Demons Never Die

Plot

Amber (Tulisa Contostavlos) is attacked and murdered at home, with police investigator Bates (Ashley Walters) passing off her death as a suicide. A group of troubled teens—Archie (Robert Sheehan), Ricky (Jacob Anderson), Ashleigh (Shanika Warren-Markland), Cain (Femi Oyeniran), Samantha (Emma Rigby), James (Jack Doolan), Jasmine (Jennie Jacques) and Kenny (Jason Maza)—have been contemplating suicide for a long time. After hearing of Amber's death, they decide to make a suicide pact and kill themselves at Ashleigh's upcoming party.

As Samantha makes a suicide diary in the college's dressing room, she is stabbed to death by a masked killer. Kenny breaks into Ashleigh's house with his friend Davey (Andrew Ellis) to set up cameras so the group's suicide can be recorded and Davey can exclusively release the footage. Archie and Jasmine start a romance, and Archie suggests they remove themselves from the pact, but this repels Jasmine. The following day, the group is shocked by Samantha's death.

At college, Jasmine is attacked by the killer but phones the police and locks herself in a room; Archie finds her, and she is taken to the hospital. Bates and Mason (Reggie Yates) question Archie, suggesting Jasmine imagined the attack. At night, Ashleigh, Ricky, Cain, and James meet and have doubts about the pact. Kenny, now filmed by Davey for a suicide diary, decides to shoot everyone at the party so his death will be more famous.

The group tells Kenny they are not going through with the pact, angering him. Teacher Mr. Hudson (Patrick Baladi) calls an unknown receiver to say he is out of the deal, then finds his wife dead and is murdered. As the group tries to figure out who the murderer is, Ricky has his throat slashed by the killer. At the party, Curtis and his date are stabbed in the bathroom, James is stabbed in the kitchen, and Ashleigh is stabbed and dragged away.

Archie and Jasmine return to find the house empty; they discover Cain and Davey's bodies. Jasmine emerges distraught, finds Mason and Kenny murdered, then Bates attacks her, revealing himself as the killer. Archie, having faked his own murder, attacks Bates, and Jasmine shoots him. Bates narrates 'Demons never die' before opening his eyes.

Reception

Shot in 19 days on a shooting budget of just £900,000, the film was distributed by new firm Exile Media through an online campaign. Youth media such as RWD magazine gave the film 4 stars, whilst traditional media such as The Guardian described the film as 'part bleeding heart emo love story; part urban Brit flick; part high school slasher' and gave it two stars out of five. Empire said 'Interesting when the kids are debating whether or not they really want to die and boasting a very decent cast. Surprisingly, the actual 'horror' part is the let-down' and also awarded two out of five stars. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes has collected 8 reviews, all but one of which have been negative resulting in a 13% approval rating.