'Sorry About the Demon' (2023) Reaction

When it comes to streaming services, Shudder has been the top platform for the horror genre since 2016 — to go along with their vast archive of established titles and properties, the AMC-affiliated network also has their fair share of original content, from feature films like the Scare Package anthologies and the foreign werewolf tale Teddy (2021), to documentaries and short-form series like the rock-doc This is GWAR (2022) and the behind-the-scenes industry insight series The Core (2017). Though it was released a month prior, the Shudder Original Sorry About the Demon, has become one of the best new movies for a day like Valentine's Day. Whether you're a romantically pessimistic individual like myself or looking for something to watch with your spooky significant other, there's something for every genre fan with this new romantic horror-comedy. 

For plot context, the logline from Shudder states: "What's worse than getting dumped? For Will, it's finding out that his new place is haunted. Now faced with a quarter-life crisis and a house full of spirits, Will must figure out how to make things right with his ex-girlfriend AND banish the sacrifice-seeking demon residing in his house."

Blending the genres of horror and comedy is much more difficult than one may think — while there have been some wonderful home runs like Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), An American Werewolf in London (1981), Scream (1996), and Hatchet (2007), it's still a thin line to toe and one that countless films have fallen off of. However, Sorry About the Demon is successful in large part to the vision and writing skills of writer-director Emily Hagins, a filmmaker who has been making movies for over half her lifetime, starting with the 2006 zombie cult classic Pathogen. The characters and dialogue of Sorry About the Demon are written so well that it's easy for the viewer to think of a couple in their real life that could be a carbon copy of the onscreen pair. The acting dynamic of Paige Evans and Jon Michael Simpson also help with getting the viewer invested in the plot, with their styles complementing each other very well.

Shot in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, Sorry About the Demon’s crew made their sets from the interior of a Canadian Holiday Inn (the very same as the one used for the 2021 anthology V/H/S94, nonetheless), doing a phenomenal job of turning the hotel into a haunted house for the film. The supporting cast is a lot of fun too, from Jeff McQuitty to Grace Sellers, with each actor adding something to the diegesis and overall environment of the film. It ends on a slight cliffhanger, leading one to believe a sequel could be a potential future venture, but the official status on that remains to be seen. 

All in all, Sorry About the Demon is not only a fun horror comedy, but it offers a refreshing take on the demonic possession subgenre. Horror has been plagued with subpar wannabe imitations of The Exorcist (1973) for the past decade and a half, with each new film feeling like a watered-down version of the one that came before it. Sorry About the Demon offers something that’s as new as it is fun, inventively taking literal liberties with the notion of the figurative mental and emotional “demons” that come with an event like a romantic breakup. To say the least, it’s a highly amusing watch that’s definitely worth checking out — see it for yourself, and thank me later.

To watch Sorry About the Demon on Shudder, click here.

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