Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		5.0
Overall		3.5

Dementer Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 7, 2021

Actors with Down Syndrome have been appearing in some relatively high profile projects over the past several years, including such performers as Zack Gottsagen in The Peanut Butter Falcon and Jamie Brewer in American Horror Story: Coven. Sometimes these casting choices can at least give the perception of being slightly exploitative, but that frankly may simply be because developmentally disabled actors have obviously not been the norm in either television or film. That said, those with longer memories may recall such series as Life Goes On, which featured Chris Burke in a focal role, even if shows like that have always been the exception rather than the rule. One of the interesting aspects to the often fairly disturbing Dementer is that writer and director Chad Crawford Kinkle has an adult sister named Stephanie who has Down Syndrome, and Chad was long interested in trying to fashion a film featuring his sibling. That ultimately led him to a realization that he might be able to combine a kind of quasi-verite approach including scenes of Stephanie and some other people with Down Syndrome as they went about their daily lives at a Tennessee "skill center" with a more traditional horror narrative involving a woman named Katie (Katie Groshong, one of only a couple of professional actors in this piece). The result is viscerally unsettling, and my hunch is some folks will probably still feel there's just a slight whiff of exploitation suffusing some of the scenes with the disabled people, but Dementer is a rather riveting feature overall, and one that offers another exception to a cinematic rule: namely, that nascent auteurs often experience a so-called "Sophomore Slump". (Kinkle's first film Jug Face is included with this release, and there's a link to a review in the Supplements section, below.)

Arrow continues to promote lesser known talent with releases like Dementer, including offering nice bonus features like the commentaries and other supplements that are included here, where it's overtly discussed that there are some intentionally ambiguous elements to the tale woven in the film, although some clear if still somewhat opaque hints are liberally given. In that regard, the film's disturbing opening vignette offers a hellish soundscape of whispers and otherworldly tones (the film's sound design is one of its strongest features) along with images of what appears to be some kind of a ritual in front of a fire, along with almost hallucinatory snippets of a naked woman running through the woods in the dead of night and perhaps being chased by a vehicle with headlights, as well as a number of other brief and somewhat disturbing images. This is a scene which will be returned to later and which may at least allude to a certain pretzel-ish structural quality that literary types might compare to T.S. Eliot's famous pronouncement in 4 Quartets, "In my beginning is my end".

After some kind of childlike hand drawn credits (which Kinkle discloses were done by the real life folks seen at the skills center), the film then segues into an ostensibly less frightening ambience as Katie applies for a job at the facility, where she is indeed hired. She kind of hems and haws about her background in the initial interview, a hesitancy that will make more sense as her personal memories and perhaps demons (in more ways than one) take hold and start to fill in some of her back story. Without divulging too much of what is ultimately doled out courtesy of these flashbacks (which are often as disjunctive and unsettling as the opening vignette), Katie may be the survivor of some sort of cult which was under the influence of a Svengali named Larry (Larry Fessenden). This experience has left Katie with both psychological and physical scars, something that itself starts to play into things when Katie becomes convinced that one of her charges at the skills center, Stephanie (Stephanie Kinkle, Chad's sister), may be a new target for the cultists. What's actually going on may be a bit more complex.

In attempting to give the broad outlines of the plot, I've perhaps failed to indicate that Dementer may try to play it a bit fast and loose as to whether Katie really is beset by outside demonic forces or is simply the victim of her own delusions, but in the end and with regard to the film's "suggestions" (I'd argue pretty overt "suggestions") as to some of Katie's activities, it doesn't really matter. And it's here that I have to admit I felt just a little uneasy watching the disabled people that are shown in Dementer. While Kinkle got permission from everyone, his unabashedly audacious decision to meld this "real life" aspect with a horror tinged tale of cults and demons just left me feeling a little unsettled, as if my conscience were telling me that the often very sweet skills center participants really shouldn't have been utilized in this way.

Dementer Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Dementer is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is a tale of two presentational styles, a crisp, almost video-like, look that accompanies most (but kind of strangely, not all) of the "contemporary" moments in and around the skills center, and the flashback material, which is often tweaked and distressed, frequently with what I assume is an intentionally noisy and blurry look that can almost resemble 16mm or maybe even 8mm. You can see some examples of this less clear and well detailed appearance in a number of screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review, including those in positions 6, 11, 12 and 14. This conceit is not adhered to strictly, however, and there are a few passing moments in some of the "happening now" sequences that looked at least a bit less sharp than the bulk of the presentation. Some of the flashback material is graded and/or lit pretty aggressively, which can detract from fine detail levels. A few passing moments exhibit very minor banding.

Dementer Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As mentioned above in the main body of the review, one of Dementer's inarguable assets is its sound design, and for that reason I'd strongly recommend choosing the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track over the admittedly fine but simply less immersive LPCM 2.0 track. As Kinkle gets into in some of the supplements, he toyed with already interesting "stems" of score provided by composer Sean Spillane, giving some of the cues a really spooky wafting ambience that is very memorably presented in the surround track. The glut of voices Katie regularly falls prey to also offer some cool surround activity. Dialogue is rendered cleanly for the most part, though some of the skills center participants can be a bit hard to understand. Optional English subtitles are available.

Dementer Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentaries

  Audio Commentary by Writer-Director Chad Crawford Kinkle

  
  

  Audio Commentary with Cast and Crew

  
  

  Audio Commentary by Writer-Director Chad Crawford Kinkle and Critic Chris Hallock

• The Making of Dementer (HD; 24:27) is an interesting peek behind the scenes, including interviews with Chad Crawford Kinkle.


• In the Words of Larry (HD; 18:28) is an interview with Larry Fessenden.


• Outsider Art and Dementer (HD; 46:48) is a Zoom-like interchange between Chad Crawford Kinkle, Larry Fessenden and Lucky McKee.


• Short Films offer a collection of various student pieces by Chad Crawford Kinkle, each with an optional director's commentary:

  VHS Movies (1992-1994) (HD; 6:01)

  
  

  The Playstation (1995) (HD; 8:53)

  
  

  Make-Up (1998) (HD; 17:49)

• Original Trailer (HD; 1:43)


• Image Gallery (HD)


• Jug Face, Kinkle's first feature, is offered on a bonus disc. More information is available in our Jug Face Blu-ray review.

Arrow only sent check discs for purposes of this review, so I can't offer assessments of non-disc swag and/or packaging, but their website mentions an insert booklet and a slipcover.

Dementer Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The fact that American Horror Story has utilized a performer with Down Syndrome in more than one season of its run may have helped to pave the way for Dementer, but I'd argue there may be a bit of a difference, for both good and ill, in terms of using "real life" people with Down Syndrome caught in their everyday lives at a skill center. That gives the depiction of these folks a commendably realistic ambience, but it also may suggest, at least subliminally, some questions as to whether that "story" should have been melded with an at times violent and graphic tale of cults. Still, this is an absolutely audacious attempt that should appeal to horror fans on the hunt for something unusual. Technical merits are generally solid, and the supplementary package very well done. With caveats noted, Recommended.