NEKROTRONIC
Australia, 2018, 95 minutes, Colour.
Ben O'Toole, Monica Bellucci, Caroline Ford, Tess Haubrich, Epine Bob Savea, David Wenham, Felix Williamson.
Directed by Kiah Roache- Turner.
Succinct review: for those who enjoy this kind of thing, it is very watchable.
But, of course, the question arises: what is this kind of thing?
This is the work of two brothers, Kai and Tristan Roache- Turner. They have collaborated on short films but made their mark with their feature, Wyrmwood, Road of the Dead (2014), an entry into the world of horror films and zombies. This time they are interested in incarnations of Demons and the necromancers who, with a touch of the Ghostbusters, hunt and destroy them.
The tone is immediately set, some low-budget basic animation, jokingly, and swearingly, giving the audience an overview of the situation in the world, the breakthrough of Demons into the contemporary world, the tradition of those who hunt the Demons. So, a tongue-in-cheek atmosphere is established – with the promise of demon-hunting and, of course, some gory horror.
It is a bit of a shock to find the opening sequence in real life, two men, one Australian, one with Maori or South Sea background, driving a truck full of what used to be called “night soil”. Howard is an earnest driver. Rangi is fixed and fixated on his phone, curious about exotic games and appearances of ghosts. Eventually, with some shock, they encounter them!
In the meantime, there is the arch-demon, incongruously named Finnegan, especially since she is played by Italian actress, Monica Bellucci, a female version of the Darth Vader desire to be on the dark side. She has many minions, Demons disguised as humans, and she gains her energy by drawing out the souls and life force of human victims.
There are some shootouts and illustrations of this soul-sucking power but also some serious moments, courtesy of David Wenham, who with his two daughters, Molly and Torquel (Caroline Ford and Tess Haubrich) explains the situation to Howard revealing to him that he is the long lost, thought dead, son of Finnegan. She had killed her husband, lusting for power, building up an empire. She is now seeking her son. (Unfortunately, David Wenham gets killed off after 25 minutes – he would have been welcome in the rest of the film).
Rangi is forever saying the wrong thing, doing the wrong thing, eager to see ghosts, goes with this experience, becomes a ghost – but is perpetually haunting Howard and the allies, providing some dumb, often irritating, comic touches.
The rest of the film is preparing Howard for his crusading mission. Initially he is bewildered, quite reluctant, suffering from a demon attacking him with an axe and finding himself in hospital – and, for a couple of scenes of training, doing them in his pyjamas. However, he finally gets some demon-hunting armour. He also has a telling and challenging sequence with his ambitious and cruel mother.
The Roache- Turner brothers, both writing the script, Kiah directing, are entertainingly inventive with variations on the Demon films and the Ghostbusters. There are all kinds of tactics to destroy the Demons, a great deal of special effects machinery. Of course, it all has to build up to Howard confronting his mother, the assistance of the two sisters, their risking their lives to save the human race. At one moment, it looks as though Finnegan is winning as we see people all around the world looking at their smart phones and their souls being absorbed through them. But, not without several combative attempts, victory is won.
While there have been Demon films a-plenty over the decades, and plenty of films of demon-hunters, this is an enjoyable contribution to the genre for the fans – and, it is very much 21st century because the Demons have entered into the Internet and use the techniques of cyberspace to achieve their ends.
