Review: ‘Legion of the Liar’

‘Legion of the Liar’ is an independent experimental film I picked up on DVD while at Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors. The movie is less traditional horror as it is a sort of spiritual, psychological experiment in audio/visual storytelling. The movie is 60 minutes in length and directed by Daniel McLemore Stanton.

Described as such by the director himself, ‘Legion of the Liar’ is “a very unique theme of abstract images – more of an atmosphere for Good versus Evil, with out a lot of character dialog.” This is a fairly straight forward and accurate description of the movie, which plays with the senses and succeeds at being moody. The overall concept is meant to convey an exorcism through sights and sounds combined to evoke an emotional response, while underscored by the dialogue of an exorcism.

Whatever story may have been intended has unfortunately been lost amidst the experimentation. With that said, Stanton is creatively free and uninhibited with his camera. His eye for effective lighting is precise and the editing of the film is both confrontational and energetic. The narration, or dialogue of the exorcism, that accompanies the vivid and creepy music and sound design, feels forced and unemotional from the exorcist and at times the voice of the possessed leaves much to be desired.

In the later half of the film, Stanton introduces some scenes that are a welcome change of pace but questionably appropriate to the story. The film ends in a way that presents a significant shift in mood and attempts to convey the victor of this epic battle with a message. ‘Legion of the Liar’ is an experience that must be had with a few things in mind.

First, it’s length perhaps should have been less, whereas the movie would have worked better as a short(er) film. Much of it plays like a dark, twisted music video. Also, watch the movie without expectations of a story developing. With these two things in mind, ‘Legion of the Liar’ does have many redeeming qualities and is certainly an interesting experience for the eyes and ears.

Check out the Official Website.

[Overall: 2.5 stars out of 5]