Demons – original title: Dèmoni – is a 1985 Italian supernatural horror film directed by Lamberto Bava and produced by Dario Argento, starring Urbano Barberini and Natasha Hovey. The screenplay was written by Bava, Argento, Franco Ferrini and Dardano Sacchetti, from a story by the latter.
A group of young people are trapped in a large movie theatre in West Berlin that is infected by ravenous demons who proceed to kill and posses the humans one-by-one, thereby multiplying their numbers…
Dario Argento had an important influence on Demons. In addition to co-writing the script, he also produced the film. Argento’s daughter, Fiore, plays the character of Hannah.
Future director Michele Soavi (Dellamore, Dellamorte), a devotee of Argento’s work and his assistant director on several films, also served as an assistant director on Demons and has two starring roles, as the man wearing the silver mask and as Jerry, one of the characters in the film playing at the Metropol.
Nicoletta Elmi, who plays the usherette, appeared in Argento’s 1975 classic giallo Deep Red, and she also had a small role in the 1971 horror film A Bay of Blood (directed by Mario Bava, the father of Demons director Lamberto Bava).
Most of the interior cinema scenes were shot in an actual closed down movie theatre. The building still exists but is now a bank. At the same time, the building used for the exterior shots of the movie theatre still exists; it’s a club called “Goya”, whose appearance in the film has brought it fame and now regularly hosts horror conventions today.
Filming took place in Germany and Italy, and as a reference to these countries’ cinema, posters for Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu the Vampyre and Argento’s Four Flies on Grey Velvet can be seen hanging in the Metropol’s lobby. The film features metal rock and pop songs, and there is also an AC/DC poster in one scene.
Buy Blu-ray: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com
On the Berlin subway, university student Cheryl gets off at her stop in the deserted subway station and is pursued by a mysterious, masked man. Rather than attacking her, the man offers her tickets to a free screening at the Metropol, an isolated and recently renovated local cinema.
Cheryl talks to her friend Kathy into going with her. At the crowded theatre, they meet two preppy college boys, George and Ken, who take an immediate liking to the girls. The four sit together in the auditorium.
The film being shown is a violent, disturbing horror film that features a look-alike of the mask from the lobby; it is about four teenagers who discover an old tomb and dig up the grave of a sixteenth-century fortune-teller called Nostradamus. When the teenagers dig up Nostradamus’s coffin, they instead find an old book and a mask identical to the strange mask in the foyer. When one of the movie’s characters puts the mask and is scratched by it just like Rosemary was by its doppelganger, he then turns evil and slaughters his friends with a kitchen knife.
Rosemary feels ill and goes to the bathroom, where the scratch on her face bursts open and spews out pus; she then transforms into a bloodthirsty, red-eyed demon like the one in the film…
Reviews:
“Though the classic tag line “they will make cemeteries their cathedrals and the cities will be your tombs” has a nice, malicious resonance to it, it’s the furthest the film takes the whole inherently evil element. Luckily, the overabundance of offal really renders such criticisms moot. This is one hyperbolic hoot of a splatterfest…” DVD Talk
“What makes Demons so much fun? Well, how about: a total lack of logic, bad acting, horrendous dubbing, total predictability, extremely excessive blood and guts, hilarious plot and character development (when either is even present), bad 80s music and styles, sporadically intentional black humor and a wonderfully futureless ending all served up at a relatively breakneck speed with some occasional visual verve.” A Wasted Life
“It lacks the gleeful artistry of Dario Argento’s films, and it doesn’t come close to George Romero’s mythic transcendence of the genre. After all, when you get right down to it, the story of Demons makes it simply a zombie film, but with faster monsters that use claws as well as teeth.” DVD Verdict
“Evil Dead-ish fun, with a particularly squeamy bit which will put you off spot-squeezing for life, and some outrageous business with a helicopter.” Anne Billson, Time Out Film Guide
For YouTube reviews, the trailer and more movie info click the page 2 link below
MOVIES & MANIA provides previews, our own film reviews and ratings, plus links to other online reviews from a wide variety of trusted sources in one handy web location. This is a genuinely independent website and we rely solely on the minor income generated by internet ads to pay for web costs and cover yet more movies. Please support us by not blocking ads. Thank you. As an Amazon Associate, we earn a very tiny amount from any qualifying purchases.