Demons (1985)

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... with green gooey goodness turning her into a demon. Well, "demon" isn't really right in this situation since these things are more like zombies in every way, but I suppose that's neither here nor there. All hell breaks loose when the demons, literally, burst through the screen merging the two worlds into one chaotic bloodbath.

One by one the theater patrons are attacked and mutilated in incredibly entertaining ways. There is enough biting, slashing, gouging, and decapitating to satisfy most any gore hound. The filmmakers have some fun with the different demon metamorphoses and one of the best moments has to be the teeth transformation, where the demon's gnarly teeth protrude out from its gums. After the first wave of demons have spawned, a small group of survivors band together to try and stay alive. As you can imagine, that goes really well, and things only get worse after a bunch of coke-heads show up (and leave the door open).

There really is no reason Demons should be as good as it is. Aside from the absurdity of it all, the dubbing is bad, the acting is worse, it has about as much interest in story as it does in logic, and it has the most random deus ex machina you will ever see. And yet, it is pure awesome. Basically going from set piece to set piece, the film is brimming with atmosphere. With Bava's love of long shadows and the combination of 80's metal and a synth score from Claudio Simonetti (Suspiria and Tenebre) the hyper-stylized experience is complete. Right about the time they gouge the eyes out of a blind man, you know you're watching something special.

It's hard to describe the appeal of a film like this, it's something you have to experience for yourself. I'm not sure how big of a part Argento played in production, but his influence is definitely here. Although, it's Bava who really steps up and makes this one his own, it's hard to even compare it to another horror film (save the sequel Bava directed in 1986). Sure, there are other films that are just as silly (Evil Dead) and equally as gory (Braindead), but I think Demons is playing on a whole other level because of the pure lunacy of it all. It's not a great film by any means, but I would easily put it in my top 10 Italian horror films.

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