Demons (1986)

I've been watching 'Demons' since the eighties. It's an Italian film that panders to us English speakers by kindly dubbing its natives with American voice actors. Ever since it was released it's been labelled as 'Night of the Living Dead in a cinema' and – yeah – I can't really sum it up any better. It's a zombie film, only with 'demons' rather than zombies. This means that the nasties can sort of run (nearly twenty years before 28 Days Later wowed us with the prospect of a 'running zombie!') and aren't so much interested in eating their victims as they are in just turning them into more demons through scratches/bites. But, let's face it, they're still zombies by another name.The story follows a group of people who go to watch a free horror film in a creepy cinema, only to find that life really does imitate art and the demons spread from the big screen to the popcorn stalls (so to speak). Now, you may be thinking that if you were trapped in your local multiplex with a load of flesh-eaters, you'd just kind of run out. Good point. And our on-screen heroes do try their best. However, where as most zombie films follow the rules of reality (if you count corpses coming back to life and attacking the living 'reality') Demons adds various plot devices which don't really get explained. Let's just say that random things happen that ensure the humans never can find a way out of a building little bigger than any cinema you've ever been in.This is where I say the film is either genius or terrible – I've never really worked out which. Random things happen which could be argued that subvert the typical Hollywood narrative structure. However, another line of thinking is that the writers had no idea what they were doing – plots go nowhere, as do scenes and the balance of characters is all over the place. Sometimes you think some characters know more than they do and are going to play a greater part, only to have them killed at random parts.But, no matter what you think of the story, the special effects are pretty special – especially for the time. The demons themselves really are pretty nasty and I always found them a lot more creepy than your standard shuffling zombie. The demons really seem to take genuine satisfaction in spreading their plague and are motivated by a deep evil, rather than the zombies' need to feed alone. Demons may be laughed at by today's standards – it hasn't got the characters of The Walking Dead, nor the coherent story of any recent zombie film, but it does have a weird feel about it and is definitely worth watching if you're a fan of the genre (and like eighties music). I find it a weird hypnotic classic that I watch regularly. Bobby Rhodes is an absolute legend in this.

While previews for this make it seem like a zombie flick, its technically a demon possession one, the demons share some similar traits to zombies. They move slowly and attack their victims in a swarm. The movie begins with a selected group of people being invited to a movie premiere. So for about the first fifteen minutes, its a movie within a movie. It doesn't take long for the first victim to become possessed, and then the fun begins. Although this is a gore flick, the gore is daily restrained. Throats are torn and ripped open, and a blind movie goers eyes are gouged it. (Why there's a blind guy at a movie premier is anyone's guess). As the bodies pile up, the survivors barricade themselves inside the theater to product themselves from the onslaught of demons, while repeatedly telling those of us watching that "demons are instruments of evil", as if we didn't know it already and needed to be reminded Meanwhile while the survivors are trapped inside, the movie cuts to a side story with four coked out losers who really don't serve any purpose except as fodder for the demons shortly after being introduced. After being reminded of how horrible 80's metal music really was as the demons attack in a non stop barrage, only two of the main characters survive after hilariously underacting as they watch their friends become demons one by one, a helicopter inexplicably crashes thru the roof of the theater, offering a way out. As the heroes escape back into the outside world, they see what they just went thru was a city wide occurrence, not just isolated to the theater, leaving the door open for the sequel. While it has many many flaws, this is still a.classic for midnight viewings

Co-written by Dario Argento, produced by William Lustig (director of Maniac) and directed by Lamberto Bava (son of horror legend Mario). Some might argue that Bava Junior doesn't have the talents of Bava Senior. I saw this for the first time in the late 80's. Ten rupees rental man. It was hilarious, the demons were funny looking, the picture was too dark and the acting was atrocious. Love the scene at the end where the guy is on the motorcycle swinging the sword at all the demons chopping them up and decapitating them. The nihilistic ending sees the remaining survivors escaping the theater, only to discover the city over-run by demons. This movie has everything; violence, blood, action, 80's metal, and all kinds of other things. This is about people who get invited to a theater to see a horror flick, but it turns out to be a movie from hell.

A group of various people wind up at an apparently newly renovated movie theater in West Berlin in the 1980s for a movie premiere— a horror film, apparently. There are strange metallic demon masks in the lobby. Promotional material, perhaps? As the film starts, the screams on screen become a reality, as it seems that audience members are becoming possessed by demons one-by-one. Even more unfortunate is the fact that someone has sealed all potential exits.It took me years to get around to seeing this film, though I've heard it lauded for years. While there are certainly better genre films out there, "Demons" is a solid and incessantly entertaining zombie flick. Backed by a script co-written by maestro Dario Argento and with fluid direction from Lamberto Bava, there is a hell of a lot of fun to be had here; think, "Evil Dead" in a movie theater, except with a killer '80s soundtrack. There are some remarkable special effects on display, which may be a highlight for many people. The pace is rather quick and there are few dull moments, although there is a nice establishment of atmosphere in the old-fashioned cinema house that becomes increasingly claustrophobic once our characters realize they've been walled in. Aesthetically, the film is quite dated, and shows its eighties colors rather extravagantly (Euro punks in leather jackets driving around to Billy Idol), but if you can appreciate the extravagance of the period, you can definitely appreciate the extravagance of the bloody disaster of an auditorium that you get here. At the end of the day, this is simply a fun film, and one that cinephiles will especially appreciate given the self-reflexive cinema overtones. Eighties kitsch does not a bad film make. 8/10.