There are some horror fans who consider Lamberto Bava’s “Demons” and “Demons 2” as two of the greatest Italian horror films ever made. While these movies, for decades, were known primarily throughout Europe, over the years, they have gained traction in the U.S., thanks to companies like Arrow Video and Synapse Films, who restore and re-release horror classics from the past on 4K and Blu-ray.
Synapse Films are now bringing these two favorites to 4K Ultra HD and remastered Blu-ray in brand-new spectacular 4K restorations! These horrific splatter classics produced by Dario Argento (“Suspiria”) have never looked or sounded better and are packed with hours of special features, making this the ultimate home video release of these horror favorites.
While there are those who hold these two films in high regard, as someone who grew up in Europe in the ’70s and the ’80s and watched these pictures, as well as many titles in the genre, they have not aged well over time. To be perfectly honest, they were never, in this critic’s opinion, classics, they were cheap Italian knockoffs that served nothing more than to try and gross out their audiences by adding as much gore and blood as humanly possible. Below I give my critique of each title.
A group of random people is invited to a screening of a mysterious movie, only to find themselves trapped in the theater with ravenous demons.
After disembarking from a train on the Berlin subway, Cheryl (Natasha Hovey) receives an invitation from a mysterious, masked man to a secret screening at the newly renovated Metropol Cinema in town. Intrigued, she brings her best friend Kathy (Paola Cozzo) and when they arrive at the cinema, they are surrounded by a plethora of attendees. One of these people, Rosemary (Geretta Giancarlo), picks up a bizarre mask on display in the lobby and accidentally scratches her face after wearing it. As Cheryl and Kathy settle down to watch the movie, two preppy college boys sit down beside them, George and Ken (Urbano Barberini and Karl Zinny), who are interested in getting to know the girls better. As the show begins, it is revealed to be a horror film, much to Kathy’s dislike of the genre but soon thereafter, a character in the movie wearing a mask similar to the one Rosemary wore in the lobby, begins acting strangely and mirroring the feature, Rosemary begins acting the exact same way and gradually changes into a demon, attacking those near to her, transforming them into demons. The terrified audience quickly disperses in all directions but as the night of terror progresses, with no way out, Cheryl, Kathy, George, and Ken learn that the cinema is cursed and they must try to figure out a plan of escape, before they too succumb to the night of the demons.
While Italians are renowned for their excellence in cooking, fashion, and love-making, good horror film actors they are not. While the premise for “Demons” is sufficient for its storyline, the acting by all involved is absolutely atrocious. I have seen first-year drama students give better performances and director Lamberto Bava apparently didn’t care about this aspect of the movie, he just wanted to gross everyone out with as much blood and guts as possible but what he forgot is that the reactions and emotional expressions of the characters within the narrative, are what help drive the story. Gore and bloodshed won’t have a visceral reaction on the audience unless the characters onscreen react accordingly, and those in “Demons” do the exact opposite, they respond in unrealistic manners, resulting in induced laughter instead of fear and apprehension. While the setting of an old cinema is close to perfect, everything else about the film is ridiculously abhorrent.
Director Lamberto Bava, known for characterless and forgettable low-budget features such as “Macabre,” “A Blade in the Dark,” “Blastfighter,” and “Devil Fish,” has absolutely no directing style and no sense of story. He appears to just place his camera in the most convenient spot for showcasing his onscreen annihilation and carnage, with no forward-thinking whatsoever. How he has managed to keep directing throughout the years is beyond me but as I come to the end of this review, I have the honor of critiquing his next entry in the Demons saga, “Demons 2.” And boy, can’t you tell I’m excited?
A group of tenants and visitors are trapped in a 10-story high-rise apartment building infested with demons who proceed to hunt the dwindling humans down.
As bad as “Demons” was, I thought “Demons 2” would elevate the series somewhat, you know, maybe director Lamberto Bava learned from his mistakes, which, quite honestly, was the entire first movie, and would up his game for Part 2. Instead, I was introduced to a film that was even far more inferior to the original, in every conceivable way, and I honestly thought the acting from the first film was as low as it could get but Bava must have made a deal with the devil and managed to secure a spot below the atrociousness that was Part 1 and delivers a movie that manages to sink into oblivion but not before searing itself and its brazen, nonsensical preposterousness into my mind.
This time around, the story transpires in a high-rise apartment building. People throughout the building are watching a movie on TV, about a group of young teenagers who trespass in a part of town that was supposedly affected by the outbreak in the first film. Sally (Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni) is transfixed on the movie which is playing on her bedroom TV while all of her friends are gathered in her living room, celebrating her birthday. During one scene, a demon turns and appears to look directly at Sally, makes its way towards the camera, and manages to break the fourth wall, crawling into her bedroom and attacking her in the process. Once she becomes possessed, she attacks all of her friends, and they, in turn, wreak havoc in the building, attacking and transforming anyone who gets in their way. A small group of survivors escapes to the parking garage where they face off with the demons, in a battle for life and death.
The setting is supposed to be a high-rise apartment block but it is very obvious when we cut to shots of the building from the outside, it is actually an office building and not a residential one. The acting, if you could even call it that, is so bad they make the Muppets look like Oscar-caliber performers, and the special effects look like they were kept over from the first movie, with even some of the actors from Part 1 returning, to no greater effect. Asia Argento, Dario’s daughter, makes her second feature film appearance here but is wasted in the few shots she appears in. Director Lamberto Bava’s direction, or lack thereof, is apparent every time an actor appears onscreen, it’s almost as if he gave them no direction, threw them in front of the camera, yelled “Action!,” and just reveled in the ensuing chaos. Nothing about either of these movies makes sense, specifically the performances. Unfortunately, I can’t give this film a lower rating than half a star but if I could, I would.
While the picture quality of both films’ new transfer is excellent, the same can’t be said for the actual movies themselves. Instead, I’d highly recommend watching some of producer Dario Argento’s earlier Giallo classics, “Suspiria,” “The Cat o’ Nine Tails,” “Deep Red,” and my personal favorite, “Phenomena” (English title “Creepers”), they will show you a true Italian horror maestro at work.
Available on 4K Ultra HD and remastered Blu-ray October 19th
