The Demolisher Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		1.5

The Demolisher Blu-ray Movie Review

Blame Canada

Reviewed by Michael Reuben October 1, 2016

MPI Media's Dark Sky Films has found some notable gems on the horror festival circuit, but The Demolisher isn't one of them. A misbegotten mashup of the vigilante genre and stalker tropes from Halloween, the Canadian production is a poster child for cinematic incoherence. It's hard to terrify an audience when they can't figure out what's happening.

The "demolisher" of the title is a Toronto cable repairman named Bruce, played by actor Ry Barrett, who also co-wrote the script and served as stunt coordinator. Bruce's wife, Samantha (Tianna Nori), is a cop grievously injured while investigating a cult or a motorcycle gang (or possibly both; The Demolisher doesn't fret the details). Traumatized and unable to walk, Samantha needs constant care, and the emotional strain has transformed Bruce into a vigilante who roams the city at night in riot gear chasing down . . . well, how that's never entirely clear. Bruce is so damaged that he kills randomly, and anyone who inadvertently sets him off, including a cable customer, risks their life. Eventually Bruce locks onto a young woman, Marie (Jessica Vano), who has the bad luck to find the couple's wedding rings after Bruce loses them. The film's third act is consumed by Bruce's pursuit of Marie through a curiously deserted city, in which she repeatedly escapes and is re-acquired by her pursuer in ways that shred any possibility of suspending disbelief.

While Marie is fleeing, she has abandoned the infant nephew she was babysitting. I mention this not because it's an important plot point, but because it's emblematic of The Demolisher's sloppy construction. Entire scenes are devoted to establishing the baby (who's a real cutie), but then the film abandons him just as thoughtlessly as Marie does. Other supporting characters come and go with the same randomness, while the editing abruptly cuts from one locale to another with no apparent purpose other than to disorient the viewer. Not until the very end does it become clear that the entire tale is a flashback from an early scene that, like most other scenes in The Demolisher, dispenses with any effort at exposition. Even Bruce's kills have no impact, because you almost never know who he's killing or why they deserve it (if, indeed, they do). Director and co-writer Gabriel Carrer deploys slow motion, abrupt edits and a pulsing electronic soundtrack in his effort to impart dramatic weight to the proceedings, but such devices only work when they accompany a coherent narrative.

The Demolisher Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Captured on the Arrix Alexa, The Demolisher's 1080p, AVC-encoded presentation offers the usual virtues of digital capture, including good detail and sharpness and an absence of noise or interference. Color has been mostly desaturated, with occasional strong washes of blue or red. Blacks are solid, and shadow detail is adequate, for the most part, although some scenes appear underlit. MPI has mastered the film with an average bitrate of 20 Mbps.

The Demolisher Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Demolisher's lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack throbs with electronic bass from Glen Nicholls' score, which counterpoints the low frequencies with squealing metal and discordant notes that are meant to scare (but rarely do). A few rear-channel effects conveying action off-camera provide sonic interest. The dialogue is consistently intelligible. MPI has included its customary PCM 2.0 alternative track.

The Demolisher Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Behind the Scenes (1080p; 1.78:1; 9:15).



• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 1.78:1; 6:19).



• Filmmakers Q&A at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival (1080p; 1.78:1; 23:43).



• Trailer (1080p; 2.35:1; 2:06).



• Introductory Trailers: Traders ; Night of the Living Deb; Last Girl Standing; If There's a Hell Below.

The Demolisher Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Eighty-six minutes can feel much longer when you're stuck watching a film where you're constantly unsure about who's doing what to whom and why. Bending (or breaking) genre conventions can be an effective technique, but The Demolisher's creators don't even seem to know what those conventions are. Skip it.