Kev Dooley’sTerms & Conditions (USA, 2026) was the only short–and the last film–I watched at Fantastic Fest this year and it was a delight. I enjoy translation and summoning based-humor. Fun, genderqueer demons are my favorite demons. And I enjoy seeing ironic, comedic justice done to people who not only deserve it, but summon it themselves.

In Terms & Conditions, an angry incel tech bro named Rob (John Gholson) feeds a slew of occult Latin texts into his AI, ChadPDG (voiced by Dooley), to translate a rite so he can summon the demon Astaroth (Lana Dandachli) to punish a female co-worker. But Astaroth recognizes a douche when they see one. After all, that is their job. Dandachli plays Astaroth with appropriately diabolical glee. And her Astaroth’s ironic assessment of Rob’s wishes and desires is delightful in both Astaroth’s enjoyment of it and Rob’s total misreading of it. Gholson does a fantastic job portraying the arrogant deluded entitlement and gullibility of a man absolutely convinced he is a genius and in control despite the significant amount of evidence to the contrary. Gholson’s Rob radiates delusions of power that seem adopted from science fiction and fantasy. He acts as if he’s starship commander, a high tech CEO, or some kind of techno mage having occult texts sent to his phone by his AI in his one bedroom apartment. Rob presents the worst of both tech bros and ritual magick bros in one AXE body-sprayed package.

This review appears in a slightly different and longer form at Monstrous Industry