Graham Reilly (Christian Willis) seems to want to just keep himself to himself. He lives in his garage workshop, doesn't seem to have any real friends or acquaintances (with the exception of young Cole Nichols, played by Tobie Webster), and certainly isn't close to any family members. Unfortunately, some closeness is forced upon him when his brother Jake (Dirk Hunter) enters his life to ask him for help with their younger brother, Phillip (Charles Cottier). Phillip hasn't been well, and he's being affected by the same condition that affected their father (George, played by John Noble).
This directorial debut from Steven Boyle, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Toby Osborne, is the kind of thing you would expect from someone with his background in special effects and makeup. It tries to contain the action within one or two main locations, it has one or two good ideas that aren't quite executed as well as they could be, and there are some great special effects that help to boost the second half of the film.
Considering the title of the film, I don't think it's a spoiler to say that the core of the film revolves around the idea of possession being as much of a physical disease as it is a turbulent battle for any individual soul. The horror here mainly comes from contemplating it as a generational trauma that could be passed along, but there's still room for normal horror movie content that you'd expect in a film named The Demon Disorder.
Willis is a decent lead, presenting his character as someone with very good reason to be the way he is, and both Hunter and Cottier feel convincing as his siblings. Webster is likeable and plucky enough, and that's the core cast all accounted for (another indicator of this being a debut that Boyle quite rightly keeps small and relatively easy to control). Noble is used well in his few scenes, helping his character to loom large over every moment of the movie, and there are a couple of other people who appear long enough to be put in danger as things go from bad to worse for the frightened brothers.
There's definite promise here, but I cannot say that I was invested and interested in many scenes. I would have liked to see some more of the backstory, glimpsed in flashback scenes that show a young Graham (played by Liam Wallace) being frightened by the behaviour of his father, and less obvious horror genre moments. Things become more sadly predictable as we start hurtling towards the end of the film, which is as understandable as it is frustrating.
Still, there's just enough hidden away in this to keep me interested in Boyle's directorial career. Whether it not I stay interested in it after whatever his next film is depends entirely on, well, whatever his next film is.
5/10
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