September 10, 2018
Written by: Dario Argento, Lamberto Bava, Franco Ferrini
Starring: David Edwin Knight, Nancy Brilli, Carolini Cataldi-Tassoni
Budget: $1,500,000
Tagline: The Ultimate Horror Experience!
Trivia: Bobby Rhodes, who played Tony the pimp in Demons (1985), returns as a completely different character in this sequel. Lino Salemme also reappears, this time as a security guard.
After watching the movie I looked through a few of its reviews on the internet and I am really surprised how mixed people's opinions are on the film. Some people love the film while others absolutely hated it with a passion. I am definitely with the first group, I absolutely loved it! I loved it just as much as the first movie. The movie itself is basically a remake of the first one but in a new setting. We have a zombie-demon invasion, not in a movie theater, but in an building complex. Some people were upset that the movie did not continue the story of the first movie, but for fuck's sake, there was almost no story in the first movie! That was the beauty of it. And therefore, there is almost no story in this one as well.
Nobody loves the original Demons because of its plot. The directors who made the film went out of their way to have as little plot as possible. Hey, let's have a zombie-demon attack at a theater and watch as people try to survive. Now they said, hey let's put that same zombie-demon idea inside a building complex and see what happens.
The brilliance of the film is in its practical effects, its gore, and the combined brilliance of all the filmmakers involved. There's Lamberto Bava, the son of the great Mario Bava who helped put Italian horror cinema on the map and who himself made some incredible movies. Next, Dario Argento, the greatest Italian horror director who perfected the Giallo subgenre helped to write the film. While he is only given a writing credit on the two films I am sure he had almost as much to do with the directing as Bava does. Last you have two of Italy's great horror writers, both who wrote some incredibly disgusting scenes. The no fucks given attitude of the films are what make them so memorable.
The building complex setting allows for some really great characters. First, there is a surprise birthday party for a woman who is all angsty and upset at whatever (she'll be the Typhoid Mary of this demon-zombie curse). She is upset that her ex-boyfriend is invited to her party. Cut to asshole ex-boyfriend and friends driving towards the party in their car. This is almost identical to the punks in the first movie except this time, the asshole ex-friend and company get in a car crash outside the building and never make it inside. Ha! You got us! There's a couple about to get romantic when he asks, "Do you mind if we do it with the tv on?" Haha, such a great line! There is a little girl played by a very young Asia Argento. There is also an entire gym with muscle people in little clothing working out while Bobby Rhodes, the guy who played the pimp in the first movie, plays basically the same role except this time he's shouting at people working out.
Another cool idea in this film is what connects several of the people in the complex is a documentary they are watching on demons. The documentary takes a s"pseudo-scientific" look at demons and behaves as if the events from the first movie were real. Whereas a zombie walked through the movie screen in the first one, in this movie a zombie actually walks out of the documentary, through the tv screen, and into the real world. This scene is especially impressive in its special effects and creates a lasting image that helps define the film.
There are too many great moments to remember so here's just a few. At one point a dog turns into a demon-zombie and there is this great transformation scene where its mouth grows new teeth and its jaw extends out of its mouth. There is also a demon child and at one point a gremlin bursts out of its chest. And who doesn't love a good chest burst scene? Unfortunately the gremlin is pretty damn goofy looking... There's demon chasings through elevator shafts, demon blood melting through the building, a demon vs. muscle guy parking garage fight, several demon group stair chases (watch again on mute and play the Benny Hill theme), demon rooftop fighting... Whatever it is you want, this movie has it. It's like Cheech says in From Dusk Till Dawn, if we don't have it, you don't want it!
Moral of the story, don't believe anyone who says this movie isn't amazing. If you like the original, you'll love this one too (now that I think of it, From Dusk Till Dawn was probably heavily inspired by Demons and Demons 2).
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