Demons [Dèmoni] (1985)

[OrlandoEastwood]

Ok, so I saw Lamberto Bava's Demons for the first time at the horror film festival at my local drive in. This film was the third film in the five film line up. The print was in rough shape and the people who were organizing the film festival told me that this was the one that they were having the hardest time trying to track down. The opening was butchered on the print; it just abruptly starts with "DEMONS" on the screen and then cuts to the some of the credits and then we see the Cheryl seeing the reflection of the man with the mask which is my avatar at the moment.

It played pretty good until the end of the film. The last reel had a bunch of jump cuts where I guess someone ran off with frames of the movie or someone tried to reconstruct it, I don't know, but it kept skipping at the end. Then the film just kinda ends. I want to make a comparison and a fair one would be if you liked From Dusk Till Dawn, you'd like Lamberto Bava's Demons. And a piece of trivia I had read on IMDB is that Michele Soavi who is the guy on my avatar was originally offered to direct From Dusk Till Dawn.

I'm trying to keep it as spoiler free in this little review I am going to tell you; it starts off with our main female character Cheryl who gets a movie ticket from a strange masked man who doesn't say a word at all. Cheryl asks the man if she can have another ticket for her best friend. The two go to the theater where we see all the other attendees. We see a pimp and two of his ladies. One of the ladies fools around with this mask and gets cut by it. They all enter the auditorium and start watching the film.

And the film is oddly about the mask that the woman was playing with. We learn that whoever wears the mask will become a demon and instrument of evil. The woman feels uncomfortable about this and goes to the bathroom where she transforms into a demon and starts unleashing hell upon the attendees. Now, they are all fighting for their lives to escape the theater and to kill the demons.

This is an Italian film where I presume it was shot without sound and dubbed in post because some of the actors and actresses are speaking English like Geretta Geretta and some are clearly not speaking English like the protagonist Urbano Barberini. Given that this is an Italian flick, there's a bunch of unofficial sequels to this series. There is a Demons 2 which Bava did and there's three Demons 3. This is tricky, there's; Demons 3: The Ogre, Demons 3: The Church, and Demons 3: Black Demons. Supposedly Black Demons is the official third film. And there's also a Demons 4: The Sect, Demons 5: The Devil's Veil, and Demons 6: Armageddon.

[aeric_7734]

Love Demons, though it's admittedly been forever since I last saw it. Sometime back we did a triple feature with Demons, The Church, and Cemetery Man. That was a fun night in front of the TV.

[Bytor2112]

i love this movie! its cheesy, its gory, and a lot of fun. they don't make'em like this anymore.

[OrlandoEastwood]

'Demons' & 'Demons 2' DVD Details & Artwork

I will be buying Demons from Amazon UK. I also looked up the British Film Board and the film was reposted for rating back in July of this year and it was passed with no cuts. Check out this info:

Arrow Video are proud to announce that in 2010 they will bring to UK DVD all-new transfers of the classic Dario Argento produced and Lamberto Bava directed horror classic - 'Demons' and 'Demons 2' (AKA 'Demoni' and 'Demoni 2' respectively). Included within each DVD package will be all-new extra features specially shot for the releases plus a two-part comic book sequel - 'Demons 3'! Check out the details and proposed artwork for 'Demons' below.

"In a mysterious cinema, an audience are watching a brutal horror flick when the horror rips out of the screen, unleashing a swarm of slathering Demons who are intent on spreading their evil plague across the globe. Time to tool up and take no prisoners... The Demons are coming!"

This new edition of 'Demons' on DVD includes;

- Four artwork panel option reversible sleeve with original poster and video artwork housed in a slipcase with additional fifth artwork panel with all-new Jeff Zornow artwork recreated in foil overlayed on matt black.
- Double-sided fold-out poster.
- Collector's Booklet featuring brand new writing on Demons by Calum Wadell.
- All new exclusive collector's comic.

Artwork for the 'Demons 2' DVD along with the front cover artwork for the 'Demons 3' comic will follow soon.

'Demons 3' will be penned by the writing team of Stefan Hutchinson and Barry Keating, with artwork by Jeff Zornow and Marcus Smith.

"It is the 16th Century, the time of the plague in Southern France. Amid the carnage, a new evil is starting to take form and only one man can see it. That man is Nostradamus, but are his horrid visions of the future signs of what will come to pass? Can he stop the Demons from entering into our world?"

Release dates coming soon - so stay tuned!

[DetroitSportsFan]

I want Demons 1/2 on Blu!

[OrlandoEastwood]

I do too. I haven't seen the second film, but I got one of the third films; Black Demons off of eBay for $4.50. I am going to import that lovely looking UK DVD. If I had to choose 480p or 576p, I'll take the 576p transfer. Especially since it's a new transfer of the film. I added the cost up on XE, it's like 13.07 GBP, that's $20.76 USD.

[DetroitSportsFan]

Originally Posted by OrlandoEastwood

I do too. I haven't seen the second film

Give it a watch. It's about as enjoyable as the first. I would avoid the others, because the only similarity they have is the name.