Fury of the Demon

Fury of the Demon (French: *La rage du Démon*) is a 2016 mockumentary co-produced by France, Croatia, and the United States, written and directed by Fabien Delage. The film is structured as a documentary that explores the career of early cinema pioneer Georges Méliès, using a fictional lost short film as its central hook—a film said to be capable of driving its audience insane.

The documentary centers on a made-up short film also titled *La rage du Démon*, which supposedly triggered temporary but violent, rage-filled frenzies in its viewers. Because of the resulting chaos and destruction, the film was allegedly screened only a handful of times before being lost. The only surviving evidence of its existence are newspaper accounts of murder, arson, and widespread damage at theaters where it was shown. The short’s director is unknown, but it is believed to have been Georges Méliès, a landmark figure in film history. Throughout the mockumentary, film directors, critics, historians, and Méliès’s granddaughter Pauline discuss the claim’s plausibility by examining Méliès’s life and achievements.

The cast includes Alexandre Aja, Dave Alexander, Jean-Jacques Bernard, Christophe Gans, and Pauline Méliès.

The film premiered worldwide in 2016, with its U.S. debut on October 15, 2016, at the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival. Reviews came from outlets such as Screen Anarchy and Bloody Disgusting, the latter noting that while some content was repetitive, the interviewees formed a “great mix of deadly sincere, enthusiastic, and scholarly,” calling it “a breezy, entertaining watch that cinephiles and horror hounds will particularly dig.” Tom Holland’s Terror Time and SciFiNow praised the choice of interviewees and Delage’s attention to historical detail. Dread Central gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars, writing that “Not only does *Fury of the Demon* work as a great made-for-TV documentary with lots of intrigue, it highlights the inherent horror elements of Méliès’s work and invites the viewer to track down his films and fall down the rabbit hole.”