Demon Wind (1990)

A troubled youth named Cory (Eric Larson) tries to find out who he really is after his father took his own life by slitting his wrists when him and his friends are on their way to a broken down farm that his grandparents owned which was torn apart by a demonic evil force which is in the middle of nowhere many years ago.

Him and his girfriend Elaine (Francine Lapensee) stops at a cafe but Cory dreamed about the cafe beforehand being evil and has a bad feeling about it all.
He asks the owner where the rural farm is located when he meets up with all of his friends there but the owner tells all of them to return to where they came from as that place is evil and people were burned alive by a demonic force.
They don't listen as Cory is convinced to find out his background.

They go to the area as it shows some skulls as well as one being hung and another decapitated.
They all go inside as the place shows a kitchen with an uncooked meal and a living room with a sentence written on the wall.
One of Cory's friends named Bonnie (Sherry Bendorf) reads it out loud and the house shakes plus a kitchen knife nearly stabs Cory. They try to leave the place but their vehicles all stall.
They then try to hike back to the cafe but a strange fog surrounds them and they see themselves back at the rural farmland and the demonic evil is unleashed.

One by one, Cory and Elaine's friends are turning into zombie demons.
Not only that, Cory finds out that his Grandmother was a witch and finds a book of spells to try and end this hellish nightmare before it's too late to save him and Elaine's souls while some of his friends are caught by many temptations and other evil events.

A neat opening credits with the title zooming upwards as it shows that windy type of feel and a real attention grabber. Then we have a nice shot on a skeletal corpse on fire as well as a cheesy camera shot zooming over a trashy looking corpse lying on the ground as well as the going ons with a couple and the demonic moments beginning which seemed to looked cheesy but effective for a low budgeter such as this one with some suspenseful happenings. This scene was of course a prologue which made sense.
We spot discussions between the couple Cory and Elaine driving along a dirt road as sometimes it was hard to hear them due to poor audio but it wasn't overly distorted. A nice shot on a demonic child watching and pointing a stick their way which offers some attention.
Some neat flashbacks and hallucinations involving Cory standing near a diner at a deserted area in the dark with mist flying around as well as a demon appearing and attacking which adds more mysterious flavor to the story and making us wonder that there's something about the place itself. Plus we have a moment with an elderly man George there warning the two of them and acting aggressive although it was cheesily done it was nicely written in for the story while we continue to watch on what goes on.
Also spot a near bullying moment involving Dell towards a magician Chuck but uses his tricks to prevent anything from happening to him which works into the story fairly okay.
Good setting on the gang finding the farm torn apart as well as Cory discovering something that's not what it seems as it draws you in along with some nice rattlings after their friend Bonnie reads on what was written on a wall on the inside of the farmhouse. Plus a nice shot on a knife hitting the side of the wall next to Cory.
Great effective moments with the friends trying to walk back and heavy fog rolls in on them which looks deadly while spotting this and psychs you out by how it was all shot.
Neat cheesy electric effects with demonic children appearing as well as one of them grabbing Bonnie and a nice shot looking at her face screaming along with a grabbing moment on her turning into a doll which seemed corny but yet enjoyable while watching this.
Nicely focused and dark shots on Stacy and Chuck having a discussion while keeping an eye on stuff through a window which was well concentrated and strongly done. Plus a cool moment with what they see a beautiful lustful demon calling to them and mist floating around which made things look incredibly dark and effective. A nice gold star during this moment.
Perfect dark and misty moments with Stacy and Chuck going outside in a hilly area following the beautiful demon with a good shot looking down on her feet and then rising up to show her true identity as this showed nice low budget zombie make up for this horror flick along with great moments on other zombie demons trying to close in on them and they fire their weapons at them with terrific close up shots on the bullets hitting these objects and the not so pretty results.
Nioce nightmare sequence involving Dell and what his girlfriend Reena has become as you get a feeling that he is not awake when you watch this and hoping that he'd wake up soon.
Nice dark shot with Dell and Reena caught up in a fog outside while trying to walk for help as well as a moment with Reena's head turned when he tries to talk to her in which this leaves a clue that she isn't the same and when she turns that something terrifying will happen. At the same time this looked a little too obvious instead of getting scared of wondering what's going to happen.
Perfect situation with Cory showing a dagger towards the demonic zombies and they react scared to it and him taunting them along with nice cheesy special electrical effects surrounding them for protection from the demonic invasion as the energy all looked good and hyped as well as full of action too.
Nice foggy shot on Bonnie calling out towards Jack after zombies try to attack him through a window as this added some perfect haunting flavor to the story.
Perfect eerie echoey sounds coming from George while zombies are trying to break into the farm house and the other survivors trying to struggle against them as this looked impressive when they stop and then a good camera shot on George himself dressed as a preacher and the zombies gather around and hear his preaching which looked perfectly evil along with more cheesy electrical effects on him turning into a gigantic demon and the other zombies forming into a victim of one of Cory and Elaine's friend and this demonic beast starts feasting on this person adding more great horror taste to the story.
Some cheesy effects on Cory using his grandmother's withccraft to make him a good powerful demon and his battles against the giant one as we see some teasers on him thinking that it was all a dream with his friends there as well as a flashback moment on Cory's father ready to cut his wrist so he can reveal his weaknesses. The cheesy action bewtween everything that happens here looked fun to watch.
Bottom line is that I had fun by watching this film. Sure it was cheesy and low grade but so what. This would be considered an Evil Dead ripoff but a good one in my books. However, some of you may not agree to my tastes for this one. It had great suspenseful and adventurous events. I loved the demonic voices (It was nothing special but for what the film was I still liked its edge to it). If you love cheesy demonic flicks like Evil Dead, Demons or even Night of the Demons be sure to check this one out. I found the film very well done for a low budgeter since it was made by makers of bad films and showed better effort in this one. Yes this one is a so bad it's good flick. Many sources say that this was a direct-to-video flick and it was distributed by Prism which is noted to be a direct-to-video company but during this era lots of horror films went to video instead of a theatrical release since they did so much better at video rentals.

The acting is not too bad. Eric Larson (Cory) seems very well focused on his character by revealing a perfect seriousness as well as bothered by his family history and acts truly disturbed and a bit edgy as he brought this out quite nicely. Also does a nice job by getting into a serious conversation in many sequences. Also does well with his energy while trying to battle some onscreen zombies as well as his taunting attitude in which he made his heroic actions quite convincing. Yes he studied his role pretty good showing nice reactions and expressions when the suspense hits him and was a passable character actor.
Francine Lapensee (Elaine) really acted perfectly sharpo and stunning in her part of the film as she was good with her speaking as well as showing a convincing strong minded attitude too. Shows off a good strong force and adding great adrenaline when the terror strikes showing off terrific powerful energy into what she did here. Also shows a good sympatheitc attitude too in the beginning of her performance which shines off quite well. Shows off a perfect foicus too when she has a serious discussion.
Jack Forcinito (Stacy) came across perfectly in his James Dean type of appeal and had the right looks for his role as an easy going type of fellow. He made his part likeable and believeably knowledgeable and mature too. Does well with his speaking and seemed to know his craft when you spot his performance here.
Stephen Quadros (Chuck) was quite humourous as the martial arts magician since he is an expert at martial arts in reality and his talents were used in many other film and TV shows. Does well with his blocking like kicking a beer can in the sir and stuff like that. Also does a nice job focusing on the terror surrounding him and rolling in with the punches especially while firing a weapon and was terrific by behaving panic stricken too. He was a ball of energy for sure.
Mark David Fritsche (Jack) seemed quite noticeable in his performance and had a geeky type of preppy looks to his part. Also seemed clear in his speech as well as showing a clear attitude by showing some reassurance to his onscreen girlfriend when there's near terror coming their way. However there's certain parts when he is emotionally upset that he's a bit wooden on and not convincing enough which is hard to do. Does a good job later on struggling against the madness and showing nice effort there as well as reacting upset by what he spots outide the window of the farmhouse in a certain scene which he rolls with that quite well.
Bobby Johnston (Dell) made his part approachable as a macho and cocky teen from the group of people and seemed to know his stuff as a bully too by his brawny and creepy behavior towards certain people showing a nice arrogance but sometimes he is a bit too stiff while doing this. He was off on his blocking like when he throws a punch at someone which looked a bit sloppy. However he had the perfect looks for this role so there was a great pointer for him. Just needed certain improvements here and there that's all.
Mia M. Ruiz (Reena) was mediocre in her role as a no brainer type of teen showing a convincing type of upsetting attiotude but alot of the times was too over the top when she screams or freaks out in which she doesn't make most of her performance convincing at all. She does well with her lines but certain spots on her characteristics were a bit off.
Sherry Bendorf (Bonnie) has a good supporting role and is a natural too I found in which she shows the beginning of her presence pretty nice when she's happy to see her onscreen friends and acts good as one of the crowd with their discussions. Also does well reacting scared by stuff and freaking out which she was great at doing along with her terrorising screaming or her sobbing and scared words crying out. Alot of this reminded me on her work in the cult 1987 slasher flick Slaughterhouse. A shame her role in this one wasn't as big but fans from that film will enjoy her in this one too or even better.

There is an appearance by porn actress Sandras Margot as she plays a beautiful demon exposes her breasts trying to tempt two teens to come out of their hiding spots.

Also during a dream sequence at the cafe there is a butt shot by Eric Larson.

Yes, many gory scenes and the effects are cool.
Lots of the demonic zombies look gruesome too as well as drooling out goo.
Demonic blood is oozing out of each body after being shot.
A zombie's body melts as well as a head being kicked off.
An arm is ripped off.
A decapitated head of a victim is shown although it doesn't look real.
Someone is eaten alive.

The music composed by Bruce Wallenstein and did a fine job too even if he hasn't been known for his work in other flicks which he should have. He was effective with conducting the opening of the film as well as the closing credits. Nice low keyboard playing suiting the darkness of the story as well as effective cheesy windy sounds too. Plus some nice odd guitar riffs for the closing credits. It was creepy/cheesy sounding almost like the film done in Spain starring Alice Cooper titled Monster Dog or Night of the Demons.

[After an extended kiss]
Dell: That's why I keep her around.