Now we shift our 13 days of Halloween to those demons and ghouls lurking in the dark with 1995's 'Demon Knight'. Starring Jada Pinkett Smith, Billy Zane, and William Sadler 'Demon Knight' tells the tale of a demonic entity (Zane) who seeks an ancient talisman which would help him rule the world. It's up to a mysterious stranger and a house of misfits to banish the evil forever. 'Demon Knight' is a film that even to this day doesn't seem to have much of a following. Of course, many fans of the 'Tales from the Crypt' television series have likely seen the film and enjoy it but I don't really hear this movie come up in conversation with most horror fans. I'm not sure what the factors are exactly, but it's a shame because I feel the film is highly underrated and thanks to Scream Factory the film has been released in High Definition for everyone to enjoy.
What I love about 'Demon Knight' is that while it may not have started out as a 'Tales' film, it hits the tones and themes dead on. It has the dark humor, gross out monster and gore effects, and a wonderful cast. This is one of few films I can say where I think every individual actor does an excellent job here and even in Oscar winning pictures that's pretty rare. Even when they throw in a kid character tagging along, he really doesn't cause any trouble or make stupid mistakes for the purpose of plot and that's extremely rare especially in horror. The highlight performance however goes to the evil Collector played by Billy Zane who is someone I always welcome into a movie. Even a film like 'Titanic' which I don't particularly care for I always enjoy Zane's work. Here he is a very funny bad guy while also having some menace to him and its easily one of his best roles.
'Demon Knight' is also the best looking film of the three 'Tales from the Crypt' movies with a strong emphasis on blues and foggy grays along with the occasional flash of garish green and reds to shock the senses. As for the music, you get the usual 90's heavy metal soundtrack typical with horror films of the time but at least we get the famous Danny Elfman theme and intro for 'Tales from the Crypt' in the film's opening and ending so that's a plus. 'Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight' is a great horror comedy with a wonderful cast, funny and creative writing, and it's a perfect Halloween treat for any fan of the TV show or those late night spookfests you saw as a child. It's a film that you should definitely check out.
( A )
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