For the uninitiated Goosebumps was a series of children’s horror books that were popular in the 90s that spawned a TV series and more recently a movie starring Jack Black. While certain episodes could be surprising and indeed frightening to a young audience, to adults they are just spooky kids’ horror that is often comical with the production value and script quality. Now, what if a low-budget children’s show decided they wanted to tackle an A24 movie, a studio known for creating complex and graphic horror films for adults? You would get something attempting to be cinematic and deep with the effects of a child’s television show, something like Demigod.

Hidden amongst the trees of Germany’s Black Forest there lies an abandoned cabin that Robin (Rachel Nichols) never thought she would see again. Where this house used to be the home of her grandfather it now sits empty, haunted by the memories of him and the man he became. A family history of hunting, right in the center of the forest ruled over by the legend of Cernunous, the Great Hunter. A beast that stands over six feet tall and hunts everything that enters its domain. Near the end, her grandfather started to obsess over this fable, but that’s all it is right?

An interesting resurgence that we have seen in the last decade has been the return of Folk Horror, horror stories that are focused on nature, magic, and legends of the old world. With films such as The Witch and Midsommar taking center stage along with many other newcomers to the genre, Demigod makes sense. Its focus on Cernunnos, a Celtic deity that isn’t well known in western culture is a great choice and the character in the film is striking, it just needs some changes to have it be taken more seriously.

Where Demigod begins to get less serious is the script and the acting. While the cinematography is doing its best to convey a serious tone and give the film a more elevated feel, we have a flashback sequence where Robin is with her grandfather hunting for the first time, which she told her husband about earlier, but instead of being six it is the adult actor playing her creating a silly visual. Along with silly visuals is the Cernunnos costume, which looks incredible when it is out of focus but is hilarious when it is shown fully lit with them using CGI to make a non-articulated mouth speak.

To create a practical costume of a Celtic deity is incredibly ambitious and for all its faults Demigod is a great addition to the world of Folk Horror. It is not too often that we get to see a film about a giant horned beast hunting people in a thick forest while a band of witches follows him singing his praises and I’m here for it. Not to bring in another children’s horror show but if you had the Midnight Society from Are You Afraid of the Dark introduce this story right before the movie began it would feel right at home.

6 out of 10