Demon Lover Diary (1980)

Dir: Joel DeMott

Jeff during camera test

When boyfriend Jeff Kreines volunteers as cinematographer for his friend Don's horror film, Joel DeMott decides to join him and create a documentary on the low budget shoot. Their friend Mark Rance volunteers to handle sound recording and the trio pack their kit and drive to Michigan where filming is to take place.

Don Jackson and Jerry Younkins are two factory workers who have dreamed of making films and after two years of pre-pre production are ready to commence their dream. By taking out loans, mortgaging their homes, Jerry sacrificing a few fingers at the 'speedometer cable' factory to collect insurance money, and calling on friends and family for cast and crew they are finally ready to begin filming THE DEMON LOVER.

Don Jackson

Despite initial protests from Jerry, Joel is allowed all access to the horror film shoot and manages to capture on 16mm just how difficult and nerve wracking it is to crew, act and direct a low budget regional film. Things get off to a bad start when Jeff and tag a longs arrive a few days late but it quickly becomes obvious that Don and Jerry are in over their heads. Don comes across a a bit of a blow hard with repeated proclamations of how the film is going to revolutionize the film industry but has great difficulty explaining his vision to Jeff who will be doing the actual filming. Jerry at one point calls the film junk and Don jumps in to explain junk means it's not an art film. Over the course of the two week shoot there are numerous arguements, threats to quit, an actor with a funny Charles Bronson impersonation, a visit to Ted Nuget's home to borrow guns and live ammo and it all ends with shots fired and Jeff, Joel and Mark speeding away in their car from the location terrified for their lives.

Jerry Younkins

Joel's documentary was released on VHS a few years after THE DEMON LOVER failed to set Hollywood on fire. It has been released more or less 'as-is'; no remastering. The image is often dim, colours are washed out, it's grainy, sound is muddy; everything one would expect from this type of documentary from that time and budget.Joel does provide some narration that helps put scenes into context and helps the viewer understand why people are yelling at one another. Her role as documentarian isn't an objective one as she is often in the middle of the arguements and is not at all hesitant to provide her opinion on what Don and Jerry are doing wrong.

I first heard of THE DEMON LOVER in the pages of THE PSYCHOTRONIC ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FILM and due to its subject matter and that it starred Gunner Hanson I wanted to see the film. It was years until I was able to get a copy and the viewing experience was severely disappointing. It also took years from the first time I heard about DEMON LOVER DIARY, also in the pages of PSYCHOTRONIC, to finally viewing it but I found it to be fascinating as a time capsule of regional film making.