I recently had the opportunity to watch the film I See The Demon at the FilmQuest Film Festival, and it’s one of those films that quietly crawls under your skin before tearing through it in the final act.
It’s a slow-burn horror experience with a science-fiction edge, and what starts as a simple paranoia thriller slowly mutates into a dark, unsettling character study that explores the fragility of memory, trust, and sanity.
The film, directed by Jacob Lees Johnson, opens with Alexis Zollicoffer’s character, Lucy, spotting something strange in the sky before returning home to a surprise birthday party surrounded by her closest friends.
Everything seems fine, until she realizes she can’t remember anything about her day. From there, things spiral fast. Her friends keep reassuring her that everything’s fine, that she’s just tired, that she should relax and enjoy the party.
But when grotesque, disturbing creatures, and other strange things start to appear, seen only by Lucy, you quickly realize that nothing about this night is what it seems.
What I loved about I See The Demon is how it plays with perception. The story isn’t about ghosts or demonic possession. Instead, Johnson crafts an intimate, sci-fi-tinged psychological thriller that looks at how memories can betray us.
Early in the film, Lucy is told that a memory isn’t a recording but a rewriting, that every time you recall it, you reshape it. That idea becomes the film’s emotional and narrative anchor, twisting reality and forcing both Lucy and the audience to question what in the hell is going on.
As the film unfolds, time and perception begin to fracture. The party resets, and the same moments replay, only now they’re more distorted, more terrifying. Each new version pulls Lucy, and the audience, deeper into a chaotic descent into mental collapse.
It’s a fascinating and disorienting experience, filled with nightmarish imagery and those crazy-looking creatures that seem to claw their way out of Lucy’s breaking mind.
The pacing may feel deliberate at first, but once the story ramps up, things get wild. The final act is unpredictable and wild, doing things that genuinely caught me off guard. It’s one of those endings that feels both completely earned and totally unhinged.
The film unravels in a way that’s haunting, thought-provoking, and strangely satisfying.
The film stars Jon Heder, Alexis Zollicoffer, Mallory Everton, Noah Kershisnik, Archelaus Crisanto, Dave Martinez, Mac Steele Foster, and Oran Stainbrook. All of the performances are solid.
I See The Demon isn’t a flashy horror film, it’s more grounded and minimalist, atmospheric, and quietly devastating. It lingers with you because of the questions it raises about who we are without our memories and how far our minds will go to protect us from the truth.
For fans of slow-burn tension and psychological horror, this one’s worth checking out.
