The Demon is a 2016 horror movie from Mongolia directed by O. Munguntulga and B. Tsogt-Erdene.
The opening scenes are set in 2002. A man named Mayagmar is caring for his wife Sunjid, who is desperately ill with cancer. Sunjid is obviously terminal but is not dying quite fast enough for her husband, who is stuck with her in the family's country house, emptying bedpans and watching her hair fall out. One day, Sunjid walks out of the house, locks the door, and leaves for a good long while. When he comes back he finds Sunjid half out of her sickbed...dead.
He also finds a ghost. The sight of Ghost Sunjid with her rotting face sends Mayagmar screaming in terror. Mayagmar consults a shaman who tells him to leave the house, but not to sell it.
Cut forward thirteen years to Dec. 31, 2015. Mayagmar's nephew Khatnaa knows about the empty vacation home and wants to take his friends there for a cool New Year's party. So he invites them: his own girlfriend Khajaa, his friend Amagaa, Amagaa's girlfriend Minjee, and Khatnaa's single buddy Tumuruu. Minjee cajoles her friend Anu, who is shy and quiet and demure, into tagging along. It's a fun party, with drinking and fireworks and sex, at least until the ghost of Sunjid emerges and starts murdering people.
Tropes:
- Abnormal Limb Rotation Range: Ghost Sunjid starts doing a freaky upside-down spider/crab walk.
- Artistic License: Lows in Mongolia on New Year's Eve are going to average -23 C or so, so, not a good time for a bare-chested Amagaa to open the window and enjoy the clean country air.
- Cell Phones Are Useless: Naturally nobody can get a cell phone signal to call for help. (Semi-realistic if one is in a country cabin in the middle of nowhere in Mongolia.)
- Chekhov's Gun: It's not hard to figure out that when Amagaa notices the cool ceremonial sword hanging on the wall, it will come in play later. Amagaa uses the sword to whack off Minjee's head with one stroke. (Must be a strong guy.)
- Conscience Makes You Go Back: Tumuruu has gotten outside through the unlocked upstairs window and managed to start the car, when he hears Anu screaming inside. He goes back to rescue her, and takes a knife to the gut (thrown by a ghost!) for his trouble.
- Diabolus ex Machina: Why don't they simply open the front door and run away? Because Minjee the moron broke the key off in the lock, that's why.
- Distant Prologue: After an opening scene set in 2002 the bulk of the story takes place over a few hours on New Year's, 2015-2016.
- Dwindling Party: It's an actual party that starts dwindling, once the ghost of Sunjid comes out and starts killing folks. Anu is the only one to survive.
- The Dying Walk: After the ghost of Sunjid emerges from her portrait and does something bad to Khatnaa, he staggers a few more steps to the landing on the stairs before tumbling the rest of the way down and falling dead at the feet of the others.
- Exploding Calendar: The date flipping on an old-style electronic calendar indicates the days that are rolling by as Mayagmar is stuck in the country vacation house with his dying wife.
- Final Girl: Anu is straight out of central casting, being shy and quiet and, if maybe not a virgin, just more demure than her hard-drinking, sex-having lady friends at the party. She's the only one to survive, escaping out the door that Tumuruu managed to open, and flagging down a passing car.
- Haunted House: Haunted country vacation home, occupied by a pissed-off and murderous ghost.
- Kubrick Stare: Ghost Sunjid does this more than once, like when she's trapped a helpless Amagaa in the bedroom, or during the final confrontation with Tumuruu and Anu in the living room.
- Mirror Monster: Ghost Sunjid first emerges from her own portrait hanging on the stairs, which is when she kills Khatnaa.
- Murder by Inaction: Mayagmar abandons his bedridden, dying wife, and succeeds in hastening her death by quite a bit.
- New Year Has Come: New Year's Day being a big Mongolian holiday, Khatnaa brings his friends out to his family's country house to party. For a while it was a pretty cool party.
- Ominous Fog: The hills and forest are fog-bound on the morning where Mayagmar decides to commit Murder by Inaction by taking off and leaving his wife home alone for a while.
- Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: Sunjid wears in death what she was wearing in life at the end, namely what looks like a hospital-style gown. And her hair is certainly long and stringy, and her dead rotting face seals the deal.
- Toplessness from the Back: Seen from Minjee as she's bouncing on top of Amagaa during sex.
