Demon Kiss

Demon Kiss (2008)

Directed By:  Dennis Devine

Review Written By: Horse
Mondo Film & Video Guide Contributor
IMDb.com Link

“An attempt to summon a demon using the sacrifice of a prostitute misfires – the evil entity instead possesses the body of the intended victim! With the ability to leap between hosts, how can it be stopped before it tracks down its target?”

So reads the press kit with this screener. Haven’t I seen this flick before, twice? Oh yeah, first it was Shocker, then Fallen. This film really reminded me of Roger Corman pictures, and if Corman would’ve hired Jim Wynorski or Fred Olen Ray to do an interpretation of Fallen, we probably would’ve gotten this. Dozens of hookers, fifths of blood (not quite gallons, I keeps it real!) and a couple great kills. Mix these all together with a (mostly) competent cast and good cinematography and you have a very entertaining film.

From the opening credit font you can feel that this is a low-budget flick. Something about that font and the shots mixed in scream low-low to me. We meet Amanda Stevens (sexy Elizabeth Di Prinzio, IMDB is wrong as fuck listing Jessica T. Perez) who’s talking to a tape recorder about how she’s a prostitute and you don’t find hookers on the street, you find them on the internet. On her site someone named “D-Man” (get it, huh huh?) is looking for a “holy hooker”. Amanda passes on this one, giving us a story. Another web-whore, Tiffany, takes up D-Man and meets with him.

Talk To The Hand

D-Man is one disturbed fucker who looks a lot like Evan Seinfeld of Biohazard and now porn fame. He offers a thousand dollars to Tiffany for her to handcuff herself to the bed. In a moment of sheer brilliance, she cuffs herself to him and he doesn’t have the key. He does have his satanic bible though, and reads the sacred passage. Something goes wrong and she is possessed, not him. The synopsis told the truth! A knife in the eye ends the bad acting of D-Man and gives Tiff a nice coating of blood. She then starts whistling some two-note diddy that will be the equivalent of “Time is on My Side” from Fallen, and is the only way to know who’s possessed until they break out the demon voice later on. They obviously couldn’t afford rights to a known tune or risk anything close to one.

Katie Checks Out

Enter shrink to the whores, and former whore herself, Dr. Lacey (co-writer and producer Sally Mullins) who has Amanda on her poor excuse for a couch. This is where watching a second time comes in handy, as I missed Amanda mentioning she is “a descendant of the most famous prostitute of all time”. Although knowing that may be bad, as part of the fun of the first viewing was trying to figure out why the demon wanted this one particular whore. This makes it much more evident. They are interrupted by Detective Smith, who needs Lacey for the Tiffany case. We also meet Det. Gonzales. Tiffany is still fully possessed and cuffed to D-Man’s corpse. After some pleasantries, she tells Lacey to “go fuck yourself with a jagged crucifix”. This girl’s a keeper, and looks like a sluttier Eliza Dushku from most angles. She also says she is “looking for the mother of all whores”, and will only talk to Smith.

Smith is drawn to her when she taunts him and asks for a kiss. Bad idea, since kissing is how the demon jumps from person to person. So now Smith is possessed and Tiffany confused. You don’t know what’s happening when you are possessed; it’s like a sober black-out. So, Tiffany goes to jail and Smith goes looking for Amanda. First starting with the guy who runs the website “Heavenly Bodies.com”. Trying to kiss him doesn’t work so well and Smith leaves with nothing. Funny that on her webpage Amanda is listed as “Amanda Saint”, yet in her video Smith watches at the station, she’s “Amanda Angel”. Which one is it, or is she just a whore of many names? Must be many names, since web-dude says they change so much he doesn’t know who’s who.

Smith emails Amanda as D-Man, but is told she’s quit the business. New plan, hire two other girls, possess them and get closer! I don’t have much experience with hookers, but do many really walk into unlit apartments asking if anyone is there? Monica does! She also doesn’t find it funny that a coat and hat are propped up on a broomstick to look like a person. Great exchange when Smith kisses her and she becomes possessed. He’s completely confused and doesn’t know where he is. “This fucking whore doesn’t know shit about Amanda”, says Monica and she kisses him back, returning him to demon and her to ‘what the fuck just happened’ mode. He uses the broomstick to effectively end their meeting, an effect I had to rewind instantly. On closer look (slo-mo, pausing) the effect is quite fake looking, but in real time it’s brutal, shocking and convincing.

Her friend September shows up later than usual to find Monica’s skewered carcass. She also has something special about her: she can see the demon as a shadow behind Smith. Gonzales thinks they are both crazy when Smith starts asking her about Amanda. Meanwhile, Amanda continues to lament into her tape recorder. A smart hooker with model looks, fully literate, clean and sober, and with a life plan? You know we’re in the movies now, that shit doesn’t happen in real life!

Wrong hole, Hey, WRONG HOLE!

End of play by play now, got to leave something for the reader to see themselves. I’m stopping at forty minutes into ninety, so there’s many more twists, turns and possessions to come. Instead let’s go to some final thoughts and the vital stats:

This might be the best shot on video flick I’ve ever seen. That camera feel is often there, but most of the time the film is good enough that the feeling fades away, sometimes completely. The story, while having been done before, is still engaging. Not once during two viewings did I ever hit FF or want to stop watching, and the second viewing was more to count tits and take screenshots than anything else. I do wish they had done more with the September/Katie character. They were onto something there but her screen time was way too limited. The resemblances to Fallen also stop as final motivation and outcome are way different.

For nudity fans, this one has what you want. I counted 8 sets of tits, 5 asses, 3 bushes and 2 Hustler bush shots of one girl. Not zoom-in Hustler shots, but open legged and all out there. I was trying to keep track of who we had seen before as many appear nude repeatedly, I’m 95% sure of my count. Darker side is a couple boob jobs and lots of tats, and the lead is never seen in less than a mini-skirt. Still, most enjoyable. Also 7 people killed by other possessed people and one suicide. Most gore just blood splats and such, but a couple decent effects for the gore hounds. Probably a let down if you’re looking for gore alone, but mixed with nudity and a decent if not sometimes laughable story, it’s a fun flick that should be checked out. DVD comes out on 11/02, it’s worth at least a rent.

Horse is one of the most recent additions to the Mondo Film & Video Guide contributor list.  For more information and how to reach “Horse” please visit our “About Us” section.

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