Demons (1986)

Best movie of this year hands down!

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

At a newly-reopened theater, a preview of an unnamed horror flick has dire consequences for the in-house crowd. The plot of the movie-within-the-movie has a group of kids digging up Nostradamus' grave and finding a steel mask that scratches one of the teens, his wound quickly becoming a bloody, festering sore that turns him into a raging zombie. One of the young ladies watching the picture realizes she was just scratched by a lookalike prop mask in the lobby--and now her cut won't stop bleeding. Italian-made gore-fest, produced and co-written by Dario Argento, designed to shock and repulse non-genre fans while tickling those who are. It has an appropriate hard rock soundtrack and wildly grotesque make-up effects, however there's confusion in Lamberto Bava's direction right from the start. The dialogue isn't very clever, the non-demons in the cast aren't very interesting and the finale is a cheat, but splatter-aficionados will take some delight in the throat-rippings and slashings, the kissing couple strangled together mid-lip lock, and the assorted post-"Exorcist/Dawn of the Dead/Evil Dead" gross-outs. Followed by "Demons 2" the following year. * from ****

I watched "Demons" (aka "Dèmoni") in the late 1980's and I remembered it as being a good and scary movie back then. So I sat down to watch it again in 2016. And I must admit that I might have been more easily impressed back in my teens."Demons" is about a group of people invited to a night screening of a movie in an old theater building in West Berlin. However, the events in the movie much resembles what happens in the theater, as a woman puts on a demonic mask on display and cuts herself when taking it off. Soon after, a demonic entity takes over her body, possessing her and starts to kill the other people in the theater. Fleeing the theater in panic, the people find themselves trapped and walled in, having to fight a desperate fight in order to stay alive and not be turned into a ravenous demon.Sure, the storyline was adequate, albeit generic and stereotypical. And it definitely had that mid-Eighties feel to it. However, "Demons" was not a particularly outstanding movie, especially not by comparison of horror movies by today's standards. Of course, a comparison with 30 years in between is hardly fair, but I mean that "Demons" just doesn't leave a lasting impression.The effects were adequate, taking into consideration that the movie is from 1985. And I do remember that I found the effects great and somewhat disturbing back in the late 1980's when I watched the movie.However, the acting in the movie was less than mediocre, and that was a shame, because the movie did suffer from that.The ending of the movie was really one that didn't sit well with me. While the concept of the ending would be great on paper and in idea, sure I can relate to that, but it just was a bit too much. But of course, it is a matter of personal preference."Demons" is not a major movie in the horror library, but if you grew up with horror movies in the 1980's and 1990's (in particular the Italian horror movies), like I did, then "Demons" is most likely a movie that would have crossed your path.

I'll rate this film 6/10, mainly because it's merits are few, but solid. MERITS: 1) The soundtrack. Great heavy-metal, some rock-and-roll, all pitched to the various chase scenes. Lamberto Bava definitely has an ear for music.2) The effects. Great, gruesome makeup effects. There's stuff here that, technically, can rival Rob Bottin's work in 'The Thing' (1982) though Bottin had a wilder imagination. 3) The photography. There's plenty of shadows thrown about and a nice color scheme. Lamberto certainly learned a few things when he was an assistant to his father, Mario Bava.DEMERITS:1) The script. You don't learn a thing about the characters and, moreover, don't care about them. They're just served up on a 'demon platter' and if they get killed, so what?2) The dubbing. The lines have no wit or smoothness when dubbed into English, and some of the dialogue delivery jars horribly. Example: when they break into the projection room, they have to break through two doors. After busting through the first door, the black pimp says "Shit! Another door! Give me a hand!" But whoever dubbed that line reads it like this: "SHIT! A-NOTH-AH DOAH! GIVE-ME-A HAY-UND!" Ugh.So, 6/10. Not for everyone, but gore-fans will dig it. But for me, the best thing about this film is the poster--high marks for whoever designed it!

The idea was a natural: a group of 80s moviegoers slither into a free screening of a slasher flick and end up being terrorized by Demons from Hell (or a subdivision thereof). DEMONS boasts everything that made the 80s instantly forgettable: Big Hair and Big Music (this was, after all, the era of MTV), slasher films and music video directors who couldn't direct their way out of a mall. It all amounts to one big mess of a movie with absolutely nothing to recommend it. I saw it first at a drive-in, but, because Time has a tendency to muddle one's memories, I opted to give it another try just the other day. My initial reaction was the same as my latest. (A quick example: the victims, upon realizing that they're being attacked by Demons from Hell, proceed to barricade themselves INSIDE the theater, blocking off all escape routes.) (And, for no apparent reason whatsoever, a helicopter lands on the theater roof, which caves in.) Lambert Bava ain't no Mario. (And how did they get away with pilfering the score for PSYCHO...?)