Noite Maldita

This was one of those typical Italian zombie flicks and I saw it at TV with the title of "Black Demons" not "Demons 3" a movie which(unfortunately) doesn´t exist. As far as I remember about this movie directed by Umberto Lenzi, it was gory, although not so much as my favorite "Nights of terror" and it was quite entertaining, watch it if you are a zombie fan, my only question is Why don´t Italian movie makers recover this zombie genre? They are just doing nothing now,and it is a pity, really, because they were great at horror genre.

This film is supposedly the second sequel to Lamberto Bava's fun eighties trash flick 'Demons', although I'd say it's more like a lacklustre version of Lucio Fulci's zombie masterpiece 'Zombie Flesh-Eaters'. Umberto Lenzi is undoubtedly one of Italy's most diverse and interesting directors, but like many of the best; his career took a downfall towards the end of the eighties, and it's hard to believe that the same man who directed such cult classics as Seven Blood-Stained Orchids and Almost Human also directed this film. The fact that this film is touted to be the third entry in the series started by Lamberto Bava is forgotten about when it comes to the plot, as the film really has nothing to do with the earlier series entries; and this is shown again by the fact that Lambero Bava's own 'The Ogre' is also known as Demons 3! The story here follows three kids who travel to Brazil. One of them is into voodoo, and uses his knowledge of the art to raise a load of dead black slaves. It's not long before the three kids and some other people in the vicinity have a big, flesh eating, problem on their hands!

The problem with this film is that it doesn't have anything in the way of surprises, and while there's some nice gore (including some good gory Fulci style eye gouging), the film is seriously lacking. If you're tuning in for gore only (as you probably should be), you're also likely to be disappointed as the gore isn't relentless, and there are only really a couple of memorable scenes. Bad acting is something you have to expect from a film like this, but with Black Demons; Umberto Lenzi has taken that expectation to a whole new level, with some truly diabolical performances from all concerned. The film starts off slowly, which puts itself on the back foot; as I was already starting to get bored of it before the gore even showed up. One thing that the film does do well, however, is hark back to the classic style of filming. The production values are a little better than Fulci's 1979 classic, but the basics of the film are the same. I can't say many good things about the zombie make-up, and they're nothing like the demons in Lamberto Bava's film. Overall, this movie isn't very good; but it's fairly fun at times, and I preferred it to Demons 2 at least.

I'm pleased to add this little Cubic Zirconia to my collection of gems. The plot is almost non-existent, the characters incredibly one-dimensional, but despite that, it was a good effort. It was obvious that at least some research on Candomble was done, and the ritual scene was amazingly well-crafted. The "Black Demons" themselves had great make-up, and the few gory scenes there were left little to be desired. Now, we come to the meat of it all: the acting. In a word, terrible. This isn't a film to be taken seriously anyway, but the unintentional comedy is everywhere. From accents that randomly disappear, accents too thick to understand, and the eye-bulging freak-outs of the maid, this is one film that's worth seeing in spite of itself. Get some friends together,pop this in, and have some laughs.

The Demons series is a complex one, all entries after the second film having nothing to do with Lamberto Bava's first two movies. The majority of the series consists of unrelated films that have been slapped with a Demons alternative title in certain countries: Michele Soavi's The Church (Demons 3 in Japan), The Sect (Demons 4 in Japan) and Cemetery Man (Demons '95 in Japan), Luigi Cozzi's The Black Cat (Demons 6 in France and Japan) and Lucio Fulci's Demonia (New Demons in Japan).

Black Demons, directed by Umberto Lenzi, is another contender for the Demons 3 title (the others being the aforementioned The Church, and the made for TV movie Demons 3: The Ogre, which was directed by Lamberto Bava but which shares nothing in common with Demons 1 and 2).

Coming from the director who kick-started the Italian cannibal craze (with Man from Deep River) and who gave us one of the most extreme example of the genre (Cannibal Ferox), it's no surprise that Black Demons delivers several gruesome scenes to delight gorehounds, but the bloodletting is sporadic and doesn't begin until quite a way into the film, so patience is required while Lenzi sets the scene...

Three students - Kevin (Keith Van Hoven), his girlfriend Jessie (Sonia Curtis) and her half-brother Dick (Joe Balogh) - are in Rio de Janeiro, where Dick witnesses a macumba ritual. While driving to another location, the trio's jeep breaks down and they are forced to take refuge at a remote Brazilian plantation, home to young couple Sonia (Juliana Teixeira) and Jose (Philip Murray) and their housemaid Maria (Maria Alves). When Dick plays the recording that he made of the voodoo ceremony, he becomes possessed, and resurrects the bodies of six murdered slaves, who crawl from their graves looking for revenge.

So, essentially, Black Demons is a zombie movie, with the undead picking up a variety of sharp tools with which to kill their victims: Sonia unwisely wanders out into the night (wearing white t-shirt and knickers) and gets her eye gouged out with a hook; Maria also gets her eye gouged out, and has an axe planted in her skull before being hung for good measure. Jose also meets a grisly fate, but he is stabbed in the neck by the possessed Dick.

With a combination of abysmal acting and uninspired direction by Lenzi, Black Demons is not a good film, the only real attractions being the gore and a few moments that are unintentionally funny: a zombie lurking behind Kevin, with knife in hand, is hilarious, as is the scene where the undead suddenly pop up into frame, and the ending, in which Kevin launches Molotov cocktails at the zombies, is completely inept, the bottles of fuel exploding like bombs.

3.5/10, rounded up to 4 for IMDb.

Why not bring director Umberto Lenzi in to direct a DEMONS movie? Sure, why not? Just remember this is not a DEMONS movie. It was just named that to try and cash in on the success of the earlier films.

Here two American siblings Dick (Joe Balogh) and Jessica (Sonia Curtis) along with her English boyfriend Kevin (Keith Van Hoven) are on a vacation in Brazil. Along the way Dick witnesses a black magic ritual. He records it on his tape recorder. The three of them are stranded, but luckily two strangers named Jose (Philip Murray) and Sonia (Juliana Teixeira) take them back to their house. It is here Dick replays the tape and revives the dead. Oopsy daisy.

Big problem I had with this movie was it became a little too dialogue happy. Too much yakkin' and not enough action. For gorehounds the death scenes are graphic and gory. Not worth it really.