Legions comes to us from Argentina and borrows heavily from the Evil Dead films, especially when you look at the practical demon effects, but much of the gore and campiness seen from those movies don’t make an appearance here until towards the end, leaving a majority of the leadup a bit lackluster.

The story follows a powerful, but aged Shaman, named Antonio, who regales his peers with tales of his younger days fending off evil spirits. In fact, they love his stories so much that they’ve turned it into a stage play for the rest of the staff and patients at the local psychiatric hospital (what fun!). While they know him simply as a great storyteller, Antonio’s tales are truthful recollections of his early Shaman life—a life that he lost his wife and daughter to. His wife was taken by a demon, while his daughter strayed from her faith and became estranged over time.

Antonio’s content with his somewhat peaceful existence, that is, until he receives word that the demon that ruined his life is plotting its return and has its sights on his adult daughter. Antonio must now find a way out of the hospital and back into his daughter’s life before the next red moon, which is when the vile demon plans its next attack.

Those hoping to see the next Evil Dead (or anything similar to it) will be greatly disappointed, because much of what resembles those movies don’t appear here until the it nears its final act and even then, aside from the campiness and some physical resemblances, that’s where the similarities end. Until that point the movie is more of a story and character driven tale of Antonio’s past that he tells his peers off and on as the film progresses. Specifically, we learn more about how his daughter began to lose her faith and what led up to him being institutionalized.

The past segments are played out serious, while the present-day bits have more of a silliness to it, especially with Antonio’s eccentric group of friends that help him plot his escape from the hospital. This successful mixture of tones is what kept me interested when very little was happening and I even found myself chuckling a couple times during certain parts. Honestly, had the movie been more like the last 20-minutes then I probably would’ve liked it a whole lot more, but either way, it’s a decent effort that’s more amusing than anything.

This film screened as part of Fantaspoa 2022. For more information on the festival, please visit www.fantaspoa.com.