Psycho's Movie Reviews #205: Tales From The Crypt: Demon Knight (1995)

Tales from the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight is a 1995 American horror comedy film directed by Ernest Dickerson, starring Billy Zane, William Sadler, and Jada Pinkett. Brenda Bakke, C. C. H. Pounder, Dick Miller and Thomas Haden Church co-star.

Demon Knight is a feature-length film presented by the HBO series Tales from the Crypt, and features scenes with the Crypt Keeper (voiced by John Kassir, as in the series) at the film's beginning and ending. The film was followed by Bordello of Blood; although it is not a direct sequel, the key artefact from this film makes an appearance.

Plot

On a desert road in New Mexico, a powerful demon in human form, The Collector, pursues drifter Frank Brayker. The vehicles crash and Brayker flees. Local drunk Uncle Willy takes him to a decommissioned church converted into a boarding house, where he rents a room and observes the residents: owner Irene, prostitute Cordelia, postal clerk Wally, and a convict on work release named Jeryline. A misogynistic cook named Roach arrives and informs the group about a theft attempt on his employer's car, unaware it was Brayker, and a suspicious Irene calls the sheriff. Sheriff Tupper and his deputy Bob encounter The Collector at the crash site, who convinces them that Brayker is a dangerous thief. At the boarding house, Tupper and Bob learn that Brayker is in possession of an important artefact and that he is carrying false ID. Tupper also gets word from his base that both cars were stolen and he arrests Brayker as well as The Collector. The Collector kills Tupper by punching through his skull. Driven outside by the key-like artifact Brayker possesses, The Collector draws his own blood on the sand and produces a team of demonic creatures.

Brayker uses blood from the artefact to protect the building and tells the group they must wait out the night. Unable to get in, The Collector uses psychic powers to seduce and possess Cordelia. Cordelia kills Wally and cripples Irene before Brayker kills her. The group attempts to escape through old mine tunnels under the building, where Jeryline finds a boy named Danny hiding. The other townsfolk, under demonic possession, drive them back into the church. The residents demand an explanation, and Brayker reluctantly tells them the history of the key artefact. Following the creation of Earth by God, demons used seven keys to focus the power of the cosmos into their hands. When discovered, God created light, which scattered the demons and the keys across the universe. The artefact that Brayker holds is the last key needed to reclaim power; and to protect it, God had a thief named Sirach fill it with the blood of Jesus Christ. The guardians of the key, immortal while holding it, have since passed it on, refilling it with their own blood when they die. Brayker received the key from his commanding officer during World War I. Danny disappears and Jeryline rallies everyone to look for him, during which Roach sneaks the key out of Brayker's satchel.

In the church attic, Irene and Bob discover that Wally was planning to attack the post office with a trunk full of weapons. The Collector soon possesses Uncle Willy, who attacks the others. While battling Willy, Roach makes a deal with The Collector to trade his life for the key, but The Collector betrays and kills him soon after Roach walks away. Brayker retrieves the key in the battle and Irene and Bob sacrifice themselves to stop the remaining minions. In the attic, The Collector brainwashes Danny, who mortally wounds Brayker before Jeryline kills him. As he dies, Brayker initiates Jeryline as a guardian of the key, deactivating all blood seals. The Collector overpowers Jeryline, taking the key from her. When he offers her a place at his side and prepares to take her heart as a trophy when she silently refuses, Jeryline confronts The Collector and spits blood from the key in his face, causing him to revert to his actual demon form before being destroyed.

At dawn, Jeryline refills the key with Brayker's blood and boards a bus with her cat, sealing the door behind them. Down the road, the bus stops to pick up a stranger (Mark David Kennerly), who declines to get on stating that he'll catch the next one. Dressed identically to his predecessor and carrying the same suitcase, Jeryline realizes that he is the next Collector. After exchanging a glance in passing, the new Collector begins following on foot, whistling the theme song to the Tales from the Crypt television series.

Production

Unlike episodes of the HBO series, the story was not adapted from the pages of EC Comics. The first draft of the script was written in 1987, two years prior to the HBO series' debut. It was first intended to be made into a film by director Tom Holland, who planned to shoot it as a follow-up to Child's Play (1988). Holland hired an FX team to do preliminary sketches, but he ultimately went on to direct the box-office bomb Fatal Beauty (1987).

Next, the script wound up in the hands of Pumpkinhead screenwriter Mark Carducci, who sat on it for several years before it was given to Pet Sematary director Mary Lambert. Lambert had some radical ideas for the script, including casting an African American as Brayker to create a theme that the oppressed people of Earth were also its saviours. Once Lambert went on to direct Pet Sematary Two, which was a theatrical bomb, she could not get people to invest in the film.

The script later went to Charles Band's Full Moon Features, but budgetary constraints held up the production in limbo. When it finally made its way onto desks at Joel Silver's Silver Pictures, it was optioned to be the second in a trilogy of Tales from the Crypt theatrical spin-offs. Universal Pictures executives thought the script had more potential than the other two films (Dead Easy and Body Count, neither of which was ultimately produced), and the film was quickly sent into production with a tentative release date of Halloween 1994 (though the release was pushed back to January 1995).

At this point, two versions of the script were created to solve budgetary problems: one with demons and one without. In the latter, the Collector was a Bible salesman who was using a legion of fellow salesman clad in black suits and sunglasses (later revealed to be demons) as his minions. A film called Demon Knight with demons that looked like killer yuppies made everyone nervous, so Universal pitched in some additional money to get some demons on the screen.

A soundtrack containing heavy metal, Hip-hop, industrial metal, glam metal, hardcore punk and alternative rock was released on January 10, 1995 by Atlantic Records. It peaked at 157 on the Billboard 200.

Release/Reception/Box Office

Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 38% of 34 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 4.5/10.Variety wrote that it is "neither funny enough nor scary enough to be fully satisfying as either a shocker or a spoof". Stephen Holden of the New York Times wrote that it half-succeeds at being chilling and funny. David Kronke of the Los Angeles Times called the film "a direct-to-video affair" that was given a theatrical release based on the strength of the franchise. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly rated it D+ and wrote, "Is there anything more dispiriting than trash that flaunts its lack of conviction?" Walter V. Addiego of the San Francisco Examiner called it "a slime-and-gore fest that offers little but a few outrageous sick jokes and the chance to make a mental list of all the horror movies from which it borrows". Edward Guthmann of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that, though the film is dull and slow-paced, "If I were 12, I might've loved it." In a retrospective, Chris Eggertsen of Bloody Disgusting called it "one of the most underrated genre entries of the '90s".

Budget $12 million

Box office $21.1 million

My Review

I can't claim to have seen much of the TV show 'Tales from the Crypt', but I saw Bordello of Blood on TV a few years back and found it to be an enjoyably silly piece of camp. I was expecting similar from this film, and that's pretty much what I got - although Demon Knight is clearly better than Bordello of Blood. The film never takes itself too seriously, and that ensures that it is put across to the audience in the right way. Plots similar to the one featured in this film have been the basis for serious horror films in the past, but the fact that this film has a bit of fun with it is definitely in it's favour. The mythology behind the plot is actually quite good, and follows the idea of a 'collector' who is on the trail of a key bearer. The key he seeks contains the blood of Christ, and there are seven scattered across the globe. This is the last one, and if the collector gets his hands on it could spell the end of the world...the final battle is about to take place, only it happens to be in a motel with a motley crew of different characters.

One of the most surprising things about this film is the cast list! The film features performances from two stars who have received praise recently; Jada Pinkett Smith and Thomas Haiden Church. CCH Pounder, who starred in the critically-acclaimed Baghdad Cafe, appears also, while Dick Miller ensures that there's an ounce of cult status among the cast. The lead roles are taken by William Sadler and Billy Zane. Sadler is good enough, but it's Zane who really makes this film what it is. He gets to enjoy himself entertaining the audience as the lead villain, and ensures that every scene he's in is a lot of fun. For an inexpensive film, the effects are also rather good. They do look cheap, but the demons look more realistic than most computer generated effects. The way that the film pans out reminded me a lot of the Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino flick, From Dusk Till Dawn in that we've got 'the good guys' trapped with some monsters, and we watch as they get picked off one by one. Overall, this isn't a great film; but its lots of fun, and anyone that enjoys silly horror comedies will be right at home with it.

Billy Zane is hilarious as the Collector. It is surely one of the finest portrayals ever of a demon from Hades. He is as cool as cool can get. He should consider playing a vampire in some future Zane adventure. Count Zane. I can see it. How the Academy overlooked this performance is a mystery.

"Demon Knight" is a great horror/action flick. The Crypt Keeper shows up to bookend the simple story of a motel overrun by green eyed demons. The gore is plentiful and gruesome. Every part of the human body is violated. Arms, eyes, hearts and other important organs are punctured with demonic glee. It's demons vs. humans with Zane trying to seduce everybody. Can anyone resist Zane's satanic power? Only the pure of heart will survive.

One last thing, keep an eye out for a familiar face among the party babes in Uncle Willy's seduction scene. Porno superstar Chasey Lain shows up to help push Uncle Willy over to the dark side. Her demonic topless power was too much for any mortal man to resist.

After having seen all the seven seasons of TALES FROM THE CRYPT (and loved most of the episodes) I found out that they produced three movies based on the show's popularity. I was afraid to trying them as movies based on TV shows are hard sells because they simply don't have the same spark of the show, but this time I was wrong because I really loved it and reminded me also of the greatest episodes of the show.

In substance, this movie is fun. It has great performances not only by Zane and Sadler but also from Jada Pinkett, Thomas Haden Church and Charles Fleischer; it has a great story and lots of strange moments just like in the show itself. Not to be missed even if you are not into the show or you have seen only a few episodes. 9/10

{That whole scene at the beginning were Billy Zane is awakening the demons is so disgusting yet really cool. I'm sorry but Billy Zane is such a mood in this film, so ICONIC; I could quote him on the daily}