“Built around being a fantastic horror comedy satire that plays off of a lot of different references... DEMONETIZE brings sharp early writing, but ultimately turns into a bit of a missed potential.”
DEMONETIZE was a supernatural horror comedy film that was released in 2026, written and directed by Alexander Boyd Watson. It stars co-writer Janine Hogan as Jane, alongside an ensemble cast featuring Sean Carrigan as Martin, Matty Cardarople as Terrence, Chad LeBaron as Paul, Alice Wen as Brie, and Lexi Collins as Tara. It’s basically about a washed-up paranormal investigator who locks a bunch of obnoxious, clout-chasing influencers inside an actual haunted house for an overnight cash challenge, only for real, bloodthirsty ghosts to show up and start horribly slaughtering everyone one by one while they’re all still idiotically trying to record content, chase views, and survive the night.
We are on day two of the 2026 GenreBlast Film Festival. DEMONETIZE is a film that is a lot of things, but the main thing you should consider before watching it is that it’s built around being a fantastic horror comedy satire that plays off of a lot of different references. If you aren’t familiar with the references, you may not fully appreciate everything about the movie, but I do think it has a lot of stuff going for it, especially in the beginning of the movie, when you are getting introduced to the story and characters.
The story itself will feel remarkably similar to another classic story you may already be aware of... The House on Haunted Hill. While not an official parody of the story, you’ll note that it does start off with a cash prize offer from a guy that is challenging a group of individuals to stay the night at a haunted house. The money is if they survive the night. This is the exact same setup of Hill House.
Then, you have the characters, who are all caricatures of different types of content creators... from tech reviewers, to TikTok dancers, to OnlyFans creators, to the really over-the-top obnoxious ones that are clearly modeled after Jake Paul. Don’t believe me? There’s a moment where he is trying to sell tickets to his boxing match with a retired UFC fighter. I also appreciated that one of the other characters was significantly grounded, as she is exhausted of living that kind of life and is rusty trying to get back into the swing of things. I think that’s something all content creators do go through pretty regularly, so it was nice to see that being recognized in the film.
Last, but not least, is the host of this event. The paranormal investigator was very clearly inspired by the host of Ghost Adventures, Zak Bagans... who famously bought a house in Gary, Indiana that he called “Demon House,” which he made a documentary about and mysteriously destroyed after an experience that even HE, in all his years of paranormal television, couldn’t talk about. In this film, this paranormal investigator did the exact same thing when he bought the house.
Now, given the entire film, for the most part, takes place entirely within a single house, I can tell that they saved a significant amount of money in their micro-budget. The movie itself actually looks legit. You can’t always tell the budget is as small as it is. The quality is crisp and clean. The performances are all pretty strong. Some are obnoxious, but in the same breath, they’re kind of supposed to be, right? To a lot of people, influencers are almost like aliens in the way they act and talk and behave. They’re just too… chipper, you know what I mean? I can’t exactly say much about it, though, since I’m also technically an influencer, as I influence people to watch movies.
Where I think the film sometimes falters is ultimately in the pacing department. I really dug the first act of the film, even leading into the second. But after that point, the film does start to lose me a bit. It starts to lose its grasp a little bit on the balance of both comedy and horror that it began with so well, and it gets a little lopsided as it has more and more horror-adjacent moments while the film plays on. I’m not sure if it narratively makes sense not to do that, but everything that had me nodding my head in its brilliance kind of got lost towards the end, and I realized I didn’t care so much about how it would end anymore. It’s a bit bittersweet for me, because I do think there were some very smart ideas and even smarter writing as the film opened up, but it ultimately turned into a missed potential sort of ordeal.
Technical/Unbiased Score: 32/50 (64%)
Biased/Entertainment Score: 36/50 (72%)
Total Combined Score: 68/100 (68% or 3.5/5 on Letterboxd)