Démons

Michele Soavi as the man with the half human half metal face!!! Fun times. The plot is filled with holes, like why do some people take so long to turn when others it takes seconds, and what was up with thee usherette being so menacing..she did squat. Over 30 or so people get trapped inside a really creepy theater after they are all given free movie tickets. When a very annoying prostitute puts on a demonic mask on display in the lobby, within fifteen minutes later she has pus bubbles exploding from her face, and is attacking her other prostitute friends. One by one people are transformed, as gory as any italian horror movie can get. The direction is actually really good and Lamberto Bava goes all out on colors and angles (which horror italian director doesn't)and the soundtrack goes well with the eighties look. I also really had fun times with the 4 punks snorting coke outside the theatre, but they really added nothing to the plot and at times just seem to be there to fill time, without a doubt though the gore is the highlight of this flick. Throats getting ripped open, scalps getting teared off, puke and pus splatter continuously,a huge tongue sliding out one of the demons mouth, demons getting hacked with a sword, the most gruesome scene is definitely the blind man getting his empty eye sockets gouged out..HARSH. The characters are so hard to tell apart and we don't evn see some of the patrons faces. I don't remember any characters really except the coolest "pimp" Tony, the sexy usherette, the four punks and the "GEORGE" character (mainly only cause i recognized him from OPERA), but this movie obviously isn't meant for character development.

So all in all I give Demons **1/2 out of **** It's really cool, but only worth watching for cool visuals, soundtrack, and gore.

Gruesome picture in acceptable budget plenty of chills , suspense , screams , lots of gore , blood and guts . This actually is a very terrifying and frightening film ; dealing with a demonic infection spreads people in modern cinema . Selected at random , people on the street are invited to an advance screen of a new horror movie . There a prostitute is bitten and becomes a drooling , fanged demon . In a killing rage , she tears apart other in the movie theater . As a group of people are trapped in a large movie theater in West Berlin that is infected by ravenous , clawed demons who proceed to kill and posse the humans one-by-one, transforming into bloody creatures who attack the remaining humans , thereby multiplying their numbers . When the members of the cinema attempt to getaway , they find themselves caught within .

This exciting picture contains thrills, chills , graphic violence , action-filled with fierce fights and loads of gore and guts. The horror and action moments are fast moving and compactly realized . This is an effective and simple movie ; it results to be an acceptable Italian horror , including functional special effects realized in traditional style , but also some plot elements are plain stupid . The creepy images of wide range from the genuinely horrifying to the bizarre along with scary and amazing frames . The flesh-eating demons appearance deliver the goods, plenty of screams, shocks and tension . The picture displays shocking and well-crafted transformation in charge of expert make-up artist Sergio Stivaletti . The make-up assistants create a truly horrible cannibal demons , zombies-alike . A poster for ¨4 flies on grey velvet¨ is visible in the lobby of the theatre: it's the title of writer/producer Dario Argento's third film ; there also appears other posters such as : ¨Nosferatu¨ , ¨Metropolis¨ and ¨Non Nukes¨ . Commercial musical score , full of hard rock and catching songs performed by known singers as Billy Idol and Rick Springfield . Good production design , as the building used for the exteriors of the Metropol theater still stands in Berlin ; it's a club called Goya that's been host to several horror conventions thanks to its appearance in this film.

The motion picture was compellingly directed by Lamberto Bava , he cites this as his personal favorite of the flicks he has filmed and in which he shows nice visual style . His father, Mario Bava (1914-1980), was a legendary filmmaker ; he entered the cinema as his father's personal assistant, starting with ¨Planet of horror ¨(1965). Bit by bit he gained experience from his father, who made him the assistant director for most of the rest of his films. He even co-wrote the screenplay for ¨Shock¨ (1977) . Lamberto enjoyed his best commercial success to date with this "Demons" , produced by Dario Argento, co-written by Dardano Sacchetti and filmed in West Berlin, Germany . This international hit smash allowed him to co-write, produce and direct a sequel, Demons II (1986) that was also successful and turned out to be an improvement on previous film . He also directed a remake of his father's "Black Sunday" (1960), which was titled "La Maschera del Demonio" or International title "Demons 5: The Devil's Veil¨ . He used the pseudonym of "John Old Jr." , which was a tribute to his father Mario, who often used the pseudonym "John M. Old" . Lamberto has directed films about all kind of genres such as : ¨Blastfighter¨ , ¨A blade in the dark¨ , ¨Shark: red on the ocean¨, and ¨Macabro¨ that achieved critical fame in some quarters ; however , today Bava Jr. only directs television movies : ¨Fantaghiro¨ and sequels , ¨Caribbean pirates¨ , among others . Rating : Acceptable and passable atmospheric film-making from genre master Bava's son that achieved great acclaim among gore buffs . A must see for horror fans .

I like to think about older movies I'd love to see on the big screen. I'm lucky enough to live near a place that tends to do at least one classic movie screening a week. It's something they started to do more when COVID-19 was affecting new movie releases, and I think they've just kept with it because people understandably flock to them. I've been fortunate enough to see a bunch of Kubrick and Miyazaki movies on the big screen, as well as other films like The Wild Bunch and The Godfather. I'm still holding out hope they'll screen some Sergio Leone or Akira Kurosawa one day, because both seem like no-brainers.

Anyway... I tend to think about how great epic, lengthy, big-budget movies would look on the big screen, but it's less common for me to watch a small-ish movie and feel a little sad I couldn't see it at the movies. But Demons is the rare movie that is fairly simple/low budget that I imagine it would be even better if watched in a cinema. This is because the premise is essentially people inside a cinema needing to survive hordes of demons that attack while they're watching a new horror movie. Cool visuals, ludicrous gore, and cheesy performances ensue, with all proving to make this a fairly fun movie.

It would be more impactful if watched inside a cinema, especially with the early scenes where people don't know whether the screams they're hearing are real or part of the movie they're watching. Divorced from the ideal viewing experience, this is still a very entertaining and no-nonsense Italian horror movie that's frequently silly but also never boring. It's probably not for everyone, but it was a good movie to watch on a Friday night that never proved too challenging or mentally taxing.

My status as a film buff seems to exist in two separate states. On the one hand, I will wax lyrical about the subtle genius of Godard, Fassbinder, and Bertolucci. I'll watch pretentious European art-house cinema of the most stereotypical variety without even a hint of irony. I will regard Ingmar Bergman as a literal god-figure to worshiped in all of his glory. On the other hand, I will spend forty-plus dollars on a blu-ray of Dario Argento's Phenomena and gush over the sheer lunacy of B-movies. Demons (or Demoni, in its native Italy) is everything a geek like me could want. Gratuitous gore and violence, questionable dubbing, explosions, and a kick-ass eighties soundtrack. Co-written and produced by Italian horror maestro Dario Argento (Suspiria, Deep Red), Demons came from Argento's desire to create a purely commercial film after tasting such success with 1978's Dawn of the Dead. Thus, Demons is a film with little in the way of a coherent plot or deep characterization. And yet somehow it manages to be wholly appealing at the same time. The plot, which follows the spread of a zombie-like form of demonic possession spreading through a Berlin movie theater, exists solely to facilitate the numerous action and scare sequences. The score by Argento regular Claudio Simonetti (of Goblin fame) manages to be exciting, creepy, and perfectly suited to adrenaline-soaked visuals. This film is entertainment, pure and simple. To anyone looking to get into B-movies or Italian horror (or better yet, both) I highly recommend this film as it's a very accessible entry point into both genres. Just sit back, open a can of Coke, shut your brain off, and prepare to have the time of your life.

Watching "Demons" I came to the conclusion that, no matter how many of the "Scream" films they make, nothing compares to this horror flick!. I'm not saying it's the greatest horror flick of all time. But it certanly entertains, and scares the hell out of you. Even after several viewings. The setting for the film is just right.The music terrific too! honestly I've seen this flick like 1000 times. And it still freaks me out. I've not seen parts 3 or 4 yet but from the reviews I've heard, they sound pretty interesting, so I'm certanly going to track them both down. For those of you who think that the 90's versions of horror films are the only saving grace to this genre, do yourself a favour catch a few of the 80's horror flicks like "Demons" they are what horror movies should be!