Demon Under Glass (2002) — Triskaidekafiles

DEMON UNDER GLASS

WRITERS: Jon Cunningham and Deborah Warner

DIRECTOR: Jon Cunningham

STARRING: Jason Carter as Simon Molinar
Garett Maggart as Dr. Joseph McKay
Jack Donner as Dr. Richard Bassett
Denise Alessandria Hurd as Detective Gwen Taylor

QUICK CUT: A man gets taken to a hospital after an encounter with a hooker goes horribly awry, and while he recovers, he makes friends with the staff attending to him.

THE MORGUE

Dr. McKay - Very much an average doctor, who takes his oath to do no harm very seriously. He cares about his patients and will protect them as best as he can.

Simon - A vampire who does what he must to survive, and that usually means killing. He has little remorse, but he says he has to put it from his mind, or it would drive him mad. He’s well read (He’s had a lot of time), quite intelligent, clever, and charming.

Dr. Bassett - The head of the project examining Simon. He will do what must be done to get results. He will do his best to minimize harm to Simon, but not at the cost of the experiments.

Detective Taylor - A hard nosed cop who captures Simon one night. She becomes enthralled with him, obsessed with finding him, as much to close her case, as to satisfy her own curiosity.

Well, let him out! He can’t breathe under there!

TRISK ANALYSIS: Happy Triskgiving everyone! Tomorrow, if you're reading this as it posts, but in general. This year, I stuck with the "demon" theme from the last movie's title, and am sliding right into "Demon Under Glass", which has a nice sorta food theme sound to it, even if there is no food or Thanksgiving involved. Technically. Also, this is a movie with a lot going on, so it will definitely leave you stuffed. ANYways, I'm rambling, let's get into this.

Being so long, at just shy of two hours, even with all that space, they STILL need some opening text to set things up with events that precede the movie, that are important to the plot. In brief; a serial killer is on the loose, and because he drains his victims of blood, they've taken to calling him Vlad. We now join Demon Under Glass, already in progress...

Doctor Hirsch and his men are watching as some dude is trying to pick up a hooker, and thinks they "may have something".

As they get to her motel room and are about to do the deed, cops come bursting out of nowhere to arrest the guy. He gets grilled, but does not seem to be the guy.

Cop salary just ain’t cutting it, poor guy has to sleep on a bench.

The hooker also reveals she's a cop, despite saying she hates cops. Ahh, self loathing.

Since it's clear he's not Vlad, they reset for another go, and it's not long before another guy comes along to try and pick up detective Taylor.

And the movie doesn't hold the reveal for long, as the lethal lothario flicks his teeth out when no one but us is looking. So he's either Vlad, or just some random vampire about to have a bad day.

Not even gonna beat around the bush, he's the entire reason this movie was on my radar. I'm a big fan of Jason Cole from his Babylon 5 days, and finding out he was in a low budget 2000s vampire movie? Sign me up.

He has a charming smile, he's a smooth talker, the British accent does not hurt, and Taylor might even be swayed by his mysterious ways. The pair kiss outside the room, and totally have a moment.

If I had a nickel for every time I've seen Jason Carter in a low budget mid 2000s vampire flick this year, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but weird that it happened twice!

Unlike with the first guy though, "Vlad" is no easy target, and easily flings the cops off him, and rips the door right off its hinges in his haste to get away.

When the cops have no luck, Hirsch's men rush in, guns blazing, and get in a few shots. Hirsch doesn't want the vampire dead though, and rushes into the field to try and protect him.

Unfortunately, "Vlad" is still able to kill Hirsch, but he is too weakened by all the fighting and gunshots, to not stop himself from succumbing to the beating from Hirsch's goon squad.

They manage to not kill him, and seal him into a giant metal Tupperware container, to bring him to a nearby hospital where they are all set to receive him.

It turns out Hirsch was the lead doctor for the Delphi Project, a government operation designed to capture a vampire, determine if it was real, and what it's abilities are. He came up with a whole host of protocols and tests, which will largely take up the bulk of this movie.

With Hirsch dead, the government recruits another doctor from the hospital where this is all set up, one Doctor McKay.

They catch McKay up to the plot, and he is naturally incredulous that they have an honest to gosh vampire. However, the evidence...well, arguably convinces him. I find it weak, but we'll let that slide for the sake of plot.

McKay is naturally curious, and it will help pay off his student debt, so they get to work. They wait for the sun to be directly overhead, since they have no idea how much sunlight is deadly, or if it even has an effect. The scientists are ready to open the overhead shield at a moment's notice, should "Vlad" get out of hand.

The doctor starts doing some routine examinations on him, like anyone would do with a new patient.

I love taking a scientific approach of exploring what vampires are, and looking at the lore through that lens. It is nicely methodical, and fairly well thought out. I do wish the movie had gone more into it, if anything. But I do get that would make an already long, arguably dry movie, even moreso.

Being a vampire, he's kinda DEAD which makes some of the tests difficult to impossible, but that was all accounted for by Hirsch in his protocols. They can at least get a baseline, even if that is, as an example, a blood pressure of 60 over 30.

We also learn, as they go through his wallet, filled with delightfully mundane things like a driver's license, credit cards, Blockbuster cards, everything for a normal life, that our vampire's name is Simon Molinar. So I can at least stop calling him "Vlad".

That does make me ponder a question though, that persists through the movie; they never *actually* confirm the idea of if Simon IS Vlad. Yes, it is highly likely given what we know. He's a vampire, I mean, like...come on, right? But we all just assume it's a fact? What if he ISN'T? Is there someone else out there, another vampire, or just some random sicko, killing people and draining their blood?

Now, Simon never DENIES being Vlad, so it's probably safe to assume, but I wish they had given a maybe more definitive answer. But for all intents and purposes, we'll just go with the answer being "yes". The movie isn’t really concerned with answering that question, even if it does come up from time to time, so we really shouldn’t be either.

McKay gets to work removing the bullets the government stooges left in Simon, and he also removes a musket ball, must to everyone's bemusement. It's a nice small way to speak to Simon's longevity.

They are rapidly losing daylight though, so Simon must go back in the box. McKay insists they give him some fresh bedding in the metal coffin, and a gown for the poor guy.

I really like that McKay is empathetic to his patient, like any good doctor, and it may be cliche, but positioning the clinical humans as the real monsters of this story works very well. But more on that later.

Despite all my rage, I am still just a bat in a cage.

Up to this point, Simon has been largely quiet, save for grunts of pain and discomfort, as a form of protest towards his captors. However, McKay has been slowly reaching out to him, and making it clear he is there to help. Finally, he begins to speak, and having a dialogue definitely helps the ongoing tests go down a bit smoother.

McKay wants Simon to sit up, but Dr. Bassett doesn't recommend it. Still, it's the best way to examine him, and they proceed with caution. Simon plays nice, and we see his bullet wounds are all healed. He thanks McKay for removing the musket ball, and reveals he needs fresh blood.

Fortunately, this too has been thought of, and a steady supply is provided by various members of the project's staff and soldiers.

They discuss his readings, and how his heart beats, he breaths, but he has no oxygen flowing through him, and no electrical readings, so surmise it must be reflex more than anything. Again, I love the scientific approach.

We honestly have NO idea how he can turn into a bat, though!

Actually, they never get into the bat of it all, so it’s probably not a part of this version’s lore, and it’s probably for the best if we’re sticking with science. Also, they do specifically mention he DOES have a reflection. And there's a cute moment where they rule out garlic by having a soldier chow down on garlic and burp in his face to see how Simon would react.

While McKay gathers various biological samples, one of the other doctors rushes in with scans from a microscope showing what might be a virus, that they theorise could be the source of the vampiric mutation. Far from a new idea these days, and only slightly less so 20 years ago, but a fair way to go with it scientifically.

The doctor also notices that it appears Simon can see them through the one way mirror, and also they he can seemingly hear them, confirming heightened senses.

Speaking of, the "urine" turns out to be blood, the same blood type as his earlier transfusion, so it just passes right through him, after Simon takes whatever "nutrients" he can gain from it.

With all that out of the way, Bassett decides that tomorrow they will begin sunlight exposure tests, to see if A) Simon is indeed affected by sunlight, and 2) how indirect can it be, so they can expand their experimentation windows, currently limited to only five hours a day of direct overhead sun.

McKay is not happy with this, it will be torture for Simon, but it must be done. So, the doctor reluctantly agrees, despite his misgivings.

They go through various filters and intensities to see how much, if at all, Simon is affected, and it is an uncomfortable watch. Or as uncomfortable as watching a body writhe under a heavy sheet can be, but hopefully at this point you have some empathy for Simon. The doctors reacting to it helps sell it on that level.

Bassett declares they won't give him any transfusions, so they can see how long it takes him to heal. McKay is, once again, not happy about this. But it's data they need, and if they don't use this opportunity, they'll just have to do it again later. I hate when cruelty can be logically accepted.

On the virus front, they're trying to learn more about it, and put out the idea that only a small percentage of the population might be susceptible to being turned by it, and I find that an underused idea. That only *certain* people could be turned, it's a fascinating thought.

That night, Bassett has a chat with Molinar, from the safety of the control room at least, and it's a good scene. He apologizes for the cruelty, Simon says he expected one day humans would find him, or someone like him, and he sees himself as the humans' enemy. But that's not how Bassett sees him, he understands he's just doing what he must to survive.

In theory, I speculate, that they could find a way to have Simon better survive without the whole murdery bit, but that's not quite a path this movie seems interested in going down.

Oh hey, remember when there were cops in this movie?

We jump back to Detective Taylor, who is still having thoughts about Simon, and there's a small subplot where she tries to find "Vlad" to give herself some closure. Both for the case, and for herself.

She runs into the father of one of Simon's victims, and that's mostly how her narrative tries to get back into the plot. I'm not gonna get too much into this side of things, but it's going on throughout the rest of the movie.

There's also been a number of character moments between the medical staff, and even Hirsch's funeral, but I am breezing over stuff because as you can see, this movie is kinda packed.

Back with Simon though, we have a dentist show up to very concernedly examine his teeth, McKay does a spinal tap, and gives Simon some actual clothes. Spoiler, they don't last long, which is a shame, poor guy should be comfortable.

That night, Bassett has a private chat with Simon, about life, and death, and how he came to be. He's hundreds of years old, from when Hadrian ruled, and one night, oops! Vampire!

I always get the impression that Simon is willingly participating, in as much that he's not just sitting here biding his time. Yes, I imagine if an opportunity for escape presented itself, he would take it, but he genuinely seems to want to be helpful, and contribute to society. It's an interesting take.

Ans so, with Simon's agreeance to help, and since we've had a ton of research and procedures and tests done already, the movie spares us at least a little by montaging through a bunch of standard tests like eye and ear exams, and the like.

The scientists are stymied as to how Molinar works, and he postulates that because he's in an artificial environment, not allowed to hunt, or kill, is obscuring something. Nice way to try and get fresh meat...

Why do you ask me questions you already know the answers to, Charles?

McKay is ordered to break Simon's arm by their bosses, so they can study his regeneration under more observation, now that they have more time without the old sunlight restrictions of a few hours.

Simon breaks his arm for them, making the choice his own, and sparing McKay that act, but in all the commotion, one of the soldiers takes the opportunity to make stabby all over Simon.

The project decided to bring in more religious folks into the fold, when they didn't know how such things might affect vampires. I see this choice is going well for them.

Later, the victim's father pays McKay a visit, and this is when he finds out Simon might be Vlad. He was already doubting a lot of the procedures being done, and this just make his moral stance all the more rocky, with what he might be working with.

This leads to a nightmare where McKay is taking innocent lives just to prolong Simon's, building up to Simon turning the doctor, which visually reads as a lover's embrace.

While it's never really dealt with too much in depth here, queer relationships have long been a part of vampire lore, and the chemistry between the two leads is definitely there. This could have gone interesting places.

Well this certainly violates some doctor patient ethical code.

Eventually, Basset decides to test the earlier hypothesis, and picks up a hooker to feed to Molinar. Once that's done, the body has to be disposed of, and to cut to the chase, they leave a medical glove behind, that Taylor finds, and this will lead her back to the hospital

And this is why doctors should not be tasked with disposing of bodies. Amateurs.

It would be deeply funny if the hooker Bassett picked up turned out to be another cop.

The thought does occur to me that, we never learn if letting Simon have a fresh kill gives them any new information about his condition. The movie picks up the pace from this point, and we never get back to this.

With all that's been going on, McKay contacts the detective, and they go check out Simon's apartment. They bring up that they don't know if Simon and Vlad are one and the same again, and now it's gonna bug me that this is never answered.

Meanwhile, they finally discover a genetic match for the vampire virus to affect, and gasp! It's Doctor McKay. That is a coincidence too far for me, but I guess we'll have to allow it. Unfortunatley, they say this where Simon overhears it, and also, Dr. Bassett's wheels start to turn.

Bassett has some deep thoughts to himself, and confides in McKay that he thinks it best to destroy Simon at the end of the experiments. Once again, McKay is not happy about this, but before he can say much more, they get a call that something went wrong with Simon's nightly transfusion, and they rush to the hospital.

To keep a long story from getting even longer, this is all a ruse by Bassett to get McKay infected, so he either will have two vampires to work with, or a new subject to study from the start of the infection. FOR SCIENCE!

We live for the one, we die for the one!

A LOT goes down here in the final ten minutes. Bassett shoots a soldier when he barges in unexpectedly, Taylor rushes in at the sound of the gunshot, she demands the door be opened so she can get her suspect, and Simon makes an escape when guards barge in to stop Taylor. And another doctor shoots Bassett in a scuffle for the gun. Karma's a bitch.

Simon is reunited with the detective, and McKay rushes in to hold Simon at gunpoint. He tells the vampire to leave, and we'll continue this another day, or continue to fight, more guards will show up, and he'll either be killed or captured again. Simon takes the advice, and makes a run for it.

Now, this was either based on a book, or the book was written concurrently, and the movie covers roughly the first two thirds of the novel. The remaining third is about McKay trying to rebuild his life, and Simon continuing to be a presence, while Delphi as a looming threat to McKay. That back third is a vastly different plot thread to run down, so I definitely get why the movie would stop here - it's the end of the main experiment and plot centered around the hospital, and we are already pushing two hours.

I really would love to get my hands on the book some day, and see how the story played out. It also would have been nice to have a second movie to finish up the plot. A nice, two movie miniseries of sorts. This works as a conclusion, for the most part, but getting the rest, the fuller, story, would have been nice.

TRISK ASSESSMENT

Video: On average for early 2000s indie movies. Not great,could be better, but it’s very fine. Has a bit of a tv movie feel to it, but whatever.

Audio: Your average audio track.

Sound Bite: “Qualities of compassion, intellect, and honour, are easily crushed by accidents of circumstance." Not a quip this week, but a deep quote by Simon about their circumstances.

Body Count: Not huge, but considering sticking Simon in a box for 90 minutes, not bad.

1 - Almost eight minutes in, and Simon chokes Hirsch
2 and 3 - It is mentioned he killed two others
4 - Simon eats his next hooker an hour and twenty minutes later.
5 - Steubens accidentally gets shot by Doctor Bassent
6 - A soldier gets killed trying to stop Simon, and then there's an offscreen skirmish that takes out several more

Best Corpse: Not much to pick from, and two aren’t really shown, and the only real death we get to see is the prostitute’s. Even so, it’s not bad, and they soak in it, since it’s the climax (sorry) of a lot of things.

Blood Type - C+: There’s not a lot of blood, since most of the deaths take place off screen, or pretty quickly, but that one moment of gushing blood, and the stabbing, they really cut loose. And holding back on the blood until then really make it stand out.

Sex Appeal: Not much, but you get more than your fair share of shirtless Jason Cole.

Drink Up! every time McKay is not happy about things.

Movie Review: I am surprised by how much I adored this movie. It was introduced to me because it had a low rating, and when I saw Jason Carter was in it, I had to see it. And the small scale of it, the examination of vampirism, and a solid main cast, made this a very fun movie. There's not a lot to it as it takes place in a single location, with a lot of talking, and it is very dry and clinical, which takes up very much the majority of it's time and budget. It's not gonna be for everyone. But I am a fan of movies that could almost be plays, and this one's sets being limited to just a few rooms in the hospital speak to that part of me. Movies had a different set of challenges before iPhones and digital cameras and special effects, and this one works well within those limitations. It’s a quieter movie, that has an idea to dig into, and I was surprised why how quaint and charming it all was. I watch a lot of trash for Trisk, but coming across the occasional hidden gem such as this one is what makes it all worthwhile. This is the sort of movie I love finding and drawing attention to. Four out of five metal caskets.

Entertainment Value: It’s not quite as camp as it could be, it’s not quite bad enough to be accidentally entertaining, it just kinda…is. It has a decent sense of humour though, with the occasional quip, but that’s not the sort of movie it is. If there was a bit more camp to it, I might love this movie even more, but it takes the subject matter SO seriously, that it almost takes something away. But it’s still a solid watch, and you’re here more for the performances than the horror or effects or blood, or any of that. Three out of five torn shirts.