Fire City: End of Days (2015)

Atum Vine (Tobias Jelinek) is the leader or feeder of a group of demons who live in an LA apartment complex that contains a lot of sin, fear, and misery which feeds the demons. Prostitution, drugs, domestic issues abound which allows the demons to sate. Then one day things change. All the fear and misery is gone. The would-be child rapist is reformed and out looking for a job. The demons are in a panic. They are not allowed to leave the complex, and their food supply is running low.About 70 minutes into the film we find out what happened to cause the change and there is also a twist.The production did a decent job on the make-up. That is what really made the film. Almost all the scenes were in the apartment building which played against the promise of the title "Fire City" a city that didn't play into the movie. Nor is this an end of days film or a battle for Earth. Those expectations will lead to a disappointment. It is about demons in an apartment complex. Human see them as humans, not demons.A decent film for what it was and not for how it was marketed. The film is about overcoming your demons and finally becoming human.Guide: F-word, sex, FF nudity (Kimberly Leemans- Crystal of Walking Dead)

Short version: this movie is a very enjoyable film noir, with an interesting mystery story, using demons as plot attributes. It's not a demon horror action movie.Long version: First off, this movie is weird. Not just in the sense that it's about "weird" stuff like demons, but in that it's a movie trying to mix film noir, mystery, horror, and drama. As I started watching it, I was expecting it to be some crappy demon-horror B-movie, but I've not often been so surprised (and wrong in my initial judgment). I believe the reason for most bad reviews of this movie, is that people were expecting a radically different movie. The best I can describe it is as a film-noir mystery detective demon drama. If that sounds ridiculous to you (and I can't blame you), then you're probably better off watching something different. If instead you're intrigued by this seemingly random combination of genres, you might want to give it a try.I found the script to be surprisingly intelligent, with pretty few plot holes, and after the first "what the f*ck is this?" moment passed, I really got into the story (which I will not spoil). Most of the movie is very bleak (although it has a somewhat happy ending), including domestic abuse, alcoholism, child rape (although that was thankfully only implied, but never shown), etc., so it's probably not suited for the faint hearted. I found the acting to be much better than I expected: not Oscar nomination material obviously, but it was adequate enough. Also the special effects, being mostly the demons' body prosthetics, were quite nice. At times it was clear they were just rubber masks and floppy prosthetics, but I found the designs very elegant and was impressed with the film's visual style. Overall I would say it's very entertaining to watch and very different from what you would expect from something called "Fire city: end of days". I also found it to be thematically intriguing, and most of all a very original combination of different genres. I would give it a solid 7/10, but it gets an extra +1 because it's really much better than the 5/10 it has now on IMDb.If you're going to watch the movie, just keep in mind you'll actually have to pay attention to the story - otherwise it's just going to seem like a strange, confusing, meandering movie. But believe me, it actually does make sense in the end. Just think of it as a film noir that happens to feature demons, rather than a demon movie, and you'll know better what to expect.

Despite the low budget of 200 000 USD, I sat through that movie without, checking my watch, composing grocery shopping list or thinking what will my day at work be like tomorrow. I think its original. There were movies about monsters living among humans but usually its different. Here we have a run down apartment building with different monsters/demons living in it, who have a parasitic relationship with other human tenants where they feed of their misery, pain, anger and fear. It was very clever how all monsters see each other as they are but humans see them as normal people, this is actually explained somewhat. But there are many loose ends and unexplained aspects that drag the movie down.The story revolves around a caretaker of the building, Adam, who apparently is a demon who doesn't need to feed on other peoples emotions and has a soft spot for the 11 year old girl who he protects. In turn he brings down the wrath of other supernatural tenants who begin to starve because of his actions.If anything the violence and misery were not shown vividly enough. It should be more drastic. More severe, more bloody. Horrors are meant to be brutal, this one is not so much. Scenes of violence were theatrical and not to real. Hinting that a big black man(very stereotypical) in a dirty wife-beater is going to rape a 11 year old girl, somehow was done is such a way that it wasn't even disturbing. And its not very disturbing when we find out that he did.The movie is almost entirely shot indoors, most likely on the same floor of an apartment building or set that looks like one. Masks and makeup are pretty nice, not computer animated, some clever others like monsters from Power Rangers. That could use improvement.This is not a movie I would recommend for anyone. Geeky audience will find it amusing. Others might not like it. It is not worse than some TV series I seen, so sit back, pop open a beer and take it for what it is.

I am warning you up front that the first 15 minutes of "Fire City: End of Days" is confusing--so confusing that I was ready to turn off the movie. Fortunately, I resisted the impulse and what followed was a surprisingly good film--with a very inventive plot and awfully good prosthetics and make-up. While the film isn't for everyone, it is quite good and worth your time.When the film begins, you see a lot of things that simply don't make sense. Don't worry and don't try to understand...just keep watching. Soon you come to realize that some of the characters living in this sleazy world are not humans after all but are demons disguised as humans...demons who literally feed off our misery. Seeing humans suffer and destroy themselves is what these creatures live for...and helping them do so is their job. However, something strange slowly begins happening to one of them. Atum Vine is a demon unlike any others because for the first time one of these horrible creatures begins to feel sorry for one of the humans...a young girl who reaches out to him for help. While he should take glee in her pain, Vine feels pangs of compassion. What's next and how this affects the humans and demon world is very interesting...but you'll have to see this for yourself.The biggest surprises for me were that I usually hate films like this as well as learning that the director is actually a special effects guy who is now directing his first feature. While the make- up and look of the demons is incredible, I kind of expected this with the background of Tom Woodruff, Jr.. But I didn't expect a relatively low budget film like this to work so well. Now it isn't perfect--I do wish the beginning of the film had been less confusing and a little more to the point. But it is still darned good and well worth your time. My only reservation, and frankly it should come as no surprise, is that the film is NOT family-friendly. After all, it's about evil demons...and it does have some very explicit nudity and language that would make this a film for an older audience. So don't ask your mother or Father O'Malley or your kids to watch it with you!