Demoni

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Horrorphile - November 2007

Dèmoni

November 15th 2007 03:24

“They shall make cemeteries their catherdrals and the cities will be your tombs!” ran the tagline for Demons (1985), a vivid and garish cult classic from the dark creative whirlpool of Dario Argento. Directed and co-written by Lamberto Bava, the son of legendary Italian director Mario Bava, with Argento co-writing and co-producing, but it has the Argento stamp of excess all over it.

Whilst riding on the West Berlin subway Cheryl (Natasha Hovey) is approached by a strange man in black wearing a metallic mask (Michele Soavi, who would go on to direct Stagefright and Dellamorte Dellamore) who offers her tickets to a movie premiere . Later Cheryl and her friend Kathy (Poala Cozzo) meet two young men, George (Urbano Barberini) and Ken (Karl Zinny) at the newly renovated Metropol cinema for the special screening. A pimp and two of his ladies are checking out the foyer displays, one of the hookers tries on a prop mask from the movie and accidentally cuts herself on the mask’s sharp edges.

Michele Soavi as the mysterious man in black

During the screening of the movie, a horror film called Dèmoni the hooker’s wound gets worse, oozing a green discharge. Within minutes she has transformed into a raging, ferocious demon and attacks everything in her path. The whole cinema erupts into chaos as the movie releases a supernatural energy and the cinema traps all the patrons inside, while more and more ravenous demons run riot.

The Metropol cinema

Demons is an unashamedly over-the-top horror movie, the kind America rarely makes. In fact the kind that is rarely made anymore, full stop. Its visual stylistics resembles a kind of adult graphic novel. It possesses the dream logic of Argento’s finest work, with the lurid cinematography and sensational special effects, including several transformation sequences, as well as an elaborate, and utterly inexplicable, helicopter crash through the cinema auditorium.

Hooker Rosemary (Geretta Giancarlo) tries on the mask, while pimp Tony (Bobby Rhodes) looks on

Set to a pounding, and at times rather cheesy, pop-rock-metal soundtrack of American and UK songs, Demons crashes along at breakneck speed, leaving the viewer barely time to catch their breath, before another demon makes a go at tearing a poor victim’s throat out. These are no shuffling, groaning zombies; these demons pre-date the Rage Virus by nearly twenty years. Curiously the movie was banned in West Germany, where it’s set.

Kathy (Poala Cozz) succumbs to the diabolical curse

Special effects whiz Sergio Stiviletti was responsible for the numerous appliance and prosthetic work including a terrific demon emerging from the back of a victim while she’s on all fours. It’s all painted in primary colours, another Argento visual trait, with lashings of blood, slime and other-worldly goo. This is the fantasy flick to frighten all those annoying Potter fans.

Rosemary feels the demon blood course through her

A movie poster for Argento’s giallo psycho-thriller Four Flies on Grey Velvet graces the walls of the cinema foyer, and Argento’s eldest daughter Fiore plays one of the trapped patrons, Hannah. While much of the dialogue (including bad American dubbing) and acting leaves something to be desired, Demons is sublime deep trash. It operates like a nightmare sledgehammer, swinging gleefully and monstrously, with little regard for thespian finesse. We’re not talking Anthony Hopkins in a Ridley Scott film, we’re talking pretty and gullible Italian girls in jeopardy and diabolical mayhem, there’s no time for philosophical musings on art and culture, despite the cosmopolitan setting.

Putting the demon talons to good use

Demons is perfect late night beer and pizza fare for a group of fun-loving Euro splatter fans. Roll up a fat one and pass it around, the movie sillyisms and its dream-like atmosphere is enhanced ten-fold, trust me! This is cult material and these kinds of crazy intense movies demand to be embraced with no prejudice against the savouring of such obviously deep trash. I just wish there were more movies like it.

A sequel Dèmoni 2 followed a year later starring a very young Asia Argento, and was set in an apartment block where the demons emerged through the television set. Although it sports a few great set-pieces, it doesn’t possess the same surreal comic-book charm.

Here's the original U.S. trailer:

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews

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Comments

4 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Damo

November 15th 2007 04:34

This looks like it will fun to watch.

Crack a couple of coldies, microwave the popcorn and warm the set.

Comment by Bryn

November 15th 2007 09:15

Horrorphile

Damo, precisely. Cheers!!! *clink*

Comment by Cibbuano

November 15th 2007 22:49

Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak

lovely review - I'd like to get my hands on this!

Comment by Bryn

November 16th 2007 01:07

Horrorphile

Cibby, another for the list huh? You should be able to get this ... but if you have trouble I can lend you a copy.

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