Have hellish horrors harbored hauntingly harrowing hassles while helplessly hindering your happiness and health? Behemoth starts with a simple story–a desperate father will do whatever it takes to seek the dark truth behind his young daughter’s terminal illness. Will he find the answer by going down a demonic rabbit hole before it’s too late?

Behemoth, the directorial debut for Peter Szewczyk (who co-wrote the script with Derrick Ligas), picks up speed right from the start and never looks back with enough surprises that I couldn’t guess where it was going next. It begins as a conspiracy thriller before taking a dark & demonic turn down the body horror subgenre and the filmmakers show restraint by not focusing all the attention on gore. It’s more character driven and confidence like that is appreciated–it shows they have faith in their work. Szewczyk also uses color and light to evoke a moody atmosphere, which blends nicely with creative creature designs and other imaginative imagery (like how scenes are framed).

At times, Behemoth is confusing because the line between reality and what’s in each person’s mind gets hard to differentiate. Hallucinations from mind-altering drugs are introduced early on and demonstrate how characters are unreliable narrators. While things start off great, it loses its way by the confusing finale which isn’t terribly complicated yet raises more questions than it answers. Unpredictability is great, don’t get me wrong, but only until large leaps in logic are made that strain suspension of disbelief too much. It has strong socially conscious themes with a positive message, though. Not all films these days have much to say, perhaps leaving you in deep contemplation afterwards, so that certainly counts for something.

The performances are the biggest flaw of Behemoth. Sometimes it’s distracting because the actors aren’t convincing, with the exception of the antagonist played by Paul Statman whose manipulative mind games are a highlight. After a while all the bad performances become hard to ignore. It’s a director’s job to get the most out of actors so hopefully the more movies made, the more quality will improve. I look forward to seeing future work from the filmmakers.

Behemoth also includes intense & impressive body horror elements that elevate how horrific each situation gets via both practical effects and CGI. I was actually surprised by the amount of CGI for an independent film, however sometimes it’s over used like with the CG blood. Fake blood practical effects would have been perfectly fine, if not preferable.

Overall, my rating is based on five criteria: writing, directing, performances, entertainment value and rewatchability. Behemoth has an interesting premise with potential but the unconvincing performances, sloppy writing, and inexperienced direction don’t do it any favors. It’s not unwatchable as I was invested in the interesting characters, even if there isn’t much depth to them. I’ve seen worse performances & CGI in other low budget films (big budget ones, too). Behemoth‘s worth watching once, at least, because it’s an entertaining & truly original concept with strong, socially conscious themes as well as a positive message. And remember everything has a price, so be careful what you wish for.

6 out of 10