RETRO REVIEW: Demons (1985) released today, 31 years ago!

Demons was a movie introduced to me by one of The Horror Syndicate’s own, Bryan Enright (@thehorrorjew), back in 2014. I had heard about it before but was never able to come across a DVD copy of it.

With the name Dario Argento clearly displayed on the case, “Demons” was co-written by Argento, who has made a name for himself as a master of horror and suspense here in the States. This movie is by far not Argento’s best work by far but it is a good view for any 80’s horror fan or B movie connoisseur.

Starring a bunch of unknowns and dubbed in English, this unrated version of “Demons” finds a large group of would-be victims being given free passes to the opening of a new theater. Our eclectic cast of victims include, but not limited to, two college friends, two horny buddies, a tough guy pimp and his two ho’s, a blind man and his daughter, and a couple of necking teenagers. Things start getting weird when events in the theater starts mirroring the horror movie playing onscreen, and soon one of the moviegoers has been turned into a demon. Unrelenting bloodletting and a lot of useless female characters screaming uselessly ensue.

“Demons” offers up a stylish opening that, leading up to the first demon appearance, is better than it has any right to be. But by the time the first demon rears her ugly and poorly acted head, director Lamberto Bava chucks everything in favor of random demon killings. Humorously, it’s at this point that the dubbing also seems to go downhill. Strange, because as the film opened, I was thinking to myself that for an Italian horror film made in the ’80s, the film’s English dubbing was actually very serviceable, even good compared to other films made in this era let alone just horror.

Complaining about the story in “Demons” is rather silly. The movie is completely uninterested in something as mundane as story or plot, and spends most of its 85 minutes trying to figure out groovy ways to kill off its victims. We get a number of interesting kills, including eye gouging, the always popular claw-slash-to-the-chest, neck chewing, and mass decapitations by a character riding around on a motorcycle in the theater’s cramp space swinging a katana sword.

Although why a motorcycle and a clearly dangerous katana sword is sitting in the lobby for anyone to just grab and use is beyond me. If the demon entity had set up the theater just to feast on unsuspecting victims, you would think it wouldn’t leave around a sword to be used against it. (Uh oh, started thinking. Must…stop…thinking!)

I like gore, don’t get me wrong. And “Demons” certainly provides a lot of gore. It’s just that I would like some reason for the gore. The demons appear pretty much for no apparent reason and runs around biting and infecting moviegoers. The film spends its entire run with a large group of characters trying make their way out of the theater, but unfortunately the doors have all been blocked by concrete walls. Don’t even ask where the concrete walls come from.

If you like mindless bloodletting and well done gore, you’ll love “Demons”. The film has zero scares and its killings are done in a silly, even humorous, manner. The acting is, not surprisingly, sub par.

“Demons” is not for everyone. It’s good in that it does what it does well, but it’s bad in that it does everything else, well, badly.

Follow @buddyhorror on Twitter and as always @horrorsyndicate for all of your horror needs!

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BUDDY HORROR

@buddyhorror

buddyhorror@gmail.com

 

About Robert (Buddy Horror) Smith 21 Articles
No. It's not that Robert W. Smith... I'm not the lead singer of the Cure. I am however, a fan of the Cure... Let's begin. I was born in Virginia and raised in New Jersey. I am happily married to my wife Kiersten Smith and a father of one to my handsome boy Asher Grayson Smith. Yes! His first name is because of the one and only Bruce Campbell most famously known from Sam Rami's "The Evil Dead" I started late in the horror game but I became a fast learner. I didn't watch my first horror movie till I was 10.. (The Haunted Mansion in Disney scared the hell out of me when I was a kid). It took 4 years until my dad was able to get me to watch The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original). From that moment I was hooked. Over the years I have hosted a radio show called B Movies with Buddy, Bryan, and Zach with Bryan Enright and Zach Horiates on WNJC 1360AM. Together we have over 200 hours of interviews of some of the best interviews from Bill Mosley (House of 1000 Corpses / Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2) to John Russo (Co Director of Night of the Living Dead / My Uncle John's a Zombie) It was probably some of the best times of my time in the scene. I love collecting horror movies with a collection of over 300 and counting it is one of my most prized possessions. I love collecting full series of a movies sequels. Even if some of them aren't the best. Follow me @buddyhorror on Twitter for random horror goodness and more from The Horror Syndicate! Top 5 Movies 1. The Evil Dead 2. A Nightmare on Elm Street (Robert Englund Original) 3.House of 1000 Corpses 4.Dawn of the Dead (Remake) 5.Scream 4