The idea that there is a horror documentary about the pioneer of cinema, Georges Méliès, is incredibly alluring.  If that name doesn’t ring a bell, think of the iconic silent film “A Trip to the Moon”. Méliès loved the fantastical, so it’s not hard to imagine that a dark legend surrounds one of the many films he was involved with.  A film so evil, that viewing it causes a person to lash out violently.  This legend is the focus of FURY OF THE DEMON, and it goes to great lengths to convince you of its truth.

 Seeing some of these incredibly creative effects really makes you appreciate the inventive genius that was Méliès.

As the movie opens up and is setting the stage, I can’t help but be into it.  I love horror movies AND documentaries.  The plot is borrowed straight from the pages of “Cigarette Burns” (or perhaps the other way around), but these are all real people.  What if “Cigarette Burns” was based off of the lost “La Rage du Démon”?  We’re bombarded with interviews from industry professionals, including director Alexandre Aja, who share their stories and knowledge of this lost film. I’m willing to suspend my disbelief for an hour.

For the first 30 minutes, I’m rewarded with an excellent experience.  Great information is constantly coming in to help bolster the story, and we even get snippets of Méliès brilliant work.  Seeing some of these incredibly creative effects really makes you appreciate the inventive genius that was Méliès.  But sadly modern technology comes in and trudges all over the foundation that has been laid.  Right after talking about ‘Spirit Photography’, the filmmakers try to pull their own version off with less-than-stellar photoshopped images.  My immersion is immediately ruined.  And to make natters worse, the images were completely unnecessary.  It would have been easier to explain that no photographs of the individual in question have been found.  It was the late 19th century.  If I’m going to believe your haunted movie scenario, I can easily accept that you didn’t find this guy’s photo.

 The problem comes when it tries too hard to make you believe that a film exist which drives people mad.

Unfortunately it kicks you again while you’re still down.  The last 30 minutes offer up almost nothing new.  We revisit everyone so that they are able to retell their story, but this time using slightly different words.  It’s quite obvious to the audience that the film is lost and it supposedly drives people crazy. Now I’m feeling slightly insulted, but to take it up one more notch, we’re introduced to a film ‘preservationist’.  This man is sitting in his office surrounded by open and closed reels of film (presumably nitrate film) while smoking.  I know the stereotype is that the French are always smoking, but this is ridiculous. He might as well be in a dynamite shack.  Someone hand me a pumpkin spice latte stat, because I can’t even right now.

FURY OF THE DEMON has all the right pieces to make an excellent faux-documentary.  The problem comes when it tries too hard to make you believe that a film exist which drives people mad.  It’s a movie.  We want to be entertained, so we’ll meet you halfway by suspending our disbelief.  The archival footage and history of Méliès is nothing short of fascinating, and I would venture to say that it is worth watching for that alone.  However, as an overall product it just misses the mark.  Poor photoshop and a pointless second half turned an entertaining film into a chore.

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