The Demon Disorder, Shudder review: lots of heart … and other organs

The Demon Disorder sees three brothers coping with the trauma of their father’s death while wrestling with the demons he passed down to them. Sorry, no, not demons in the metaphorical sense, though there are plenty of those – their most urgent problem is a literal demon.

Years after the death of his father, Graham Reilly (Christian Willis) gets a surprise visit from his brother Jake (Dirk Hunter), who convinces him to return to his childhood home. Problems with the electricity, strange sounds in the night, and the sudden uptick in their cows and chickens dying grisly deaths has Jake convinced that the demon that took over their father’s body is now parasitically growing inside the youngest Reilly brother, Phillip (Charles Cottier).

The film doesn’t waste time with ambiguity: from the second Phillip enters the scene with mysterious sores under his arm, it’s clear that he is suffering from no ordinary affliction, and what’s happening to him could only be the work of a demon. The mystery is instead how two non-believers will banish a demon before it kills their brother.

The Demon Disorder is the directorial debut of the Australian special effects artist Steve Boyle, who has previously worked on creature effects for Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002), Daybreakers (2009), and What We Do In The Shadows (2014). Boyle’s history in visual effects served him well here: the demon of the title and what it does to its hosts is rendered with an impressive balance of visceral unpleasantness and giddy gross-out humour.

Being a possession narrative whose threat must be stopped by atheists lends The Demon Disorder a pragmatism that allows it to step out from the long shadow cast by The Exorcist (1973), a rare feat for a film about demon possession.

Willis and Hunter imbue Graham and Jake with a certain down-to-earth directness about their situation that works in the film’s favour. They breeze past the usual questions of a supernatural narrative, skipping over ‘how could this be real?’ and ‘what does it want?’ straight to the most pressing question: ‘how do we kill it?’

The Demon Disorder: humour

The Reilly brothers’ direct approach also brings about moments of humour that balance the horror. As a family of farmers and mechanics, they’re out of their depth in matters of the otherworldly but find the resolve to press on because, well, what’s the alternative?

Watching Jake and Graham work together to contain a demonically animated tumour they pulled out of Phillip reminded me of watching my uncles try to shoo a big spider out of the house. Turns out that the method of trapping the thing in a plastic container works just as well for a spider as an incomprehensible nightmare from hell.

The emotional core, the horror and the humour of the film rests on the relationship between the brothers, which we see playing out in scenes where they work together as a family, bickering and teasing each other all the while.

Tobie Webster rounds out the cast as Graham’s employee Cole, who chooses the wrong night to work late in the garage and finds herself dealing with a demon-possessed Phillip puking blood on her boots. In scenes where the ensemble play off one another, the cast holds their own opposite the always excellent John Noble, who once again shows off his skill at embodying two versions of the same character.

Watching Noble play the boys’ father pre- and post-possession brings to mind his dual roles as Walter and Walternate in Fringe (2008-2013), or as the young optimistic Ilthuran, who grew into the old and jaded Diviner in Star Trek: Prodigy (2021-2024).

Outside of the special effects, the emotional core of the film is its greatest asset, but there are times when it falls flat. Without giving too much away, there is a key scene that dramatises the heart of the Reilly brothers’ trauma, but it’s not given much room to breathe, to stand on its own as an emotional moment before a jump scare introduces the next action beat.

That said, the moments of horror and action are beautifully executed. Credit must be given to the sound department as well: each gory visual is paired with the wettest and most unsettling squelches, splorps and plaps that the foley studio had to offer.

The Demon Disorder is a lot of fun held together by a deeply human story. Its flaws are outweighed by its strengths, and the director’s special effects experience works to stretch the small budget into an impressive directorial debut grounded by some terrific performances to create a possession film with a lot of heart. And several other organs.

The Demon Disorder screened as part of the 2024 Melbourne International Film Festival and will be available on Shudder from 6 September.