The Demolisher – Toronto After Dark 2015

A tormented man becomes a violent vigilante in The Demolisher. Bruce (Ry Barrett) is a repairman, who becomes obsessed with vengeance against those who sent his policewoman wife Samantha (Tianna Nori) into a wheelchair. Wearing riot gear and armed with nightsticks, Bruce heads out onto the streets of Toronto at night and violently beats those who are against the law. However, as Bruce slowly loses control over his sanity, he begins to set his sights on a young woman named Marie (Jessica Vano), who finds herself on the run for her life.

Directed by Gabriel Carrer (In the House of Flies), The Demolisher is a film that crosses over multiple different film genres. For the first half of the plot, the film can be best described as a drama about Bruce and Samantha, with some flashes of vigilante violence. However, as Bruce loses control of himself and sets his sights on the mostly innocent Marie, The Demolisher evolves into a full blown horror film, which can be best described as “The Terminator with riot gear.”

The Demolisher features very little spoken dialogue and allows the quite well-shot visuals and pulsating synth score to tell the bulk of the story. In fact, I would argue that the film falters a bit when there is dialogue, since the line delivery is not the best.  The Demolisher also requires the audience to figure out the story for themselves, since there is no spoken exposition in the film. That all said, the film builds up to a quite tense climax, with the entire final act being an expended chase scene between Bruce and Marie. Altogether, despite a few flaws, The Demolisher is a quite decent mix of art film and genre, with splendid visuals and an excellent score.

Screenings:

• Sunday, October 18, 9:30 PM – Scotiabank Theatre