Itay Tiran, who played the bridegroom, did a fabulous job. His transition from happy-go-lucky to (not so much) was better than any acting I've seen in American horror lately. He had me on the edge of my seat at times, and sitting back to admire the job he did at others. Covered in sweat and crushing a glass in his hand, or curled against a wall bleeding vulnerability, he sold it all. I can't say I'll deliberately go out of my way to look up films from this area again ('cause I'm lazy), but if I see his name in anything, I will check it out.The supporting actors all did a fantastic job as well, with Wlodzimierz Press giving my second favorite performance. He doesn't have a huge role, but it is a pivotal one. Every time the camera came to rest on his face you knew what he was thinking and feeling. It was in his eyes, the tilt of his lips, and his body language. I wanted to hug him.Acting, location, direction were almost spot on across the board in Demon. Not perfect, but great nonetheless. It was definitely a film that demanded your full attention. I just wish I knew what in the world had actually happened! Seriously. If you like Inception type endings, you need to see this film. It's been a ridiculously long time since we were able to walk out of a movie completely baffled (in a good way) about how something wrapped up. There were a lot half-started sentences, hand-gestures, and whuffed breaths involved in the hashing out of that ending on the ride home. All that, and no resolution either.I will say that Demon is not your typical possession film. If you're expecting pea soup and head rotation, you'll need to look elsewhere. There are no dramatic scenes involving levitation, dramatic invocations of god's name, etc. It's an atypical take on the subject that is completely refreshing.I have a theory, of course, but I can't say because I don't want to spoil it for anyone! Now, if only I could figure out if I actually liked the movie or not

The plot of the movie appears to be nice at the beginning, however, later on, it's all about stupid wedding ceremony activities and all garbage talking. Acting is not impressive at all. Every time you would expect that maybe something is going to happen, however, it would disappoint you till the end. I have never seen such an awful demonic possession where the possessed person is not being able to harm even a fly, instead vanishes without a trace! The plot itself is ambiguous and incomplete. If you don't want to spoil 2 hours of your life (especially of a weekend), never ever watch this piece of crap. Even watching Child's Play instead would be 10 times better than this junk. Absolutely rubbish!

Through his best friend in London, Peter (Itay Tiran) meets Zaneta (Agnieszka Zulewska), and soon he travels to her home village in Poland to marry her and settle down in the large, if somewhat isolated, house of her parents. Left there overnight, he does some digging and appears to uncover a skeleton; but the next morning, the hole and the bones are gone, and Peter has spent a rather strange night. Shrugging it all off, Peter and Zaneta marry and a huge party is held at the house; much dancing, speechifying and, especially, drinking of vodka ensues. But Peter isn't feeling quite himself shortly after the party begins, and soon he's acting *very* much out of character…. This is a retelling of the Yiddish tale of the dybbuk, a kind of ghost story, and it's very well done here - the acting is excellent, the atmosphere alternates between wild partying and sheer creepiness, and the horror, while striking, is more of the quiet variety than the blood-splatter type (for which I was grateful). I don't know how available it is in North America - I saw it at Montreal's always-brilliant Fantasia Festival - but it's well worth searching for!

The washed out, depressing landscape greets us at the beginning of this Polish film.Film promises the bleak journey into the heart of rural Poland where our self-assured protagonist (Pole living in England) expects to meet his wife to be, seal the deal and start a new life with his beautiful Polish bride.You gotta know a little something about Slavic weddings...they are drunken and unpredictable. Well, surely not all of them, but the mentality permits a bit of over-the-top behavior fueled by the good ole booze, for sure. Isn't it the same worldwide? Not like the rural Slavic wedding, no.Hence, aside from some hints it's not easy to determine what's wrong with the groom. Yeah, he's seeing the unmarked grave and the skeleton, he's seeing ghost of a Jewish girl, he's twitching and having seizures...yep, the guy's possessed.The story goes back and forth from in-laws trying to cover up the groom's bad state to dancing and drinking, but he's in such a bad shape it's no longer possible to hide. Finally the old Jewish professor attending the wedding gets called to examine the man, but....The story ends before it has gotten a proper explanation, bit of backstory, just pieces of a dream, hints and photographs. We are left to fill in the blanks on our own, but it was an interesting ride, and the "clinging spirit" does not let go of a marked soul.If you compare this possession film to (traditionally filmed) American films in the same vein, it's very different, and therein the key to the East European cinematography appreciation lies. It's extremely realistic, bleak, the mud is muddy and the sky is overcast; nothing is either romanticized or glamorous, rather very raw. There lies the dramatic effect, cause the world where the characters live is very much 'real', never dreamy, not even for supernatural activities' sake. The complexity of everyday life is stressed in all its ordinary, fleshy glory.I find the dybbuk legend to be very interesting, it mostly appears in old German and Polish films, but like every demon it has its needs and its path, much like any other you're likely to encounter in western cinematography. Those demons, they all want the same, a living being to cling to and possess their soul so that the body can become a vessel. What then...well, I guess it's nice to be among humans again! Also, the most interesting thing here is the stark contrast between the world of living and the dead, the joy and sorrow, which can become one, which always live side by side, as one of the final shots reveal nicely. Nice film to ponder on, surely open to interpretation and one that demands multiple viewings to fully appreciate.