July 30, 2018
Written by: Dardano Sacchetti, Dario Argento, Franco Ferrini
Starring: Urbano Barberini, Natasha Hovey, Karl Zinny
Budget: $1,800,000
Tagline: Their Evil Becomes an Orgy of Bloodshed
Trivia: The scene where the cocaine is dropped inside the car and where the characters are picking it back up has been quite a subject of controversy; which led to the scene being censored almost all over the world.
I have to say, so far in this horror movie adventure, Demons is one of the best horror movies I have seen yet! It has some of the greatest practical effect deaths and zombie/demon makeup! An absolutely killer soundtrack and score! Great cinematography! No character development and almost no plot to get in the way of the gore. A film project by some of Italy's greatest horror film directors, this film is a truly incredible film in the eccentric way that only Italy could create.
The plot is extremely basic: A group of people are handed tickets to a film premiere. At the premiere a girl cuts herself putting on a mask that is in the lobby. The film being shown is a horror movie and eventually the events on the screen begin happening in the theater. First, the girl with the cut turns into a zombie/demon and then goes out killing and turning others into zombie/demons. The theater has been bricked up so everyone is trapped. That's pretty much it. Oh, and a few coked out punks hoping to flee the cops sneak into the theater and try to escape as well.
Let's start with the film score and soundtrack. The score is done by Claudio Simonetti from the incredible group Goblin who did a ton of the Italian horror movie scores, including almost all the Dario Argento films. His score in this film is based on a simple refrain that repeats throughout the film and has an almost hypnotic feel to it that builds and fall heightening and relieving the tension of the film. The closest comparison I can come up with is some of John Carpenters' film scores. If this wasn't enough, we have an incredible eighties metal soundtrack that gives the film a rock 'n' roll edge similar to Return of the Living Dead. The soundtrack includes Billy Idol, Go West, Saxon and Motley Crue to name a few.
The cast of characters in the movie are great. We have a pimp (?) and his two prostitutes. A blind man (yes, attending the movie) with his wife who immediately begins banging some bald guy. A couple of hotties and their cool guy boyfriends. A weird sexy dressed usher lady who says very little but the filmmakers make it look like she has all the answers. And a cast of other characters.
The gore and horror in the film is also top notch! Some of which are so disgusting they are hard to watch. The initial transformation scene includes a gash which bubbles until it bursts greenish liquid everywhere. There is also a scene where a demon comes out of the back of a person's body in a reverse Quato from Total Recall type of scene. There are actually too many incredible practical effects scenes to mention so here are some examples:
I could go on and on, but instead I just want to briefly mention two of my favorite scenes. First, the most infamous scene in the film, the nipple scene. The punks, who are snorting cocaine out of a coke can using a soda straw accidentally spill cocaine on themselves. Some cocaine falls down one of the punk girl's tops so her friend uses a switchblade to scrape it off little by little. The scene is filled wish a weird sexual quality and tension about the blade scraping during a couple moments right on the nipple. The scene continues for what seems like five minutes (it is probably only thirty seconds) until the blade eventually cuts the girl's breast. It is a weird scene in a bizarre movie that was both gratuitous and fit the feel of the film.
The second scene is this silly motorcycle riding scene in the movie theater. One of the hotties and her cool guy boyfriend find a motorcycle and he goes riding up and down the aisles and over the seats it seemed like a few times to escape the zombie/demons. Like the previous scene, it made no sense in the film but was absolutely necessary at the moment. It reminded me a bit of the BMX scene from Rad... except Demons did not do it as goofy as Rad did (if you haven't seen Rad, while it is a comedy BMX film and not a horror movie, do yourself a favor and watch it!).
This film is an absolute must see and I am ashamed that I spent thirty five years of my life having never seen it. I can only hope the half dozen sequels can be a fraction as fun as this one.
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