SPEED DEMON movie poster | ©2026 Maverick Film/Complex Corp

Rating: Not Rated
Stars: Katie Cassidy, William H. Macy, John Patrick Jordan, Allen McCullough, Sari Arambulo, Jeremy Matthew Feight, Sky Vaux Fuller, Noriko Sato, Michael John Improta, Sabrina Schlegel-Mejia
Writer: Domenico Salvaggio
Director: Jon Keeyes
Distributor: Maverick Film/Complex Corp.
Release Date: May 31, 2026 (theatrical, digital, VOD)

SPEED DEMON has a title that epitomizes truth in advertising: it’s about a literal demon on a speeding out-of-control train.

The opening, which is effectively eerie, has a little girl alone in her room. Her father at moments seems to be there with her, but he then blurs out and we see the shadow of a crow.

We then meet the little girl as grown-up Lucretia, or Lu (Katie Cassidy). She wakes up in a motel room with a large amount of cocaine and at least two naked people on the bed.

Lu realizes she’s late for work and puts on her professional garb: a nun’s habit. Clearly, she’s a woman with a lot going on.

Elsewhere, aspiring archaeologist Gabriel (John Patrick Jordan) is given a travel gift by his newish girlfriend Mireille (Sabrina Schlegel-Mejia).

Gabriel helps Sister Lu with her baggage when they board the same train from Montreal to New York.

Lu is accompanying her boss, Father Novak (William H. Macy), the Vatican’s top exorcist. Lu is his assistant. Lu has never performed an exorcism herself, as that is a job reserved for priests, i.e., men. Lu thinks this is unfair.

Father Novak disagrees and expresses extreme disappointment in Sister Lu. Novak raised Lu after her father died and she’s his protégé, but he knows she’s an alcoholic (it’s not clear if he’s aware of her other addictions) and now nobody except him will work with her.

Fellow travelers on the train include precocious and well-read little girl Sofia (Sky Vaux Fuller) and her nanny Nancy (Noriko Sato), loving couple Vicky (Sari Arambulo) and David (Jeremy Feight), pickpocket Louis (Michael John Improta), and old grouch Edwin (Allen McCullough).

Sofia’s dad designed the train and she’s been on this route at least twenty times, so she knows all the curves, as well as what speed it should be moving between the stations, etc. She’s also a font of general knowledge from being a constant reader. So, when she observes Gabriel opening his present, Sofia is able to identify it as a statue of demon king Asmodeus.

Gabriel pricks himself on the statue. Oops. This leads in short order to demonic possession, destruction of the train controls, and the need for an exorcism to save the passengers.

Directed by Jon Keeyes and written by Domenico Salvaggio, SPEED DEMON employs a lot of tropes from both exorcist and disaster movies of yore. However, it does so with a straight face and absolute lack of self-consciousness. There’s a charm in this kind of earnestness. It also moves with gratifying quickness.

Cassidy, who spent years as a DC Comics superhero on TV’s ARROW, knows exactly how to play all the notes of her character. Macy is fine and Jordan deals well with the demands of playing a nice guy and then the embodiment of Asmodeus.

SPEED DEMON has some goofs (at one point, someone says “concentrate” when they mean “consecrate”), but its heart is in the right place. The last scene may induce chuckles from a certain segment of the audience for whom, if this were real, it would explain a lot about our current moment. It isn’t the least bit scary but, for those with a soft spot for unironic old-fashioned material, it’s fun.

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