The Science Fiction Horror and Fantasy Film Review
A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Many demons come from an implied Judaeo-Christian tradition where they are minions of The Devil, although there are also numerous depictions of demons from other religions, in particular in Japanese and Chinese beliefs.
Frequently screen demons are associated with The Occult and Black Magic. The first major depictions of demons on screen came with The Exorcist (1973) and its creation of the Possession film. Here the demon was seen as an evil entity possessing an innocent and spitting taunts and obscenities until it could be banished by a member of the priesthood. Depictions of demons possessing people and being exorcised by Catholic priests have been numerous since then, all drawing on the cliches established by ‘The Exorcist.
Many modern works create pantheons of demons, which can be fought by various heroes steeped in occult knowledge or be encountered in sword and sorcery works. We have even had a number of demon superheroes with the likes of Ghost Rider and Hellboy.
Ralph Bakshi left behind counter-culture animation to embark on this original fantasy film that comes with a trippily surreal quality, mixing fantasy tropes with a science-fictional rationalisation
A Chinese-made Wu Xia film with an exquisitely polished blend of CGI and visuals. This rather intriguingly operates as a blend of Wu Xia and murder mystery
An animated film based on the hit playing card phenomenon, which proves largely incomprehensible to anybody not versed in the game
A very rare anime film about a fairy who descends to Earth from the heavens and takes the side of downtrodden peasants in standing against a greedy landowner and a demon god
Lush, visually extravagant Chinese-made Wu Xia film, shot with an epic widescreen eye that looks amazing. It falls down somewhat when the two leads become replaced by CGI and only look like the avatars from a videogame
Tsui Hark’s follow-up to Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain the film that popularised Wu Xia cinema. The point where Tsui discovered CGI and latches onto it to do more than just show flying swordsmen but create an exquisitely dreamy world of pure fantastique imagination