Movie Review: So You’ve Downloaded a Demon (2007)

So You’ve Downloaded a Demon is a black comedy written, produced, and directed by Todd Livingston. He’s a former comedian who probably knows more about humour than horror but the truth is this somewhat unusual demon movie is pretty damn good.

So You’ve Downloaded a Demon may be a poor choice if you are seeking a “serious” slice of horror but it could grow on you if you give it a chance and it’s so lighthearted that even the most timid of viewers should be able to watch it all by their lonesome and without the lights on.

To be honest, I had to think twice about even reviewing this film, but with a title like So You’ve Downloaded a Demon, it seems likely that many horror fans may rent or buy the DVD without realising exactly what to expect. With this in mind, I decided to write a review anyway in the hopes that people who are looking for information about the movie might find my review and be able to make a more informed choice of whether or not this one is likely to be to their taste.

The main characters in the movie are four college students: Miranda (Casidee Riley), Cat (Sommer Fain), Dave (Zak Kreiter), and Brian (Daniel Paul Schafer). As well as being students, goth chicks Miranda and Cat, are also wicken witches. Dave and Brian are more straight laced. In fact, Dave is running for student president, but Brian is the main driving force behind the campaign. Dave is far more interested in making a good impression on Miranda that he is in impressing potential voters.

Dave gets his big chance with Miranda when the girls are late for a ritual and get thrown out of their coven. They are desperate to be reinstated, but have to prove their faith and devotion to their sisters. To do this they need to come up with something totally awesome so Cat hits the books while Miranda surfs the net. The only thing Cat can find are spells for improving crops, but Miranda discovers a really great witchcraft site. Before the girls can enter the site they have to sell their souls to Satan (it must be one hell of a site).

Cat takes it all with a grain of salt and is keen to click on the link, but Miranda has no intention of risking her soul. Even the added bonus of 5, 000 free hours with AOL is not enough to tempt her into changing her mind so, remembering that Brian is an expert hacker; she rings Dave and asks him if he and Brian would like to come over and give them a hand.

Unfortunately Brian is not as clever as he thinks. Several hours later he has still failed to crack the code and heads off in search of a vending machine. While he is gone Dave decides to have a go, cracks the code first time, and releases a demon that has been trapped in the website. Guess where it goes. If you guessed that it makes a beeline for Dave’s bod you are right and he is soon acting very strangely indeed.

Does anyone notice the sudden change in Dave? Not a chance; and his sudden habit of projectile vomiting fails to help his campaign. It’s not all bad news though, because he and Miranda seem to have hit it off quite well. Yes indeed, romance is in the air, but how will this fit in with the demon’s plans for world domination? And more to the point, how long will it be before anyone realizes that poor old Dave is no longer himself?

Dave’s romance with Miranda is probably the main driving force of the movie, with the girls’ desire to be reinstated in their coven following a close second; but there are plenty of other things happening to keep viewers interested:

Is the local exorcist all that he seems to be?

Who captured the demon in the first place and why?

Will Dave ever become student president or will he be doomed to rule the world with a demon inside him?

These are all good questions, but if you want to find out the answer you will have to watch the movie because I am not giving away any spoilers.

On a final note, I should probably mention that Actress Xenia Seeberg turns up in a few of the scenes. Seeberg is pretty well known because she played love slave, Xev in Lexx (TV series) so the marketing gurus have played up her involvement in So You’ve Downloaded a Demon. Her name is used as a selling point on the DVD cover, and Amazon’s listings show her name instead of the names of the four main stars of the movie, but her total time on screen is probably less than ten minutes. That’s marketing for you and this is the end of my review.

So You’ve Downloaded a Demon is available to buy or rent on DVD, and some sites offer streaming options, but Blu-ray copies were not available at the time of this review.