Post by wiseguy on May 14, 2006 11:55:16 GMT -5
“Demons” is a great horror movie produced by Dario Argento, the Italian horror master that brought us “Deep Red” and wrote for George A. Romeros “Dawn of the Dead”. This 1986 film has many elements of a Zombie-Movie, but it’s not, it’s about demons.
A simple opening where a 20-something woman gets a mysterious invitation to a theatre opening. She and her friend arrive to find that the cinema is hosting a horror movie about Nostradamus’ end of the world prediction. “They will make cemeteries their cathedrals and cities your tombs.” The characters in the movie become demons and bedlam shortly follows.
The real horror starts when another woman that has come to the cinema for the show, takes a demon mask from a display in the theatre lobby and gets a little cut on her face. Before long the cut is painful and grotesquely growing, bubbling even. What a gory way to start things off! She transforms and begins attacking the others that have come to the opening. Similar to zombie lore, if you get cut or bit by a demon, you become a demon. Instant Mayhem!!
It’s a good thing the special effects make this a good horror movie, because it was definitely not enhanced by the acting nor the dialogue. There are some great scenes with plenty of blood and infectious demons go to make up for the terrible acting. I love this movie because it has the characters caught in a theatre with slashing demons and plenty of gore. Interesting soundtrack including Billy Idol and Rick Springfield, coupled with a haunting score by Claudio Simonetti of the famed "Goblins" (Who did many of Argento’s films and contributed to the score for Dario Argento's cut of “Dawn of the Dead” –1978.).
Demons 2 takes place in a large up-scale apartment building. We are given several views of the different residents of the building; a young couple, a teenager having a birthday party with her friends, a family having dinner and a bunch of jocks working out in the gym in the basement. Everyone is going about their normal lives but there is one thing that a few of the residents are doing, they are watching TV. And they aren’t just watching TV; they are watching some show about ‘Demons’! When you listen to the dialogue of the show it really reminds you of the ‘movie’ that was shown in the first Demons.
Anyways, everything seems to be going ok and the movie moves along (as does the show about Demons). Soon we are watching this girl who is watching the show intently and there is a picture of a demon on the screen. She stares at it and it doesn’t seem right at all so she moves closer. The demon growls and begins to ‘push’ it’s way out of the TV (Got to love Italian movies! heh). Of course the girl is scared out of her mind and tries to change the channel and such. No luck, the demon just keeps coming, trying to leap out of the TV. Eventually she unplugs it and the picture goes away. Phew. She turns around and BANG! There he is in all his bloody, dripping, demon goodness. Of course from this point on the demon ‘infection’ spreads throughout the building and we are given plenty of shots of brutal violence and demon slashing fun.
This film was pretty good but in my opinion didn’t match the overall fun of the first installment. It was an interesting idea to hold it in an apartment building. The same ‘idea’ (I guess you could call it that) of being trapped was brought over from the first film. When the people try to escape the building all the doors are locked and the glass is all safety glass (meaning they can’t break it). There is a great scene in the underground garage where they literally try to smash their way out by driving the cars into the garage doors.
The demon makeup was much better in this movie than in Demons. That is not to say the makeup in Demons was bad or anything, but you could definitely tell they had made some significant improvements since the last movie. I especially liked the demon child and the FX they used in the scene with him. They even had a little ‘Gremlins’ type monster that was more funny than scary, but still made for some great scenes. Overall the makeup and gore FX were done very well.
Now, for my complaints about the movie…it’s your typical Italian film with a lot of inconsistency and no explanation. For instance how does a demon just come through the screen of a TV? Who or what is broadcasting this show? Why do the doors lock in the building? Why…..oh nevermind. When it comes to these movies you really have to take them for what they are, a straight out gore fest with flesh-eating demons. All in all a good flick that I recommend to those who enjoyed Demons and those who are looking for a good gore fest.
There is a demons 3, but this is really shit and nothing like the first 2.
A simple opening where a 20-something woman gets a mysterious invitation to a theatre opening. She and her friend arrive to find that the cinema is hosting a horror movie about Nostradamus’ end of the world prediction. “They will make cemeteries their cathedrals and cities your tombs.” The characters in the movie become demons and bedlam shortly follows.
The real horror starts when another woman that has come to the cinema for the show, takes a demon mask from a display in the theatre lobby and gets a little cut on her face. Before long the cut is painful and grotesquely growing, bubbling even. What a gory way to start things off! She transforms and begins attacking the others that have come to the opening. Similar to zombie lore, if you get cut or bit by a demon, you become a demon. Instant Mayhem!!
It’s a good thing the special effects make this a good horror movie, because it was definitely not enhanced by the acting nor the dialogue. There are some great scenes with plenty of blood and infectious demons go to make up for the terrible acting. I love this movie because it has the characters caught in a theatre with slashing demons and plenty of gore. Interesting soundtrack including Billy Idol and Rick Springfield, coupled with a haunting score by Claudio Simonetti of the famed "Goblins" (Who did many of Argento’s films and contributed to the score for Dario Argento's cut of “Dawn of the Dead” –1978.).
Demons 2 takes place in a large up-scale apartment building. We are given several views of the different residents of the building; a young couple, a teenager having a birthday party with her friends, a family having dinner and a bunch of jocks working out in the gym in the basement. Everyone is going about their normal lives but there is one thing that a few of the residents are doing, they are watching TV. And they aren’t just watching TV; they are watching some show about ‘Demons’! When you listen to the dialogue of the show it really reminds you of the ‘movie’ that was shown in the first Demons.
Anyways, everything seems to be going ok and the movie moves along (as does the show about Demons). Soon we are watching this girl who is watching the show intently and there is a picture of a demon on the screen. She stares at it and it doesn’t seem right at all so she moves closer. The demon growls and begins to ‘push’ it’s way out of the TV (Got to love Italian movies! heh). Of course the girl is scared out of her mind and tries to change the channel and such. No luck, the demon just keeps coming, trying to leap out of the TV. Eventually she unplugs it and the picture goes away. Phew. She turns around and BANG! There he is in all his bloody, dripping, demon goodness. Of course from this point on the demon ‘infection’ spreads throughout the building and we are given plenty of shots of brutal violence and demon slashing fun.
This film was pretty good but in my opinion didn’t match the overall fun of the first installment. It was an interesting idea to hold it in an apartment building. The same ‘idea’ (I guess you could call it that) of being trapped was brought over from the first film. When the people try to escape the building all the doors are locked and the glass is all safety glass (meaning they can’t break it). There is a great scene in the underground garage where they literally try to smash their way out by driving the cars into the garage doors.
The demon makeup was much better in this movie than in Demons. That is not to say the makeup in Demons was bad or anything, but you could definitely tell they had made some significant improvements since the last movie. I especially liked the demon child and the FX they used in the scene with him. They even had a little ‘Gremlins’ type monster that was more funny than scary, but still made for some great scenes. Overall the makeup and gore FX were done very well.
Now, for my complaints about the movie…it’s your typical Italian film with a lot of inconsistency and no explanation. For instance how does a demon just come through the screen of a TV? Who or what is broadcasting this show? Why do the doors lock in the building? Why…..oh nevermind. When it comes to these movies you really have to take them for what they are, a straight out gore fest with flesh-eating demons. All in all a good flick that I recommend to those who enjoyed Demons and those who are looking for a good gore fest.
There is a demons 3, but this is really shit and nothing like the first 2.