Demon | Polish director Marcin Wrona's hauntingly absurd horror film

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Slow-burn supernatural drama.

A lavish wedding reception in rural Poland descends into chaos after the bridegroom starts behaving very strangely. It appears the tormented wandering spirit of a dead girl, what Jewish folklore calls a dybbuk, has taken possession of Itay Tiran’s groom, a Polish Londoner returning to his ancestral country. Don’t be misled by this plot summary or the film’s title.

Slow-burn supernatural drama Demon is actually closer to absurdist social comedy than it is to horror. Indeed, there’s something positively Altmanesque about the spectacle of the bride’s father plying the guests with more and more vodka to distract them from the groom’s bizarre behaviour.

Underlying the humour, however, is a haunting message about the fate of Poland’s Jews and the repression of historical memory. As one character chilling observes, ‘The whole country is built on corpses’. Tragically, director Marcin Wrona committed suicide on the eve of his film’s release.

Certificate 15. Runtime 94 mins. Director Marcin Wrona.

Demon available on DVD from Terracotta.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=982hEev1E6Y

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.