There are quite a few movies I’m ashamed to say I’ve never watched until recently, and Lamberto Bava’s cult film Demons is one of them.
For Day Two of my thirty-one-day review streak, I finally got around to watching this splatter-heavy masterpiece…and I was far from disappointed.
The story is simple almost to the point of absurdity: an audience watches a movie about demonic possession only to find out they’ve been led into a trap and the demons are real. There’s really not much of a plot, nor does there need to be—the gore effects are the main feature here, and everything else is just gravy.
I couldn’t help but notice a few parallels between Demons and The Evil Dead, one of which being the Nostradamus text responsible for summoning the demonic entities. Although none of the characters have a chainsaw hand or a particularly groovy attitude, Demons could easily be mistaken for an Evil Dead knock-off. This didn’t bother me, not really. I loved every weird minute of this movie, and I’m excited to see the sequel (which, I hear, is even stranger).
Despite having a very simple plot and almost no memorable characters, Demons succeeds mainly due to its creative kills. One of my favorite scenes involves two teenagers crawling through an air shaft above the auditorium. The boy crawling in front keeps hearing a scratching sound, as if a demon’s following closely behind them, and he insists his girlfriend crawls in front so that she’s out of harm’s way. But then—wait for it!—the demon was her all along!
Another great scene involves two of the survivors taking down the demonic mass by riding through the theater on a motorcycle and chopping them up with a katana. You might be asking, “Where did they get a motorcycle? Or a katana?” It’s better if you don’t think about minutiae while watching Demons; all you need to do is sit back, watch some amazing makeup effects, and enjoy the anarchistic chaos unfold.
7/10
Throughout the month of October, I’ll be reviewing 31 movies I’ve never seen before. Is there an excellent movie you think I haven’t seen? Tell me in the comments below, and I’ll check it out!
Also, be sure to check out my Day One review of Pascal Laugier's Incident in a Ghostland.
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