Stupid British "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" ripoff. Here we have young, hunky Luke Van Helsing (Christian Cooke) being told by his godfather Rupert Giles (Philip Glenister) that it is his duty to fight freaks (i.e. demons). Naturally he doesn't believe him until the "freaks" (guys in ridiculous teddy-bear looking makeup) attack. There's also two attractive women thrown in--Mina Harker (Zoe Tapper) and Luke's annoying girlfriend Ruby (Holly Grainger).What's wrong with this? Well--everything! The basic story has been done to death. Do we really need to see it again. The plot was predictable AND clichéd--not a good thing. The dialogue was on the level of a very bad comic book. The "demons" just looked silly--even by TV standards. They were more comical than scary. The special effects were atrocious. As for the acting--the less said the better! Talented actor Glenister looks (understandably) embarrassed and doesn't even try to act. Cooke is very attractive and hunky--but he's a lousy actor. Also his thick British accent makes most of his dialogue (to American ears) unintelligible. The girls are both good-looking and speak clearly but they're given nothing to do. This is being shown over here in the USA on BBC America. From what I gather this was cancelled in the UK after 6 episodes. No shock there!

"Demons" eh? Can't actually remember seeing a demon in any episode. Oh well anyway.....I began watching this show in the hope that what had been created was a British version of Buffy or Supernatural. I stuck with it, watched every episode and have come to the conclusion this must have been written by some film students with a hard-on for these shows but without the talent to duplicate them. Demons fails miserably on so many levels and that's setting aside the poor writing, laden with clichés. For a start we have the protagonist, Luke, a hero that has all the personality of a lump of wood. He might very well be a good looking chap but that's hardly enough to carry a whole series. Watching him furrowing his brow (which I think he thinks means he's being deep and intense) and staring into the distance makes me want one of the show's crappy monsters (I'll come to that later) pop up behind him and put him out of my misery. We've got a hero who, personality bypass aside, has no more going for him than you or I. OK, so he's the last of the Van Helsing's. So? At least Buffy had powers like super strength etc. Other than some very dubious martial art's "skills" this guy offers nothing. Then we have Ruby, the most pointless character since Lana Lang in Smallville. Here we have one of those annoying teenagers (ok, I now she's probably really 25 or something) whose mannerisms and speech seem based entirely on that of our transatlantic cousins, except with a British accent, something that personally annoy's the crap out of me. Her entire job seems to be getting captured and then waiting for rescue interspersed with pining over the 2x4 called Luke. Lukes mother, whose sole purpose seems to be 'stand in kitchen, make sandwiches and coffee'! We have a vampire who seems to do NOTHING vampire-y. And finally Rupert. Phillip Glenister is the only one who comes out of this with a shred of respect. OK, his dialogue verges on the comical (seems to have been written by people who have never actually met an American) but he does his best with it and doesn't seem to be taking it too seriously. There are also a lot of elements of the show that are either confusing or make no sense; where do these half-life's come from? Are there other hunters out there? How do they fund what they do? Information like this adds to the richness of a show. By leaving out these types of details the writers are not creating a believable world, one which we can buy into.Saying all that I do think the show has a spark of potential but they need to bring in better writers and have a overhaul of the basic concepts of the show. Might I suggest, in my humble opinion, the following points: 1 - Get a better actor to play Luke, someone who can really portray the weight of this awesome responsibility dumped on a ordinary teenager. 2 - Then give him some kind of ability that sets him apart from us mere mortals, something that can develop over many show's, something that starts off as a burden and eventually shows him learning to accept, control and use it. 3 - Get rid of Ruby. Brings nothing to the show, no reason for her to be there. 4 - Make the monsters more monstrous, more malevolent. Introduce more traditional monsters (like Werewolves etc) and stick to the traditional set of rules in relation to them. Don't have Vampires strolling around in sunlight and get rid of the more crappy monsters like the rat fella (about as scary as watching High School Musical). 5 - Get rid of Galvins accent. 6 - Have an over reaching story arc. When you watch series like Supernatural of Buffy there are indeed stand alone episodes but there is always something/ someone powerful, different from the norm and dark we all know is coming and the characters spend the series slowly becoming aware of and trying to combat. Demons seems entirely composed of stand alone episodes with no real goal, purpose or destination in mind. 7 - Introduce a "big bad" into each series (and no, Mackenzie Crooks ridiculous character doesn't count). 8 - Make it darker (which seems like a ludicrous thing to say about a TV based on the supernatural). The show is a bit too pre-watershed friendly, i.e. there is room to manoeuvre without upsetting the parents.As I said at the start the series has potential but it seems the writers first need to create the mythology of the show, create the world based on that and then drop the characters in. At the moment it seems as if they're making it up as they go.

I don't know how many easily entertained people are out there... but Trick-or-Treat kiddies on our streets can put on better costumes and apply better make-ups than the "demons" on this show.Perhaps it is suited taste for some audiences, but the lack of passion and imagination are clearly evident. Mega-poor SFX, the tough-fake American accent, blind woman who only appears one-quarter of the time blind, super cheesy non-believable demons, weaponry so ancient... it appeared that Van Helsing organization was no longer funded after year 1320 and without any weapon masters present, where are those silly ammunition coming from? Over-all... what the hell?!!!Maybe I'm too spoiled and expect a little too much out of this, but man... this truly devastated, robbed a huge chunk and left a big hole inside of me.

So I'd heard the bad reviews. I knew the basic concept of the show, and I had my doubts. I couldn't imagine how the idea of Van Helsing's descendant coming into his own and demon fighting could be something that could be actually made to work. But it absolutely does, and it does so in the only way it could; by going for over-the-top cheese and not taking itself too seriously. I think the nods given to Buffy were excellent, and far better that than trying to play down the similarity of the base concept of the two shows. But that's where the similarity ends - in the base concept. This is not in any way an attempt to make a British Buffy. It's fresh, original and dazzling.To be honest, I can't help feeling that a lot of the negative reviews are from people who somehow missed the point. Bad SFX??? What? Were you blind? No, they aren't "realistic" effects such as we are used to with shows like Buffy and Dr Who; they are, instead, of a larger-than-life comic-book style and are done brilliantly. The whole show, in fact, has this same comic book feel throughout - everything from the cinematography to Galvin's cheesy American characterisation.If you want this show to be another Buffy, then yes you will be disappointed. If you can take it on it's own merits, then be prepared for some pure comic-book entertainment.