Fantasia Film Festival 2024 ‘The Old Man and the Demon Sword’ Review – Old Man Yells at Demons
In the mountains of Portugal, a small village becomes trapped inside a spiritual barrier. People are unaware of an invisible threat known as The Fears that want nothing more than to eat human souls. The only individuals who can see them are a monk carrying a sword cursed by a demon and an old drunk named Antonio.
When the monk dies during an attack by The Fears, Antonio inherits the demon sword. Now he has to save the town – if he can keep his sanity. You see, the demon sword never stops talking.
The Old Man and the Demon Sword is about as low-budget and independent as a film can get. The cast of the film are all first-time filmmakers and actors. Director Fabio Powers must have never slept because he writes, directs, produces, edits, and even does some of the VFX in the film.
Calling the performances amateurish would be a compliment. The acting is one-note and wooden for the entirety of the film’s short-but-not-short-enough 63-minute duration. The highlight is Joao Loy, who voices the demon sword. Loy’s most well-known acting credits include several characters in the Portuguese dub of Dragon Ball Z, which includes Vegeta, Garlic Jr, Recoom, and Zamasu in Dragon Ball Super.
Lead actor Antonio da Luz portrays Antonio/Tonho in the film. Da Luz only has one go-to in his acting arsenal; being stubborn and disgruntled the entire film. He jumps on a dirt bike in one scene with no emotional range. His sole facial expression, irritated old guy, includes clenching his jaw, constantly looking lost, and the right corner of his mouth twitching sporadically.
Think of The Old Man and the Demon Sword as an even lower-budget three-part Power Rangers episode with special effects ripped straight from Birdemic. The only difference is The Old Man and the Demon Sword has more special effects than Birdemic which requires more animation.
The Fears are what appear to be dudes in black jumpsuits wearing skull masks and wobbly effects to make them look “otherworldly.” Some of the creature effects like the minotaur and the cell phone monster at least have decent gore (a decapitation and splattered guts). Most demons that turn up are just random humans with a different colored filter, horns slapped on their foreheads, and glowing eyes.
The demon sword looks to take inspiration from the Soul Edge that Nightmare carried in Soul Calibur II. There’s a red demonic head on the handle with an animated eye to show expressions. Much of the film’s dialogue is too wordy with the sword being the most talkative individual of the film.
Everyone seems to argue over good and evil or Heaven and Hell and whose existence is worse. Think Mojo Jojo’s dialogue from The Powerpuff Girls where he repeats the same point over and over again over a three-minute speech and that’s the majority of The Old Man and The Demon Sword.
Antonio lives in a town that is so small they wander around aimlessly in the woods for fun. His adventure is bizarre. He summons a tree spirit by peeing on it, has a geezer argument with a weathered ventriloquist and his wrinkly puppet, and fights a possessed cell phone that floats in the air and has animated red vampire teeth on its screen.
The ending feels like a cop-out at first because they probably ran out of whatever nonexistent budget they originally had. But once you understand what the ending means (it ties into Antonio and his inability to stay sober), it isn’t much of an improvement.
The Old Man and the Demon Sword has tokusatsu inspiration in its bones, so there was hope that there would be at least one memorable villain with practical effects. But that moment never comes. The few bits of action you get are so massively disappointing.
The only thing that makes this film bearable is its short duration. Antonio typically runs away from fights and “runs” is used loosely here. Antonio specializes in an old man shuffle that involves hunching over and power walking.
The Old Man and the Demon Sword is a Z-movie through and through with little to no budget, actors with no emotional range, a story that doesn’t go anywhere, and the shoddiest CGI imaginable. There was potential here but the lack of experience and resources killed its momentum.
The Old Man and the Demon Sword (2024), Fabio Powers
PROS
- Premise has potential.
- It's short.
CONS
- Everything else.
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