Movie Review: The Demented (2013)

Fear is something that has been forgotten in the horror movie lately. It's a genre that decided that gore and nudity trumped all else. Every so often, I find something that can actually put me on edge and make me feel worried for the characters. I'm also very tired of the zombie genre. It's something that's becoming tired and awful. Even worse is the zombie-created-by-a-sickness realm. It's a dead horse (pun intended) that filmmakers are beating the hell out of. Some way, somehow, The Demented, like a corpse climbing from its shallow grave, manages to live in this world while keeping itself above the fray. Yes, it's a zombie via disease story that actually broke through the muck and into my shriveled little heart.



We start out with the usual horror movie tropes. Cute couple that features a smart jock and an even smarter and slightly skeptical girl heads out with jocky jock and his trampy girlfriend to stay in a house owned by silver spoon aggressive douchebag and his bitchy girlfriend who seems to hate him but puts up with his shit. It's everything Cabin in the Woods made fun of. When I saw all of this, I groaned. Then it happened. Smart skeptical girl was standing outside when a missile flew over their suburban New Orleans area vacation home. It landed with an explosion and a small green mushroom cloud. Two fighter planes flew overhead, and everyone started to panic.

This is when it got good. Jocky jock talked to his Army brother, who told him there was a quarantine of the area. Rich douche talked to his lawyer dad, who told him to stay put. Some wanted to leave, and others wanted to stay. That's when a very unhealthy looking dog made an appearance on the front lawn, and it would not leave.

As the group encounters sick people during the effort to escape the town full of crazies, the movie does a great job building tension and suspense. I really had given up on anything zombie, but The Demented turned me around. It's nice to see someone take something that's been through the mill and recycle it in a way that makes it brand new, even if you know what it started as originally. Even the ending is unique, and it really messes with you. I recommend The Demented. It's definitely worth your time.