Cleopatra Entertainment: The Behemoth (2025) - Reviewed

Images courtesy of Cleopatra Entertainment

You probably aren’t familiar with the name Kai Edmund Bogatzki and that’s okay.  Starting as a short film director in Germany in 2009 before primarily becoming a film editor of more than thirty features including the recent remake of Blood Feast in between his own projects, Bogatzki made his feature film debut in 2017 with the serial killer thriller Scars of Xavier.  Though he contributed to the anthological horror film III: Final Contagium in 2020, Bogatzki didn’t mount an official secondary feature for another five years until his Satanic cult summoning horror flick The Behemoth came about.  Picked up for distribution on streaming and DVD by Cleopatra Entertainment, its a scope widescreen panoramic microbudget practical-effects driven occult horror effort spoken of the same breath as Starry Eyes or Death Magic.  Hell there’s even a dash of Poltergeist III thrown in there for those who are really looking.  It doesn’t always work and channels some familiar tropes Sam Raimi fans have all but ingrained in their horror repertoire but for a Cleopatra Entertainment cheapie pickup it did surprisingly well.

 
A young British couple, Rebecca (Sarah Dawes) and Ryan (Ryan Wichert) venture out to a remote vacation resort overlooking mountaintops with plenty of time to get on ski chairlifts and frolic about the snow-covered grounds.  Managing their residency is Christine (Beatrice Fletcher) who initially seems like your average ingratiating lush looking to party but in fact is harboring a secret mission as a follower of Servants of the Blood, a cloaked Eyes Wide Shut looking occult ring intent on reviving one of the old great gods via human sacrifice and a bizarre fetal insertion which either will or will not awaken the long slumbering beast.  Commandeered by Malek (Johnny Vivash), the leader of the cult, the stage is set for the coming of a world ending Prince of Darkness to be borne of a chosen woman with their sights set on unassuming Christine as their host.  The problem is, no one on either side knows they’re about to unleash an all-consuming kind of Hell on Earth which cares nothing for who let it out, only that everything in its sight needs to die horribly.

 
Co-authored by Bogatzki, Rapsodies and Orso Vesperini including much of his German production crew with scope 2.35:1 widescreen digital cinematography co-opted by Lucas Blank and Roland Freitag with a subtly, increasingly abrasive industrial sounding horror sore by Patrick Huven, The Behemoth is a little engine that could.  No it isn’t doing anything new per se and some of the protheses like a bloodied up demon fetus look kinda silly but if you know the terrain of microbudget indie horror with a distinctly German edge you’re getting into, you should have solid doomsday fun with this.  Again not unlike most other demon summoning flicks with decent horror gore effects, its not particularly frightening but fans of the subgenre as well as what you can do with little to no resources, it gets the job done.  Early on before the pandemonium starts, the film is awash with elegant drone shots of the mountainous landscape and watching it play out I started getting a bit of a The Descent feel, right down to the ‘which is it?’ ending.  

 
It also is a film that is a bit shaky with alliances, jumping sides depending on who is the bigger adversary with Sarah Dawes doing a fantastic job of playing up the meek and innocent Rebecca before transforming into a bloodthirsty growling demoness.  If the film belongs to anyone, it’s most certainly her.  Supporting performances are fine if not a bit rudimentary with Ryan Wichert initially appearing as a goody two-shoes boyfriend who in reality is a John Cassavetes Rosemary’s Baby soul seller.  Johnny Vivash as the bearded cult leader is mostly fine and Beatrice Fletcher starts off as the hunter before becoming the hunted once the titular The Behemoth is set free into the open world. 

 
Another indie cosmic horror offering that manages to conjure up some fire and brimstone here and there, the film offered on streaming digital alongside a DVD disc release offers 5.1 surround sound for a more enveloping sonic experience though most of the surround effects are relegated to the music.  On a dark and stormy night with some friends it should do the trick though let it be known this is not a beer-and-pizza flick.  Rather its a dark and oddly sobering demonological riff on The Descent if the cave dwellers were a creeping Hound from Hell deliciously devouring her victims one by one.  Cleopatra fans expecting no-budget digital indie trash are in for a little bit of a surprise with this one, a no-nonsense death/rebirth possession occult horror flick that does a surprising amount with very little resources at its disposal.  A horror fan could do worse with two hours.

--Andrew Kotwicki