The Big Picture

Fanny Bordenal shines as Emma in
Nightwatch: Demons Are Forever
, carrying the film with her touching performance and chemistry with Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.
The lack of focus on Coster-Waldau and Bodnia hinders the potential for character depth and development.
The film dwells too much on past nostalgia, leaving intriguing new story development until the final act.

30 years ago, in 1994, one of the most underrated horror films was released. Director Ole Bornedal’s Danish fear-fest, Nightwatch, was instrumental in launching the career of its young lead, the then 24-year-old Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who would later go on to star in a little show called Game of Thrones. His co-star, Kim Bodnia, hasn’t done so bad either, coming off of the hit series Killing Eve. Nightwatch got enough attention that it led to a 1997 Americanized reboot, made by Bordenal as well, and starring Ewan McGregor, Nick Nolte, Josh Brolin, and Patricia Arquette. Talk about star-studded! The reboot couldn’t capture the imaginable of the original, but three decades later, Bordenal is back with Coster-Waldau, Bodina, and others for a true sequel to his Danish masterpiece. Sadly, Nightwatch: Demons Are Forever is another example of a sequel that exists just to reminisce on what came before without doing much new until it’s nearly too late.

What Is ‘Nightwatch: Demons Are Forever’ About?
The original Nightwatch is not a traditional, paint-by-numbers slasher by any means, but more of a twisted, whodunit thriller that would make Alfred Hitchcock proud. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau plays Martin, a young man looking to earn extra money by becoming a night watchman at the Department of Forensic Medicine in Copenhagen, Denmark. He doesn’t have much to do, as the only other people around are the dead ones in the morgue, which he must walk past on his rounds. That’s creepy enough, but there’s also a serial killer out there scalping and killing sex workers. That plot crosses Martin’s path when the victims are brought to his morgue, and he is befriended by the detective on the case, Inspector Peter Wörmer (Ulf Pilgaard). On top of that, Martin has problems at home with his girlfriend, Kalinka (Sofie Gråbøl), brought upon by his intense friend, Jens (Bodnia), who acts before he thinks and can’t keep his relationship with his own girlfriend, Lotte (Lotte Andersen), together. Martin ends up framed for the murders, with the twist being that Wörmer is the killer. After Martin and Kalinka are taken captive, Jens saves the day, putting several bullets in the Inspector’s chest, shooting him dead… or so we think.

30 years later, Wörmer is now in his 80s but alive — a blind, feeble man living out his remaining days in a psychiatric hospital. Jens and Lotte have broken up with the former running off to Thailand to escape what happened. Martin, sadly, can’t escape the past, and neither could Kalkina. The two ended up marrying and having a daughter named Emma, (Ole Berdenal’s daughter Fanny Fordenal), but, haunted by what Wörmer did, Kalinka takes her own life. Martin is now a wrecked man, numbed by pills and buried in his trauma. When Emma discovers his past, she takes it into her hands to confront Wörmer so that her father can let go and move on.

The First Two-Thirds of ‘Nightwatch: Demons Are Forever’ Plays Out Like a Lazy Slasher

The first act of Nightwatch: Demons Are Forever is interesting, even if the themes are well-worn. The idea of a victim living with the trauma done to them by a killer decades ago isn’t anything new. David Gordon Green’s Halloween anyone? The problem lies in how Bordenal portrays it. We see the present through Emma’s eyes and not enough through Martin’s, but Fanny Bordenal is a great actress, proving that she is worthy of the role beyond her familial ties. We can feel her burden of being a young woman who can only move on with the beginning of the rest of her life if she first gets her father to move on with the rest of this. That’s worth exploring, but the film falters in its execution.

Related Nikolaj Coster-Waldau Bursts Into Tears In ‘Nightwatch: Demons Are Forever’ Sneak Peek [Exclusive] The second chapter of the cult-classic ’90s film arrives on Shudder on May 17.

Firstly, it falls into the trap of needing to return to the past too often. Emma gets a job at the same place her father worked nights at, sitting where he sat, wearing his Walkman, listening to his music. We get to hear the same songs from 30 years ago and even see recycled shots of moths flying around inside lights. A horror sequel can’t exist anymore without Easter eggs to link different entries. Then, when Nightwatch: Demons Are Forever tries to tell its own story instead of focusing on what happened decades ago, with Emma going to see Wörmer, it falls flat. Part of that comes from how easy it is for her to trick her way inside the hospital, where she is left all alone in the man’s room, where he isn’t restrained. Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) meeting Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) in Silence of the Lambs with the psychopath behind glass this is not. It’s nonsensical and makes the monster less fearsome.

Just when you’re reading to let that go, the film begins its first twist. A blind 80-year-old murderer escaping a psychiatric hospital to kill again isn’t logical, so instead we’re introduced to a Wörmer-obsessed copycat killer who is out to avenge the mad Inspector by killing those who harmed him. It becomes another Halloween movie, Halloween Ends, where a troubled person does the bidding of an elderly Michael Myers. We’ve seen this all before.

‘Nightwatch: Demons Are Forever’ Suffers by Not Making Nikolaj Coster-Waldau Its Lead

Just like the new Halloween trilogy often has Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie taking a backseat to her granddaughter, so does the Nightwatch sequel. It’s as if modern horror movies only think they can succeed if the leads are in their twenties. This is a hindrance, because you’ve got Nikolaj Coster-Waldau right there (hello, he’s Jaime freakin’ Lannister!), and he’s often in the background, even though it’s his story. It’s fun to see the return of Bodnia as Jens, with him being just as dark and offensively humorous as ever, but this time it’s to cover his pain. So much could have been done with him, but he’s only around for a few scenes, and a lot of that is just to have him reminiscing about what happened with Martin.

Way too much of the runtime is given to characters talking about 1994 instead of being in 2024. Thankfully, there is a twist in the third act that reveals more about who the copycat killer is and their motivations, but it’s too little, too late. It’s an attempt to pull the viewer in with a move that is admittedly intriguing, but it happens after some may have already checked out. We do get to see Martin and Wörmer cross paths again, but even that is quick and lacks much suspense.

When we do get to see Martin in action alongside his daughter, the movie shines, which is much of the third act. They have great chemistry together and Fanny Bordenal is a future star in the making. For that, a picked-up pace at the end, the exploration of how trauma not only affects the victim but the killer as well, and one shocking kill that will give you a jolt, it’s worth a watch if you’re a fan of the original — just don’t go in expecting greatness. A better movie would have dug into who Martin and Jens are now on a deeper level, but Demons Are Forever instead is satisfied to scratch at the surface and constantly remind you of the first film.

Nightwatch: Demons Are Forever (2023) Nightwatch: Demons Are Forever is a sequel that spends too much time in the past and only develops an intriguing new story when it’s too late.ProsFanny Bordenal carries the movie with her sympathetic character as Martin and Emma feel like a loving father and daughter. ConsThere is not enough Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Kim Bodnia.Most of the runtime is wasted on reliving another movie.

Nightwatch: Demons Are Forever is available to watch on Shudder.

WATCH ON SHUDDER