Not all low budget movies are bad, but some really struggle. Demon Hunter perhaps more than most. Not only is the script poorly written, the overall story fights for comprehension. The basic idea—Jake, a half-breed demon, hunts and kills demons for the church when exorcisms fail—is contrived. It doesn’t help that many aspects of the Catholicism it portrays it simply gets wrong. And the common issue that most demon-monster movies can’t seem to overcome, that demons are incorporeal, makes this into a slug-fest rather than really having any kind of film with a statement. Okay, let’s step back a second: Jake is hired by Cardinal White to stop Asmodeus, the demon of lust. Asmodeus had made it to the earthly dimension and is trying to populate the world with his spawn. The Cardinal sends a nun, Sara, with Jake but she just can’t kill demons.
When Asmodeus tries to rape Sara, she is revealed to be a half-breed demon as well and she kills him. Jake tries to rescue her but has no choice but to kill Sara. The Cardinal, who has tough-guy priests blocking his door, reveals that they knew about Sara all along and knew that Jake would end up killing her too. Feeling betrayed for the set-up, Jake goes and keeps on killing those who’ve been seduced by demons. Bad storytelling can be bearable if some aspects are believable, such as the religious elements. The problems begin from the opening scene, which is an Exorcist knock-off. The priest is reciting Latin prayers from a Bible instead of the Roman Rite. He’s also not dressed for an exorcism, but this is California and it was perhaps a warm night.
Cardinal White walks around wearing a stole all the time. One of the priests attending him is packing heat. Demons can’t tell demons, or at least half-demons, from human beings. And Jake can’t seem to respond to anything without a snappy comeback. Demons are killed with crosses (not crucifixes) with the bottoms whittled down into points. Although they have inhuman powers they fight to the death with fisticuffs. I kept looking for something, anything, to hold onto to that might make this movie make some sense. The story, which is mercifully brief, is padded out with driving sequences that take a little too long. A few scenes in the movie weren’t too bad, but there weren’t enough of them to redeem this one. But it does end up in Holy Sequel, for what it’s worth.
