From his debut film, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, in 1970 to Opera, his last great film, made in 1987, director Dario Argento had one of the best runs in all of horror cinema. He made ten films in that 17-year period and all but one of them are straight-up bangers. With meticulously designed sets, stylish use of color schemes and camera shots, and beautifully crafted violence, his films are some of the most original in all of cinema no matter the genre.
By the late 1970s, he had become one of the most popular directors of Italian cinema. In 1978, he tried his hand at producing, helping his friend George A. Romero make Dawn of the Dead (in doing so Argento secured the rights to that film’s Italian release where he cut out the comedy, ramped up the gore and pushed the score by his Suspiria collaborators Goblin to the forefront). In 1985, he created his own production company, DAC, and made a go at producing full-time. His first film under that banner was Phenomenon, one of his lesser directorial efforts from his golden period (but still a rather good horror flick.)
For his next effort at producing, he let someone else in the director’s chair – Lamberto Bava, son of legendary Italian director Mario Bava. Demons has many of the hallmarks of an Argento film. And his excesses. It is stylishly shot and makes bold use of color (especially blue, red, and black). Its plot is as simple as it is confounding, and its violence is imaginative, technically superb, and utterly overindulgent.
Buy Demons Special Edition 4K Ultra HDA strange man wearing a silver mask, hiding an apparent scarred face, approaches a young woman named Cheryl (Natasha Hovey) in a darkened and mostly empty subway station. Naturally, she runs away from him. He chases her down and when he’s finally trapped her, he hands her an invitation to a movie screening at the newly renovated Metropol cinema. Strangely, she not only accepts but asks for an extra ticket for her friend Kathy (Paola Cozzo). The two decide to skip school and catch the movie, knowing absolutely nothing about what will be shown.
They arrive at the theater and mingle with an assortment of other guests who were also invited. This includes a couple of cute guys who flirt with the girls and sit with them during the film. There is also a pimp and his two prostitutes; an old, blind man and his niece; and a married couple. Inside the lobby is an assortment of old posters (including one for Four Flies on Gray Velvet which was directed by Dario Argento), a soda-vending machine, and a samurai mannequin riding a motorcycle holding both a sword and a silver mask (all of which save the posters will have their role to play later in the film). One of the prostitutes, Rosemary (Geretta Giancarlo), puts on the mask and scratches her face.
Eventually, everyone settles into the theater. The lights dim and the movie plays. The movie within the movie involves some teenagers digging up Nostradamus’s grave and finding a book and a mask that looks identical to the one in the theater’s lobby. One of the characters puts the mask on and is scratched in the same manner as Rosemary. Then he turns into a demon and kills his friends.
At the same time, Rosemary’s scratch starts bleeding again so she goes to the bathroom where she turns into a demon. When the other prostitute goes to check on her, Rosemary bites her, turning the friend into a demon, too These scenes are juxtaposed with the scenes happening in the movie with a whole duality thing playing out.
Then all hell breaks loose. Like a zombie apocalypse, the demons turn others into demons while everyone else tries to survive. Most of them don’t. Bava slathers on the gore effects like this might be the last movie he’d ever get to make and he wants to try everything he’s ever thought of. The demons grow fangs while disgusting goop dribbles out of their mouths. They tear bodies apart like they were at the local meat market. One demon grows out of a person’s back in a scene reminiscent of the transformation scene of An American Werewolf in London but with a lot more viscera.
There is very little rhyme or reason to anything. Why the demons suddenly appeared is never explained. Who that guy in the mask handing out tickets was is forgotten about (though he does show up at the end for no reason at all). At one point, a helicopter crashes through the roof of the auditorium for some reason. Periodically, the film cuts to a group of punks riding around the city snorting cocaine out of a Coca-Cola can while listening to “We Close Our Eyes” by Go West. They’ll eventually wind up in the theater becoming more fodder for the demon horde. At one point, one of them climbs on that lobby motorcycle, rides it into the auditorium, and starts chopping demons up with the samurai sword.
It is that type of film. Kind of stupid. Kind of awesome.
It was a huge success and prompted Bava and Argento to make a sequel, Demons 2, the following year. It has basically the same plot and uses a great many of the same actors (albeit in different, unrelated roles). The setting has been moved to an apartment building where many of the residents are watching the same movie on their television sets. That movie follows a group of teenagers as they break into a city that has been walled off due to the demon outbreak of the first film. It is unclear if this movie within a movie is a documentary, or a fictionalized version of events that happened after the first film, or if the first film was a movie in the sequel’s universe and the movie everyone is now watching is a sequel to that movie within a movie within a movie.
Demons was a huge success. The following year Bava and Argento teamed up once again to make a sequel. Demons 2 has basically the same plot as Demons – people watch a movie in which demons are unleashed and then real demons enter the real world and all hell is unleashed. It even uses a lot of the same actors, though they are playing different characters. The setting has been moved to an apartment building. Many of the residents are watching a movie on their televisions. This movie within Demons 2 is about a group of teenagers who break into a city that has been walled off due to a demon outbreak. It is the same city we saw in Demons, and they even go to the same movie theater. There, they accidentally spill a little blood on a dead demon and reawaken the creature. It is unclear if the movie being watched takes place in the same universe as Demons and therefore, Demons is actually a fictional movie in this universe. Or if something else is happening.
Buy Demons 2 Special Edition 4K Ultra HDAnyways, the kids on the TV unleash a demon horde which unleashes one in the apartment complex. The first demon comes out of the television set reminding me of that scene from Ringu and it’s just as awesome. The rest of the film isn’t as bonkers as the first and watching them back to back, it is hard not to see the sequel as a bit of a retread, but it still has some fun kills. And a demon dog. And a little boy who turns into a demon. Ok, the sequel is pretty great too.
Both films have been newly remastered in 4K from the original negatives in Dolby Vision. I got to try out my new Panasonic 4K player and they look great. Bava makes great use of color (especially in Demons) and shadows and light. Different rooms are lit in different colors in the movie theaters and they really pop off the screen. Both films make good use of darkness and the blacks look appropriately inky without ever failing to let you see what’s going on.
Extras include new audio commentaries and a wide variety of interviews, making-of featurettes, video essays, and the like. If you are a fan of either film, these packages will not disappoint. If you’ve never seen the films, then this is the perfect way to dive right in.
