Demise Review: Vengeance Served with a Side of Camp

There’s a certain thrill, a nostalgic comfort almost, in rediscovering a genre that seemed to have had its heyday. I’m thinking of those slick, slightly dangerous erotic thrillers from the 1990s, films that always felt like they were playing with fire. Yara Estrada Lowe’s feature directorial debut, Demise, steps boldly into this arena.

The film introduces us to a seemingly idyllic marriage between Caleb (Carlo Mendez) and Celine (Liz Fenning), a picture soon complicated by the presence of Fiona (Crystal Hernandez), a rising fashion designer. The core conflict is as classic as they come: infidelity.

Yet, Lowe sets a particular atmosphere from the outset, hinting at a series of devastating revelations poised to send Celine’s world, and perhaps her sanity, into a precipitous spiral. It’s a familiar setup, but one that promises a journey into obsession and retribution, carrying an undercurrent of the kind of tension that defined an earlier era of thrillers, making one lean in with anticipation for the coming storm.

The Cracks in the Facade

Demise lays its foundational story with a patient, almost traditional hand. We see Caleb and Celine in their domestic space, with Celine’s yearning for a child acting as a palpable emotional undercurrent. This desire, presented as the keystone of her future happiness, makes the subsequent betrayals cut all the deeper.

Caleb’s clandestine involvement with Fiona is revealed not just as a simple affair, but as a significant, year-long relationship, a detail underscored through flashbacks that give depth to their connection. The film uses these brief glimpses into the past not to excuse, but to contextualize the intensity of the affair.

Then comes the series of blows for Celine: the crushing news of her infertility, immediately compounded by the discovery of Caleb’s secret and, the ultimate twist of the knife, Fiona’s pregnancy. The narrative efficiency here is brutal. Caleb’s swift departure to build a new family with Fiona solidifies Celine’s isolation and ignites the slow-burning fuse of her transformation.

The way the story presents these initial scenes, with a focus on Celine’s perspective, almost forces a kind of empathy for her profound sense of loss, laying the groundwork for the dramatic shifts to follow. It reminds me of how the most effective dramas often begin by meticulously building a world, only to gleefully tear it apart.

Portrait of a Vengeance

The true engine of Demise kicks into gear with Celine’s profound transformation, and it’s here that Liz Fenning takes absolute command of the screen. Her portrayal charts a harrowing, yet captivating, course from a heartbroken wife to a figure of calculated and escalating vengeance.

It’s a performance that manages to be both grandly theatrical and disturbingly intimate. We witness her initial shock curdle into a steely resolve, her actions progressing from impulsive acts of vandalism and arson – a particularly memorable scene involving a petrol can comes to mind – to a more insidious and destructive scheme aimed at Caleb and Fiona. What I find particularly interesting from a narrative standpoint is the film’s moral ambiguity regarding Celine. There’s little attempt to pathologize or explicitly condemn her; instead, the camera acts as a somewhat detached observer of her increasingly unhinged behavior. This reminds me of certain independent films that trust the audience to grapple with complex characters without providing easy answers. Fenning navigates this challenging terrain with remarkable skill, conveying a spectrum of emotion from raw grief to icy determination. Her performance becomes the film’s undeniable anchor, making Celine’s vendetta feel almost like a dark, operatic spectacle.

Twisted Logic, Guilty Pleasure

Watching Demise, one gets the sense that Yara Estrada Lowe is knowingly winking at the audience, embracing the more sensational aspects of her chosen genre. The film has a distinct low-budget sensibility, a sort of “afternoon movie” vibe that actually works in its favor, differentiating it from the glossier productions it emulates.

This isn’t a film that relies on subtlety; its primary source of entertainment is a cascade of plot twists, each more audacious than the last. While some of these narrative turns might make you pause and question their plausibility, they are delivered with such unwavering commitment that it’s hard not to get swept along for the ride. It’s the kind of storytelling that prioritizes momentum and shock value, and I found myself recalling the sheer, unadulterated fun of those B-movies that knew exactly what they were.

Carlo Mendez as Caleb and Crystal Hernandez as Fiona deliver performances that service this heightened, slightly soapy reality effectively. Demise doesn’t reinvent the thriller, but it confidently revels in its tropes, offering a dramatic and often wildly unpredictable experience. It’s a testament to how a focused vision, even with modest resources, can deliver a thoroughly engaging piece of genre entertainment.

Demise premiered at The Culver Theater on February 21, 2024, and became available for streaming on February 27, 2024, on platforms including Apple TV, Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Vudu, Tubi, and Comcast.

Full Credits

Director: Yara Estrada Lowe

Writers: Yara Estrada Lowe

Producers and Executive Producers: Yara Estrada Lowe, Mycole Metcalf, Anabelle D. Munro, Erman Baradi, Jeff Olan, Jon Eichelberger, Steven Lowe

Cast: Carlo Mendez, Liz Fenning, Crystal Hernandez, Morris Jude, Richard Rivera, Lucy Serrano, Caitlin Rose Williams, Lamar Alexander, Maralyn Facey, Levi John Johnson, Noah Solo Scheffler, Stirling Munro

Directors of Photography (Cinematographers): Justin Aguirre, Alex van Putten

Composer: Jeff Clayton