News and Notes from William Hopkins, Indie Filmmaker in NYC: film review

Showing posts with label film review. Show all posts

Sunday, July 13, 2025

The Genius of JAWS (1975)

Carey and I revisit Steven Spielberg's classic summer blockbuster on the 50th anniversary of its release and find it more than deserving of its reputation. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/jVExmEjBfQk

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

DEMON RESURRECTION in Stuart WIllis' THE NEW FLESH

Just around this time last year, writer Stuart Willis had some kind words for DEMON RESURRECTION in his review of the film on the Sex Gore Mutants website. Now Stuart has published a 450-page book of his reviews of "post-millennial horror films" and among the 300 reviews in the book, he's been good enough to include a newly-written one of DEMON RESURRECTION.

The book, The New Flesh: 21st Century Horror Films A-Z, Vol 1, is available now in ebook and paperback form on Amazon, and given its comprehensiveness, its very reasonable price and the excellence of Stuart's writing, it looks to be a very smart buy for any horror film fan.

My thanks to Stuart for remembering DEMON RESURRECTION. I wish him great success with The New Flesh.

The New Flesh on Amazon: http://amzn.com/1511490810

The New Flesh on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thenewflesh21stcenturyhorrorfilms

Stuart Willis on Twitter: https://twitter.com/willis_stu

A link to Stuart's original review of DEMON RESURRECTION on his Sex Gore Mutants website can be found here:

http://williamhopkinsfilmmaker.blogspot.com/2014/05/sex-gore-mutants-reviews-demon.html

Sex Gore Mutants can be found on Facebook here:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sex-Gore-Mutants/144026402317840

Buy the DVD: http://www.demonresurrection.com
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DemonResurrection
The filmmaker's website: http://www.williamhopkinsfilms.com
On Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/demonresurrect

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UPDATE 11/18/2017: The newly remastered version of DEMON RESURRECTION in 1080 HD & Widescreen is now available at http://dresurrection.vhx.tv

Or stream it on Amazon (Prime members watch for free): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MZXWKBT

Also available on...

Vimeo-on-Demand: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/102966

and on Pantaflix: https://www.pantaflix.com/en/movie/Demon-Resurrection-watch-online-pm741064

Sunday, September 21, 2014

"Demon Resurrection delivers," says Brandon Early on "Movies at Dog Farm"

On his "Movies at Dog Farm" website, writer Brandon Early covers horror, sci-fi, cult and exploitation films of decades past but usually doesn't review new releases. He made an exception for DEMON RESURRECTION and I'm glad he did. Some excerpts from his review:

"Demon Resurrection ultimately delivers on the promise of the set-up. Once it finally gets rolling, it's a non-stop gallop to the end. The gory set pieces and choreographed action never lets up...

It made me feel like a kid again, a horror loving kid still unsophisticated enough to look past the shortcomings as long as the movie ultimately delivers the goods. Demon Resurrection delivers. I felt as though I'd happened upon a particularly good late night horror flick on TNT MonsterVision. I didn't keep track of the numbers for the obligatory Drive-In Totals, but I'll guarantee Demon Resurrection has enough general Horror Fu on display to make it a worthy addition to your watch list."

Thanks, Brandon.

Brandon's full review can be read here: http://www.moviesatdogfarm.com/2014/09/demon-resurrection-2008-dog-farm.html

Movies at Dog Farm can be found on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/MoviesAtDogFarm

and on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/MoviesAtDogFarm

Brandon Early reviews DEMON RESURRECTION on the Movies at Dog Farm website.

Buy the DVD: http://www.demonresurrection.com

https://www.facebook.com/DemonResurrection

http://www.twitter.com/demonresurrect

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UPDATE 11/18/2017: The newly remastered version of DEMON RESURRECTION in 1080 HD & Widescreen is now available at http://dresurrection.vhx.tv

Or stream it on Amazon (Prime members watch for free): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MZXWKBT

Also available on...

Vimeo-on-Demand: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/102966

and on Pantaflix: https://www.pantaflix.com/en/movie/Demon-Resurrection-watch-online-pm741064

Trash Film Guru has kind words for DEMON RESURRECTION...

Ryan Carey, whose reviews appear on his Trash Film Guru blog and on the Daily Grindhouse website, had a look at our film recently and had some nice things to say. Some excerpts:

"The practical FX work is solid... the sets are cool, the storyline remains reasonably involving throughout, and there’s plenty of blood, guts, and sleaze, which are three things that never go out of style....

There’s plenty here to be proud of... a solid effort made by people who know what they’re doing and understand how to construct a competently-executed film with limited resources...Plenty of bang for your buck to be had here....

A fairly fun, gory, gripping little ride that will leave you thinking “hey, these guys get it.” That’s more than you can say for a lot of things coming down the indie pipeline these days, and more than enough for me to advise any interested parties out there to give it a go."

Thanks, Ryan.

The full review can be read here: http://trashfilmguru.wordpress.com/2014/08/31/demon-reusrrection-brings-old-horror-tropes-back-from-the-dead

or here: http://dailygrindhouse.com/thewire/demon-resurrection-brings-horror-film-tropes-dead

The Daily Grindhouse can be found on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/dailygrindhouse

The Trash Film Guru reviews DEMON RESURRECTION on the Daily Grindhouse website.

Buy the DVD: http://www.demonresurrection.com

https://www.facebook.com/DemonResurrection

http://www.twitter.com/demonresurrect

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Friday, May 9, 2014

Sex Gore Mutants Reviews DEMON RESURRECTION

In his review of DEMON RESURRECTION, Stuart Willis of the UK's Sex Gore Mutants website has several nice things to say about the film. Some excerpts...

"A carefully paced, impressively escalated journey into gory zombie mayhem ... [with] some keen forays into worlds of the supernatural and inner-group paranoia....

When the gore comes, it's lurid and crusty - as is the undead make-up - and all the better for it.... There is, however, also style in evidence. Hopkins clearly has an eye for camp colour schemes, lending the film a theatrical element which brings to mind the cinema of Vincent Price in the late 60s and early 70s. The ageless theme of good versus evil gets a convincing ride out here too, a game cast and literate screenplay (making reference to Cthulhu, no less) both being too wise to sink into the mire that sullies most soulless modern horror efforts....

Even the violence, gory though it is (neck and belly stabbings, bloody births, zombie carnage) is so clearly fashioned on fantastical Italian horror films of yore that it too raises DEMON RESURRECTION above the torture-porn bores that account for 90% of today's entry level genre releases.... I maintain one thing: your appreciation of this fine film will rely heavily on your tolerance of its lo-fi aesthetics. Go with it."

The full review can be read here:

http://www.sexgoremutants.co.uk/reviews/demresfr.html

Sex Gore Mutants can be found on Facebook here:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sex-Gore-Mutants/144026402317840

Thanks, Stuart!

Buy the DVD: http://www.demonresurrection.com

https://www.facebook.com/DemonResurrection

http://www.twitter.com/demonresurrect

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Monday, May 5, 2014

Grimm Reviewz on DEMON RESURRECTION

DEMON RESURRECTION receives a respectable 3 out of 5 stars from reviewer Drew Van Ess. Writing on his Grimm Reviewz website, Drew says that DEMON RESURRECTION, even with its flaws, is "an indie achievement.." and "gives the genre a big high five. It's a low-budget B-movie that doesn't let up."

You can read the whole review here:

http://grimmreviewz.blogspot.com/2014/04/demon-resurrection-screener-review.html

Grimm Reviewz can be found on Facebook here:

https://www.facebook.com/GrimmReviewz

Thanks Drew!

Buy the DVD: http://www.demonresurrection.com

https://www.facebook.com/DemonResurrection

http://www.twitter.com/demonresurrect

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DEMON RESURRECTION reviewed on The Bi-Weekly Trainwreck Podcast

My thanks to Mikey OJ who recently gave DEMON RESURRECTION a great review on episode 6 of The Bi-Weekly Trainwreck podcast. Mikey cited the film's "fucking great" acting, which he felt was particularly impressive given the film's tiny budget. He goes on to say the film is "one of the better independent films I've seen in a long time… I fucking loved it. I recommend everybody check it out."

The Bi-Weekly Trainwreck, hosted by Mikey and Irish Kev, is a podcast of irreverent, politically incorrect humor and commentary and is probably raunchy and profane enough to be considered NSFW. You can listen to an excerpt, which includes the entire DEMON RESURRECTION review, here:

http://youtu.be/XEyXfcaeDbs.

Episode 6 of The Bi-Weekly Trainwreck can be heard in its entirety here:

http://grug.tv/2014/04/30/episode-06-strip-mining-with-spaghetti-man

The Facebook page for the show is here: https://www.facebook.com/biweeklytrainwreck

Thanks again to Mikey and Kev for helping to get the word out about DEMON RESURRECTION. It's greatly appreciated.

Buy the DVD: http://www.demonresurrection.com

https://www.facebook.com/DemonResurrection

http://www.twitter.com/demonresurrect

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Thursday, April 10, 2014

More Praise for DEMON RESURRECTION…

Hot on the heels of two other recent positive reviews comes this particularly enthusiastic notice from Maynard Morrissey on HorrorMovieDiary.net

Maynard praises the film's "cool synth music which is very moody, very atmospheric," as well as "the awesome make-up effects," "tight editing," and the "excellent performance" by lead actress, Alexis Golightly, who he notes, is "super-hot."

He goes on to say, DEMON RESURRECTION is "90 minutes of top-notch, old-school, indie-horror awesomeness," a quote which, rest assured, will soon find a prominent place in all our promotional material for the film : )

Thanks, Maynard!

Buy the DVD: http://www.demonresurrection.com

https://www.facebook.com/DemonResurrection

http://www.twitter.com/demonresurrect

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UPDATE 11/18/2017: The newly remastered version of DEMON RESURRECTION in 1080 HD & Widescreen is now available at http://dresurrection.vhx.tv

 Or stream it on Amazon (Prime members watch for free): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MZXWKBT  

Also available on...  

Vimeo-on-Demand: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/102966  

and on Pantaflix: https://www.pantaflix.com/en/movie/Demon-Resurrection-watch-online-pm741064

Monday, July 22, 2013

"Adults Shouldn't Play With Dead Things Either" - Dan W Kelly reviews DEMON RESURRECTION

My day brightened considerably on reading author and film critic Daniel W. Kelly's terrific review of DEMON RESURRECTION on his "Boys, Bears & Scares" blog. Dan seems especially well versed in 70s horror, so he's able to appreciate where we were coming from with our film. (He even cites Bob Clark's CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS as an influence, which is correct and something I haven't seen mentioned in any other review.) Some excerpts:

It’s so good to see indie directors keeping alive the tradition of eerie horror movies of the 70s involving the occult, demons, the living dead, and plenty of gut-munching. Demon Resurrection, by director William Hopkins, is the perfect combination of all of the above. I really felt like I was watching a ghoulish 70s flick on an 80s VHS tape...

Demon Resurrection is a reminder of how great simple indie horror flicks used to be – and still can be. This is a perfect one to pop in on Halloween night.

October 31 is still a ways off, but hopefully 70s horror fans will take Dan's advice and keep a copy of DEMON RESURRECTION on hand for post-trick-or-treat viewing next Halloween.

You can read Dan's full review here: http://boysbearsandscares.com/adults-shouldnt-play-with-dead-things-either/

Thanks, Dan!

Grace (Alexis Golightly), Kate (Laurie Miller) and Denton (Bashir Solebo)
under siege in DEMON RESURRECTION

Buy the DVD: http://www.demonresurrection.com

https://www.facebook.com/DemonResurrection

http://www.twitter.com/demonresurrect

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Sunday, June 16, 2013

Excellent DEMON RESURRECTION Review on Amazon UK

I don't visit the UK version of Amazon.com very often, so I'm only just now catching up with the excellent review one customer gave DEMON RESURRECTION a few years back. An excerpt:

Saw this film at the 2010 Bram Stoker Film Festival and can't praise it highly enough... Described elsewhere as a cross between Night of the Living Dead, something out of HP Lovecraft, with a nod to Alien, which is really spot on. OK, so it's very derivative... and the influences are clear, but I've not seen such a gripping piece of filmmaking in some time. Starts fairly sedately, but with dire warnings dropped into the dialogue at regular intervals, but when the action starts, phew what a ride!

Bearing in mind that the film was probably made on a shoestring, the special effects are really very impressive. Without giving too much of the plot away, I thought the trick of the "good" dead battling the evil dead (so to speak) at the climax was inspired. Sadly, I suspect this won't even get a dvd release in the UK, let alone reach cinemas. If you do get to see it and don't agree with my opinion, I'd be surprised if you weren't at least able to say that you'd been entertained for c.90 minutes. Well done... !

– Gazzman, Amazon.co.UK

It's always a pleasure to hear from people who appreciate and enjoy DEMON RESURRECTION, and Gazzman has my sincere thanks for his kind words. Unfortunately, he's probably right in saying that DEMON is unlikely to have an official DVD release in the UK anytime soon. This is a shame because DEMON is at least as much an homage to Hammer Films as it is to the zombie films of Romero, Fulci, et al., and it might find an appreciative audience in the UK.

But for our friends overseas, the situation is not entirely hopeless. The Special Edition DVD currently available at demonresurrection.com is region free and fans in the UK and Europe who have an NTSC-compatible DVD player & TV should have no trouble viewing it. Ordering from the US means higher shipping costs, but by buying from the official site you'll at least know that your money is going entirely to the people who actually made the film and not to Amazon or some shady distributor or "content aggregator." And that money may help finance future DVD editions of DEMON or future productions like it.

As for online streaming, we're now offering the film to viewers worldwide for $3.99. It comes with optional Spanish and English subtitles, is DRM-free and includes over 30 minutes of bonus material. Stream it now at http://www.demonresurrection.com.

Read Gazzman's review on Amazon UK

Buy the DVD: http://www.demonresurrection.com

https://www.facebook.com/DemonResurrection

http://www.twitter.com/demonresurrect

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