Charles Philip Moore

(In French, On Cable TV, June 2022) In the sub-basement of bad movies, Demon Wind clearly earns an uncontested place: the film seems put together by writer-director Charles Philip Moore with twine and mercenary intentions, with unexpressive actors, a nonsensical script, medium-low production values and an indifferent execution going for speed rather than competence. But there’s also a craziness to it that makes it more watchable than many films in the same category. There’s an intention to ape Evil Dead’s subjective camera work, for instance, or a bunch of twists and turns that owe more to incompetence but still make the film more fun to follow than the same boring old approach. Definitely getting chummy with the “so bad it’s good” category, the film’s obvious shortcomings in matters of acting, writing and production can be entertaining in their own right… at least for a certain audience in the right frame of mind. I wouldn’t necessarily call the film worthwhile: after all, why waste time chuckling at substandard dreck when there are just as many good-to-great films yet to watch? But everything is relative, and in-between the prospect of watching Demon Wind ironically, or laboriously making your way through yet another dull by-the-numbers monster horror film (or worse, a slasher), there’s no doubt what’s more enjoyable.