Priests, demons, exorcisms, they’re all a standard part of the supernatural horror film. Standard to the point of cliché, so cliched that it’s hard to find a new twist on them. Writer/director Kelly Parks has come up one hell of a twist for his debut feature DEMON PROTOCOL.

A group of demon hunters from a secretive religious order prepare to cleanse a house of the evil that infests it. Father Prester J. Bedford (Gary Graham, ROBOT JOX, STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE) and his team have done this plenty of times but this time something goes very wrong.

Guns are drawn, the homeowners are cuffed and made prisoners in their own house. Minutes later one of the team, Silver, (Sarah Agor, HATCHET II, WTF!) is dead, shot repeatedly after showing signs of possession and killing her boyfriend. Now they must find out who the demon has fled to, or everyone must die to contain the evil.

When a book or movie contains the word “protocol” in the title we tend to think of spy films. And to a degree, that’s how DEMON PROTOCOL is played. But rather than a double agent, it’s a possessed soul that needs to be dealt with. Add in a touch of THE THING and THE HIDDEN along with a nasty twist near the end and you have an unexpected treat.

Running just an hour, DEMON PROTOCOL keeps a fast pace, spitting out bullets and twists in equal amounts before tying it up in the final minutes. There’s also a nice epilogue featuring author David Gerrold. The effects are simple but mostly effective CGI for the demons. It’s not great but it’s as good as a lot of TV shows and better than a lot of low budget films.

DEMON PROTOCOL is an enjoyable watch. Something for when you just want something fun to watch. Or, as the perfect “B” title before a longer film or two, just like at the drive-in.