might seem to anyone who isn't paying enough attention. Read full review
88
Slant MagazineChuck BowenJul 12, 2016
Demon offers a tidal wave of unrelieved longing and regret, with a devilish streak of absurdism. Read full review
83
The Film StageJared MobarakSep 7, 2016
Demon becomes a siren to never forget the past or the many bodies left on battlefields of horrific wars. No matter how civilized or at peace we are now, history will always haunt us. Read full review
83
ConsequenceMichael RoffmanAug 5, 2016
Wrona’s near-flawless execution serves up a terror that’s enlightening and paralyzing all the same. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzOct 6, 2016
Demon is a powerful film, one that makes us wonder what greater films Wrona might have made. Read full review
80
Time OutJoshua RothkopfSep 6, 2016
It must be noted that Wrona, a director of uncommon promise, committed suicide at a festival where this film was playing. It’s impossible to know his private pain, but it seems like he got a lot of it up onscreen. Read full review
75
Washington PostAlan ZilbermanSep 15, 2016
Demon is not a horror film, exactly, although it can prove disturbing. Wrona jumbles several genres together, including dark comedy, to illuminate larger, more ambitious themes. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniSep 15, 2016
At once a shocking, baroque freak-out and a finely tuned, brilliantly paced surrealist black comedy. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleDavid LewisSep 15, 2016
The exquisitely shot Demon is not gory or particularly scary, but it has its fair share of chills. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeSep 7, 2016
It’s the kind of film that, rather like its mournful title apparition, clings to your sleeve and follows you home. Read full review
75
The PlaylistKimber MyersAug 5, 2016
Demon is a film that improves the longer it sits with you, as various images seep into your consciousness and reappear without warning. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeSep 7, 2016
Things head eventually in an abstract direction that may have played better onstage than it does here ("we must forget what we didn't see here," guests are eventually instructed), but a compelling atmosphere lingers. Read full review
60
VarietyJoe LeydonJul 12, 2016
Up until its unfortunate third-act detour from intriguing verisimilitude to frustrating abstraction, director Marcin Wrona’s Demon enthralls as an atmospheric ghost story with a cheeky undercurrent of absurdist humor. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatySep 8, 2016
A so-so meditation on historical amnesia. It’s also so weighted down with mysticism and metaphor it forgets to quicken your pulse or whiten your knuckles. Read full review
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