Reviews

A semi-sequel to the "Doctor Who" story 'The Daemons', this explores the nature of the Daemons and their connection to humanity. Both Kate Lethbridge-Stewart and Capt. Douglas Cavendish (played by husband and wife team Miles Richardson and Beverley Cressman) return from the earlier film 'Downtime', although their characters are expanded upon perfectly as this is very nearly a two-hander. That's not to say there's no plot - there is, a complex one which begs a sequel. On the basis of this such a sequel would be highly welcome - the direction is the most assured of a "Who" spin-off so far, the picture quality surpasses anything we've seen before, Alistair Lock's score is suitably chilling, and the cast (including the late, great Michael Wisher's son Andrew) are uniformly excellent. There are nods to "Doctor Who" (I'd give details, but the joy is in spotting them alone!) but this is strong enough to stand up on its own, easily bettering the story which inspired it (this is far more atmospheric for one thing, and the ending more logical). Credit is due to both David Howe and Keith Barnfather for this, and one hopes it won't be long before they're teaming up again, perhaps for 'Daemos Dawning'?

The back cover of the VHS release claims that the film was banned (by the Ministry of Good Cinema, presumably) and that now 14 seconds had been deleted the film could be now be seen in the UK, but watching was not advisable and could cause distress. It certainly distressed me. Never in my life have I been subjected to as much dross . Some friends go to an island and one by one they are killed. None of the deaths is horrific in the slightest, which makes one wonder what is in the missing 14 seconds. 'Dire' goes no way to explaining how bad this film is. The plot makes little sense, the lighting is poor, the acting indifferent. I have never before seen a horror film so unhorrifying. Be warned; there is nothing about this which is enjoyable. Not unintentionally funny, not frightening, simply a wasted hour and a half of my life: I urge you not to watch it.

I'd vote this a 0 if I could! Easily the worst film I have ever seen, and how anyone can think otherwise is beyond me! Badly written, badly directed, badly plotted, badly acted, could this have been any worse?