Demon Squad: Tooth and Claw Brings Werewolves, Occult Mystery and Supernatural Noir to the Hunt
By Seth Metoyer | More Horror
There are some cases that probably never make it onto a normal detective’s desk. A trail of brutally murdered bodies, rumors of werewolves, fading mystical powers and enough supernatural trouble to make calling the police feel almost quaint definitely qualifies.
Demon Squad: Tooth and Claw, the new indie horror-fantasy sequel from writer/director Thomas Smith and Fighting Owl Films, has officially arrived, bringing paranormal investigator Nick Moon back for another trip into a world where monsters, magic and old-fashioned detective work occupy the same dark corners.
The film follows Nick Moon and his partner Daisy O’Reilly as they investigate a string of gruesome killings targeting members of the city’s homeless population. The evidence points toward something distinctly inhuman, while a rival psychic begins spreading stories about werewolves and serial killers. Moon has another problem brewing beneath the surface: his own mystical abilities have started to fade.
Naturally, things only get weirder from there. Check out the trailer below and you’ll see exactly what I mean. The film looks like a blast and boasts impressive production quality.
Demon Squad: Tooth and Claw blends supernatural horror with detective noir, creature-feature mythology and the sort of paranormal world-building that once made shows like Kolchak: The Night Stalker and The X-Files required late-night viewing. Smith also cites Hellboy among the inspirations behind the Demon Squad universe, which should give horror fans a pretty good idea of the neighborhood we’re wandering into here.
Khristian Fulmer returns as Nick Moon, with Erin Lilley portraying Daisy O’Reilly. The cast also includes Victoria Antonelli, Michael Anthony Bagozzi, Rob Eubanks, Iona Yabut, Scott Alan Warner, Billy Culbertson and Katie Haughton. Smith directed the film, with Fighting Owl Films producing the project.
What makes the story behind Tooth and Claw particularly interesting is the strange path its predecessor took to cult-film territory.
The original Demon Squad arrived in 2019 as a low-budget supernatural genre mashup centered around Moon and his world of demons, monsters and paranormal cases. A few years later, the movie found itself in one of the most wonderfully dangerous places an independent genre film can land: directly in the sights of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Demon Squad became Episode 1306 of MST3K’s thirteenth season, premiering through the Gizmoplex in June 2022. That exposure introduced Smith’s handmade supernatural universe to a significantly wider audience and eventually helped generate interest in another adventure for Nick Moon and company.
Rather than retreat from the experience of seeing his movie subjected to the Satellite of Love treatment, Smith and the Fighting Owl Films crew went back into the monster laboratory.
The resulting sequel became a fan-funded production through Kickstarter. According to the film’s official EPK, Tooth and Claw was shot on location in Mobile, Alabama on a microbudget of approximately $20,000, leaning heavily on community support, practical filmmaking and the considerably dangerous indie-horror currency known as figuring out how the hell to make the thing work anyway.
Smith describes the project as growing from his longtime fascination with folklore, urban legends and monster movies, while expanding the concept into what amounts to a supernatural “case-of-the-week” existing inside a recognizably human world. That approach gives the Demon Squad universe plenty of territory to explore. Werewolves may occupy the center of this particular investigation, but Moon’s world appears built for considerably more things that go bump, growl or whisper strange things from the other side.
There’s also something fitting about an independent horror movie surviving the MST3K treatment and coming back with another chapter. Horror has always had a peculiar relationship with movies made outside the machinery of major studios. Sometimes rough edges become scars. Sometimes those scars become personality. Sometimes enough people discover that personality and somebody gets crazy enough to make another movie.
Demon Squad: Tooth and Claw is that next movie.
The film is now available to stream on Tubi, Prime Video and Fandango at Home, with DVD and Blu-ray editions also available. Tubi currently lists the film as a 2026 horror release directed by Thomas Smith.
For horror fans whose tastes run toward paranormal detectives, werewolves, occult conspiracies, creature features and supernatural worlds assembled several blocks away from Hollywood’s billion-dollar machinery, Demon Squad: Tooth and Claw may be worth putting on the radar.
And considering Nick Moon makes his living investigating things that probably should have stayed buried, something tells us this case won’t end quietly.
Watch the trailer for Demon Squad: Tooth and Claw and look for the film now on Tubi,
Prime Video and Fandango. Also pick up a physical DVD or Blu-ray here!
