1985 ‘Dèmoni’ Directed by Lamberto Bava
A group of people are trapped in a West Berlin movie theater infested with ravenous demons who proceed to kill and possess the humans one-by-one, thereby multiplying their numbers.
Urbano Barberini Natasha Hovey Karl Zinny Fiore Argento Paola Cozzo Fabiola Toledo Nicoletta Elmi Stelio Candelli Geretta Geretta Bobby Rhodes Bettina Ciampolini Eliana Miglio Jasmine Maimone Marcello Modugno Peter Pitsch Lino Salemme Michele Soavi Goffredo Unger Giovanni Frezza Lamberto Bava Alex Serra Sally Day Enrica Maria Scrivano Sami Habib Ahmed Victor Beard Russel Case Sergio Stivaletti Emanuela Zicosky Giuseppe Mauro Cruciano Show All…
Dance of the Demons, Dämonen, Demoni 1, 猛鬼戲院, デモンズ, 데몬스, Демони, Démoni, Demons - Dämonen, Demonios, Démons, Démonok, Demony, Demons: Filhos das Trevas, Демоны, Cinler, 群尸屠城, 戰慄
A moral lesson on why you should never ever ever accept free movie tickets from a fella dressed as a bootleg Phantom of the Opera.
So, what happens when a group of people including a duo of college class skipping ladies, a pair of yuppie yuppies, a young first love couple, a wise old blindman and his nymphomaniac companion, a gang of Class of 84 reject punks, and a mackdaddy pimp and his two ho's all get trapped in a movie theatre possessed by demons? Total fuckin' chaotic chaos, of course. What makes it even better? When they go from movie watchers, to demon green gooze ooze possessed. God bless, the Italians!
Lamberto Bava in the director's chair. Dario Argento…
‘They will make cemeteries their cathedrals and the cities will be your tombs.’
The perfect slice of midnight madness—Italo chaos magic courtesy of Bava and Argento that pits Unsuspecting theater goers under siege by pus dripping fluid spouting blood slathered deadite demoni. The escalation here is key, constantly one upping the over the top factor with each set piece slathered in more gore filled chaotic absurdity. Coke head punx, Tony the pimp, dump trucks of gore chunks, a slammin’ score, severed limbs, a motorcycle samurai sword carnival of blood, clawed bodies, teeth n eye trauma, and helicopters falling through ceiling.
To think this all started out as an innocent screening of what looked like Michele Soavi’s take on a Nostradamus…
Takes place almost-entirely in a cinema and invokes the power of cinema narratively, because ultimately this is a movie that relies on being identified as cinema for cinema's sake. To be specific, nothing happens in this movie for any other reason than for the sake of being cool, cinematically. Metal masks that turns its wearers into pustulent ghouls? Demons erupting from the putrid flesh of the infected? A music video segment where a himbo and his gf ride on a motorcycle as he slashes through these hordes from hell with a... katana?? None of this shit makes sense, and thankfully it doesn't have to; it knows that as long as it invokes its tropes with sufficiently associative film-making, the content thusly explains itself to us. And just to make sure we understand, it lays its rules out to both us and the characters on-screen, within the screen. The ending is where cinema finally breaks free.
Still having fun with the Last Drive-In and this is absolutely a bonkers Italian 5 star movie. It’s just nonstop ridiculousness and crazy over the top gore. It doesn’t make any sense and it peaks with a helicopter crashing into a theater so it’s just truly great. I couldn’t even begin to guess the number of times I’ve watched this.
Produced by our lord and savior Dario Argento, directed by Bava Jr, written by Dardano Sacchetti, starring a cast of Italian horror regulars as well as Argento’s other daughter Fiore, and music by everyone from Claudio Simonetti to Billy Idol. There’s just nothing here for me not to love oh so hard. And there’s an equally insane sequel!!
Bananameter: 🍌 bananas absolute 🍌
side note: JBB explaining the history of the Demons series is one of my new favorite things
"The movie's to blame for all this!"
100
A nightmare simulation, operating without error. Each choice and narrative happenstance allows for a propulsion of hopelessness. These stock characters push their way through countless obstacles. But the demons keep coming. There are no exits. The movie never stops. Any light at the end of the tunnels should be feared. No Hay Banda. Lamberto Bava has never made a better horror flick than this one - maybe because he grew up around his father (Mario Bava): genius viewed rather than experienced. As such, the silver screen is adored and trusted, and it's all too real - perfect in its gooey, neon glow, all tatted and coked up, oblivious to the past and…
maybe one day ill be able to review italian horror objectively but how am i supposed to do that when these movies are one banger after another
just when you think this can't get any better mans got a motorbike and a samurai sword.
It is nothing short of powerful when a father can pass hard earned lessons on to his son. It's no less powerful when those lessons amount to "I will put my father's love of audacious colors into a bunch of pulsating, exploding demon zits"
Pretty good Berlin staged zombie-demon flick that professes its love for role models like Romero and Argento at every second. Everything seems like a filmed rock song on cocaine, which doesn‘t hold back with blood fountains, creepy masks and bizarre trash moments.
#15 of 31 - CINEMONSTER'S HOOPTOBER 4.0 Film Challenge
I had to chuckle at myself when the only thing I couldn't buy into in this Over-The-Top splatterfest directed by Lamberto Bava was the helicopter coming into the theater through the roof! I had no problem with people turning into demons as a result of an infection! No siree bob that didn't cause me to waiver one iota! I never flinched an inch when gratuitous gore no longer applied for it doesn't even begin to describe the unfathomable amounts of blood letting, flesh ripping carnage that was unfolding upon my screen! But throw in a helicopter crashing into the theater and I'm suffering from a terminal case of "panties in a…
#(supernatural)SlasherSaturday
Ooh, looky here! There’s snow in the valley.
Demons has been on my watchlist for a while now and it didn’t disappoint. Some gnarly looking demon teeth, claws, eyes highlight some of the excellent practical effects. It’s light on characterization. I think the only character name I remember was Tony played by Bobby Rhodes. But when you have a samurai sword wielding, motorcycle riding action set-piece inside an old movie theater, who needs characterization?
Really fun watch even if the premise is a stretch for inclusion on #slashersaturday. Great pick, Link.
Edit: nearly forgot to mention the killer Goblin score and some excellent needle drops.
Degrees of Kevin Bacon: 3
1. Urbano Barberini and Jack Palance in Gor
2. Jack Palance and Daniel Stern in City Slickers
3. Daniel Stern and Kevin Bacon in Diner.
The pimp in this movie, you know the guy who doesn't let baldness stop him from having lamb chop sideburns......possibly the greatest man who ever lived, we salute you sir.
