'Demons' Trailer: Russia-Ukraine Horror via Borscht

The new horror film Demons is serving up a decidedly unsettling metaphor for the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and its first trailer promises a story steeped in borscht, blood, and the literal weight of the dead. The footage, released exclusively, frames a tale that uses the genre’s tropes not merely for scares but as a visceral commentary on the tangled, violent history between the two nations.

The trailer opens with a series of pastoral images - a Ukrainian countryside, a family kitchen, and a pot of borscht simmering on a stove. That domestic peace is immediately shattered. The film’s narrative centers on the return of a man to his ancestral village, a place caught between occupying forces and the ghosts that refuse to stay buried. According to the filmmakers, the movie uses the physical landscape of graves and the earthy, blood-red dish of borscht as central symbols for the cyclical nature of aggression, memory, and shared cultural inheritance.

“We wanted to explore what happens when a conflict is not just political, but personal, ancestral, and almost culinary,” says the director in the trailer’s accompanying statement. The visual language is direct: a spoon dipping into a bowl of soup cuts to a hand clawing through dark soil. Later, a scene shows a group of soldiers, their faces muddied and fatigued, walking through a field dotted with wooden crosses, a stark reminder that the land itself is a repository of past violence. The trailer’s tone shifts from quiet dread to explosive, supernatural violence, suggesting that the “demons” of the title are not just metaphor - they are the restless souls of those killed in previous skirmishes, awakened by the current conflict.

The film’s distinct angle lies in its refusal to take a side in the modern war. Instead, it examines the relationship itself, which the creators describe as a “toxic marriage” of shared traditions and irreconcilable grievances. The borscht is the unifying element - a dish both nations claim as their own - yet the trailer shows it being prepared differently depending on who is in the kitchen. In one scene, a Russian officer demands a bowl from a terrified Ukrainian family, while in another, a Ukrainian partisan uses the same pot to boil bandages. This parallel structure underscores the film’s central thesis: that the two cultures are inextricably linked, and that the current violence is a brutal reenactment of an old, unresolved family quarrel.

The horror elements are grounded in the practical. The trailer showcases a pervasive, damp coldness, with ruined churches serving as makeshift morgues and farmhouses as bunkers. The “graves” of the title are not just battlefield burials; they are mass pits from earlier eras, uncovered by shelling. When the dead rise, they are not zombies in the traditional sense, but rather anguished, articulate figures who recite poetry and recount specific wartime atrocities from decades past. This ambitious approach positions Demons less as a simple monster movie and more as a historical tragedy with supernatural dressing.

Early cut footage suggests a high level of craft, with a sound design that layers the low rumble of artillery with the hum of a Russian folk song, creating an eerie, disorienting dissonance. The production appears to have used authentic locations, likely in Eastern Europe, giving the film a documentary-like realism that enhances its fantastic elements. The performances, particularly from the lead, are raw, conveying a man torn between his Ukrainian heritage and the Russian language he grew up speaking - a personal conflict that mirrors the larger geopolitical one.

The release strategy is also notable. The filmmakers have opted for a staggered rollout, beginning with film festivals before a wider theatrical push. This decision suggests they are aiming for critical recognition rather than a blockbuster opening weekend. The trailer wisely avoids revealing the film’s third act, instead closing on a haunting image of a young girl placing a sunflower on a fresh grave, a single tear rolling down her face as the camera pulls back to reveal the vast, scarred landscape.

Demons is a bold, risk-taking entry into the horror canon. It uses the familiar tools of the genre to ask uncomfortable questions about nationhood, memory, and revenge. The borscht is not just a meal; it is a national identity, stained red. The graves are not just resting places; they are active sites of political debate. The demons, consequently, are not just the supernatural entities on screen, but the lingering hatreds that continue to devour the living.

The film is currently in post-production, with no specific release date set as of this writing. However, the release of this trailer signals that the studios behind it are confident in its power to spark conversation. Whether it will be embraced as a profound allegory or criticized for its heavy-handed symbolism remains to be seen. But one thing is clear: Demons is not afraid to get its hands dirty, and it is using the blood of history to paint a portrait of a present-day horror.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter