“Demon House” Review

Zak Bagans’ documentary, Demon House, was released in select theaters and Video on Demand to various platforms, including Amazon Video, back in March, but it’s recently become free for Prime members.

Thanks to my Prime membership, I was finally able to watch it.

As mass hysteria breaks-out over an alleged demonic possession in an Indiana home, referred to as a “Portal to Hell,” “Ghost Adventures” host and paranormal investigator Zak Bagans buys the house, sight unseen, over the phone.  He and his crew then become the next victims of the most documented case of demonic possession in US history…the “house of 200 demons.

Warning: Not Suitable for All Audiences

I was curious about it because the film’s trailer came with a “view at your own risk” warning.

Why? Because it was that scary? That graphic? That unsettling? That cursed?

Zak states in the trailer that the film is cursed. He doesn’t say exactly why, though. He does allude to the fact it might have to do with the demon everyone believes lives at the house.

The film had a similar warning but upped the ante, so to speak: Beware! Watch this and you may become cursed and/or demonically possessed too:

The following documentary may not be suitable for all audiences. This film shows real people, places and events involving alleged demonic possession. Demonologists believe that demons can attach themselves to you through other people, objects, and electronic devices.

Catch that? “Electronic devices.” TVs and computers qualify.

You’ve been warned…

Cursed?

Zak believes two things about the house:

1. A demon terrorized the house’s former tenants, Latoya Ammons and her three kids, even allegedly possessing them.
2. Anyone who ever spent time in the house will be cursed and bad luck will befall them.

Even Zak himself was allegedly cursed by the house when he suffered permanent eye damage, as he talked about in a Den of Geek interview:

More importantly, in the bigger picture of this, to know that this hit me within a day after I left the Demon House. There’s no explanation to that. I’m looking for someone to explain to me how that couldn’t be related to what was going on inside of that house.

During the movie he lists all the other bad things that happened to crew and others associated with the house, including Father Michael Maginot (the priest he consulted for the case), the Ammons’ family’s social worker, one of the cops that was called in on the Ammons family case, and Dr. Barry Taff (a world-renowned parapsychologist).

Convinced?

The only demons this movie convinced me about are of the greed and fame variety.

For me, it raised too many questions, among them:

• If this house was that powerful, that cursed, that capable of unleashing evil –particularly through even so much as watching a film about it– why on earth would Zak release it for public consumption?
• Latoya Ammons wouldn’t talk to Zak. Why? Zak makes it appear she was bought out by another filmmaker. That might be the reason. Maybe she wasn’t smart enough to start a bidding war for her story? Or maybe she knew she was making the whole story up and was afraid of getting found out?
• How come the squatters living in the alleged “Demon House” never experienced any bad luck or demons? (Until one of them realized there was money to be made from telling stories, as is part of Zak’s documentary.) Still, if there was a demon, why didn’t it ever bother them?
• If this house is a “Portal to Hell,” which was never established, why would Zak tear it down? How does he know if that will end the demon’s existence (or demons if there are more than one)? Could he have just opened the portal to let them roam freely? Also, why not keep it as a study aid? Seems to me it’d be a perfect opportunity for learning more about demons.
• Why on earth would he save any part of the house for his museum if he was that distraught about the physical condition it had left him in? Wouldn’t you want to see all of the house destroyed? (Not if you can put it in your museum and make money on it, I guess.)

Rating

This film is definitely not any kind of glimpse into serious paranormal investigating. The questions I raised above are just a few of the holes I spotted in the storyline.

But as far as pure spooky, sensational entertainment goes? It’s pretty decent.

For that reason, Skell and I give it 3.5 out of 5 skulls.