Director/animator Eric Power is back for another cut-paper-stop-animation film, this time trading in the samurai for the supernatural in his sophomore film Attack of the Demons. Power is clearly a true and deep horror fan and Attack of the Demons is a love letter to the genre. Power draws a lot of inspiration from various horror films, but Attack of the Demons feels right at home in a 1980s genre film. Elements comparable to Evil Dead, Gremlins, The Thing, The Stuff, and Return of the Living Dead are present and the outstanding original synth-score by John Dixon emphasizes this strong 80s influence. The music throughout the film perfectly fits the mood and style and honestly, it was one of my favorite things about Attack of the Demons. 

It’s 1994 and the sleepy town of Barrington, Colorado is hosting its annual Halloween festival complete with a carnival, horror films, and the highly anticipated music festival. A demonic cult decides to use the headlining act during the festival as a means to unleash an ancient evil that turns people into zombified demonic versions of themselves. As the town undergoes the terrifying transformation, three former high school classmates reunite in search of safety and find themselves on an unexpected journey to stop the town (and eventually planet Earth)  from certain destruction.

Attack of the Demons introduces the characters as preparations for the festival gets underway. Jeff (Andreas Petersen) is an avid video gamer and on a constant quest to play what he considers “rare machines”. He finds himself back in town to spend a week with this very eccentric reclusive uncle (also voiced by Petersen). He bumps into former classmate Kevin (Thomas Petersen) who is a connoisseur of all things horror cinema and they decide to enjoy a “catch-up dinner” together. While dining, they run into former classmate Natalie (Katie MaGuire), who is back in town with her music critic boyfriend to see her favorite band during the festival. 

The most spectacular thing about this film is the paper animation. Cut-paper-stop-motion animation is a labor of love, to say the least, and this is proven tenfold in Attack of the Demons. Power takes extra time to create monsters in such detail that you almost want to pause the film and really look at each creation. Each monster is different, morphing in different ways, bleeding and spewing different bodily fluids, and moving in unique patterns. My personal favorite is the bodiless demon with a tongue for feet. On top of massive creativity with character formation, there were several dynamic action sequences that no doubt took a grueling amount of time to cut, assemble, shoot, and reshoot.  

The only area that fell short for me was the vocal acting. Attack of the Demons features a town being swallowed by malevolent beings who ooze colorful blood, so it would stand to reason that characters would act a little surprised by this. Each hero finds themselves confronted with very personal loss, great physical pain, and in very tense situations involving the supernatural that would shake even the most confident and well-adjusted, but the dialogue often fell flat and sounded monotone. It sounded as if they were uninterested or unphased and their ability to see earth-shattering tragedy and just say, “ok let’s go” with such nonchalance gave the film a much more robotic tone than was likely intended.

Overall, Attack of the Demons has a lot to offer. Its pacing will keep audiences engaged, the cheeky humor will keep them laughing, and the original storyline by Andreas Petersen will keep them interested. This plot was perfect for animation, and the cut-paper-stop-motion approach gives it something extra both in the artistic and storytelling realms. For some lighthearted fun soaked in neon blood, look no further than Attack of the Demons.

Movie Rating: 7 out of 10