The Irrefutable Truth About Demons

Herald rating: * *

Cast: Karl Urban, Katie Wolfe, Jonathon Hendry

Director: Glenn Standring

Rating: R16 (violence, offensive language, drug use, sex scenes)

Running time: 90 mins

Screening: Village, Hoyts cinemas

Review: Russell Baillie

It just sounds like a bad mixture of Aleister Crowley, Dracula and Mythology 101. Whoops, forgot the quote marks - that's actually a line from Dr Harry Ballard (Urban), and when it comes to the New Zealand horror flick he's at the centre of, he may well have a point.

It seems because of his scepticism in matters underworldly, he's being chased by a mob who are either earthly servants of Beelzebub, or at least a dangerous cult with a fiendish leader named Le Valliant (Hendry) whose evil henchpersons look like they've got all of Marilyn Manson's albums.

Yes, it's silly, really. But here's another Ballard line: "You have a talent for making the ridiculous sound probable"- something which could be said of first-time feature director Standring and his movie. Well, if not exactly probable, at least engaging, consistently creepy, and occasionally startling for much of its one and a half hours.

Though being a horror B-flick, and one with pretensions towards being a lesson in demonic lore, it tends to overdo it frequently and bloodily.

Every time Ballard drifts off to sleep, he wakes up to find some new threat or atrocity - or is he dreaming, going mad, or, given that he's not averse to the occasional spliff, hallucinating?

There's something cutely exploitational about the amount of screen time Urban spends without a shirt. The actor certainly pulls the character off while suffering various indignities. But still, rather than shout, "Look out behind you!" there's a greater temptation to heckle: "You'll catch a chill."

The battle between Ballard and Le Valliant (wonder if he's related to Holden in Stickmen?) involves the spectre of Ballard's late brother, his lawyer girlfriend, his stoner office assistant, an oddball goth-gal Benny (Wolfe) who has inside knowledge of the cult, and much driving around Wellington at night.

The trouble is, somewhere along the way it starts repeating itself, loses momentum and does that while any plot logic goes, somewhat suitably, to hell.

Come its DVD release, here's hoping there are enough extra features to explain the ending, which involves DIY heart transplants and a couple of creatures who look like they've escaped zombie video game Resident Evil II (that's a compliment, by the way).

It is the first New Zealand horror in a long time and one that has apparently already proved with its overseas sales that local low-budget films can go into the black by doing just that with their storytelling.

But while TITAD is admirably gruesome, stylish and outlandish, it's still as wonky in the story department as that opening line suggests.