Dèmoni

Plot synopsis:
While riding the subway to class, music student Cheryl (Natasha Hovey) is given a free pass to a movie theater by a silent, imposing man wearing a metal mask (Michele Soavi). She persuades her classmate, Kathy (Paola Cazzo), to skip class and go to the film with her. There they meet two young men, George (Urbano Barberini) and Ken (Karl Zinny). Other attendees include a smoothly dressed black man, Tony (Bobby Rhodes), and his two girlfriends, Rosemary (Geretta Geretta) and Carmen (Fabiola Toledo), cranky husband Frank (Stelio Candelli) and bitter wife Ruth (Nicole Tessier), young couple Tommy (Guido Baldi) and Hannah (Fiore Argento) and blind man Werner (Alex Serra) and his daughter Liz (Enrica Maria Scrivero). In the lobby of the theater, Rosemary tries on a prop demon mask that leaves a cut on her cheek.Kathy is upset to learn they have come to see a horror film, even though George and Ken offer to "protect" her and Cheryl. In the film, a group of college students ride their motor bikes to the ruins of an old castle rumored to be the burial place of Nostradamus. One of the characters puts on a demon mask identical to the one in the lobby, and it cuts his face. At this moment, the scratch on Rosemary's cheek begins to throb. She goes to the bathroom to take care of it but instead transforms into a demon -- mirroring the character's transformation in the film. Rosemary mauls Carmen, who had followed her to the bathroom. Badly injured, Carmen crashes through the movie screen just as the possessed characters hacks at his friends with a knife.As the horrified audience crowds around her, Carmen transforms into a demon and kills Frank, while Carmen strangles Liz and gouges out Werner's eyes. She and Rosemary then chase the rest of the audience members through the theater. All of the exits have been boarded up somehow. Believing the film is somehow causing people to become demons, Tony leads Kathy, Cheryl, George and Kelly to the projection booth to shut it down. Finding no one there, they smash the projectors then barricade themselves in the balcony. Werner tells them the film isn't the source of evil, the theater itself is. Now also transformed into demons, Frank and Liz attack the others. Liz bites Tony in the leg while Frank vomits demonic blood all over Hannah.When four punks -- Ripper (Lino Salemme), Hot Dog (Giuseppe Maro Cruciane), Baby Pig (Peter Pitsch) and Nina (Bettina Ciampolini) -- manage to break into the theater, the now demonified Werner slips out into a street where he attacks two police officers. Hannah and Tommy try to crawl through a ventilation shaft, but Hannah has been transformed into a demon herself and kills Tommy. Believing the punks are there to rescue them, the survivors begin to tear down the barricades, but this only allows the demons to reach the balcony and attack them. Everyone except Kathy, Cheryl, George and Ken are slaughtered.George and Ken decide to use the ventilation shafts as well, but before anyone can enter, Kathy begins to transform into a demon as well -- she had swallowed some demon blood during the escape from the balcony. When Ken beats her with the air conditioning grate, a new demon bursts from her back and rakes him across the chest. George is forced to kill him with a prop sword from the lobby. He then rides a fully gassed up motorcycle, another prop in the lobby, to ride through the theater and hack to bits most of the demons, including the four punks.Then a helicopter crashes through the ceiling. George uses its propeller to kill the rest of the demons and then its winch and grappling hook to access the theater's roof. There the metal mask man attacks them, but George is able to kill him by stabbing him in the eye with a piece of rebar. George and Cheryl make it to the street only to learn the demonic infection has spread into the city, which now resembles a war zone. They are picked up by a man and his children, who have apparently stockpiled weapons for just such an event. As they drive out of the city, Cheryl transforms into a demon, having been infected at some point in the theater. The man's young son quickly guns her down, and they leave her body in the road.

Tags: cruelty, murder, violence, cult, horror, sadist

Review:
This has got to be one of the best Italian horror flicks ever made, which is no surprise considering it was produced by Dario Argento, master of Italian horror himself.The plot can be summed up with one sentence: people are trapped in a movie theater with a horde of ugly, long-clawed demons and must fight to stay alive!
Sure, the acting is completely over the top and laughable, the movie doesn't make any attempts to explain why the events are happening, there is really bad '80s rock music playing at all the wrong moments and the whole production screams cheesy B grade flick, but if you care about any of this anyways, what kind of horror fan are you?!
It isn't very likely to scare you so much as make you laugh, and there are some classic moments for the genre such as a blind guy getting his eyes scratched out by a demon, a revolting puss-bursting scene, a crazily fun massacre near the end that never gets old to watch, and one of the best climaxes to a horror movie ever where the lead male character severs demon limbs left and right with a sword on a dirt bike!
The film exudes with an almost Gothic atmosphere and the setting of the big movie theater could not be more perfect in creating a mood.A word of caution, though: this movie is a horror buff's wet dream, and it's strongly advisable you be sure you like real horror movies before seeing this so you know what you're getting into.
In the end, it plays out to be a great horror movie, with plenty of gratuitous violence and gore, a killer 80's soundtrack, and a couple of good scares!
At the time this movie came out, Italian horror meisters Dario Argento and Lamberto Bava wanted nothing more than to have a hit in the American market.
To appeal to American audiences, they went with the soundtrack used here (songs from Billy Idol, Rick Springfield, etc.), and even used some American actors (like Bobby Rhodes who plays the pimp, in even comes back in Demons 2 as a different character).To add to the hype, they released it to limited distribution (not by choice I'm sure) in the states, unrated (just as "Day of the Dead" had just been released in similar fashion).
Knowing more about the production, I get a kick out of the fact that the guy at the beginning giving out the theater tickets (the guy with the mask) was then aspiring filmmaker Michele Soavi, who would just a couple of years later become an Argento protégé with movies like Stagefright, and his own classic Dellamorte Dellamore (Cemetary Man).
Watching "Demons" I came to the conclusion that, no matter how many of the "Scream" films they make, nothing compares to this horror flick!.
For those of you who think that the 90's versions of horror films are the only saving grace to this genre, do yourself a favour catch a few of the 80's horror flicks like "Demons" they are what horror movies should be!.
Cheryl (Natasha Hovey) gets two tickets in the subway and invites her friend Kathy (Paola Cozzo) to skip their music class and go to the movie theater to watch the film.
The direction is actually really good and Lamberto Bava goes all out on colors and angles (which horror italian director doesn't)and the soundtrack goes well with the eighties look.
I don't remember any characters really except the coolest "pimp" Tony, the sexy usherette, the four punks and the "GEORGE" character (mainly only cause i recognized him from OPERA), but this movie obviously isn't meant for character development.So all in all I give Demons **1/2 out of **** It's really cool, but only worth watching for cool visuals, soundtrack, and gore..
While sereval survivors are trying to get out of the movie theater before it is too late.Directed by Lamberto Bava (A Blade in the Dark, Delirium, Frozen Terror) made an amusing gory horror film with some strong visual style and a heavy metal soundtrack.
this is a fun, gory euro-horror film.i'm a big fan of argento and the main reason this film and demons 2 work so well is because it is decidedly tame as far as story line is concerned.
"Demons" of 1985 is a gory, stylish and very entertaining horror flick written by the master, Dario Argento.
But although Lamberto Bava does certainly not manage to reach his father's brilliance, "Demons" is definitely worth watching.Cheryl (Natasha Hovey) is given free tickets for a sneak preview by a mysteriously dressed man at a Berlin subway station.
The film, which turns out to be a Horror flick tells the story of a prediction by Nostradamus, connected with a demonic mask.The plot is not that original, but the film is made in a very stylish manner, with a good cinematography, and great color play in the tradition of Mario Bava and Dario Argento.
There are many things I really like about this movie, the special-effects, the gore, the absurdity, the irony, the coal black humor, the music and the atmosphere.
As a group of people are trapped in a large movie theater in West Berlin that is infected by ravenous , clawed demons who proceed to kill and posse the humans one-by-one, transforming into bloody creatures who attack the remaining humans , thereby multiplying their numbers .
Good production design , as the building used for the exteriors of the Metropol theater still stands in Berlin ; it's a club called Goya that's been host to several horror conventions thanks to its appearance in this film.The motion picture was compellingly directed by Lamberto Bava , he cites this as his personal favorite of the flicks he has filmed and in which he shows nice visual style .
Lamberto enjoyed his best commercial success to date with this "Demons" , produced by Dario Argento, co-written by Dardano Sacchetti and filmed in West Berlin, Germany .
Co-written and produced by Italian horror maestro Dario Argento (Suspiria, Deep Red), Demons came from Argento's desire to create a purely commercial film after tasting such success with 1978's Dawn of the Dead.
The plot, which follows the spread of a zombie-like form of demonic possession spreading through a Berlin movie theater, exists solely to facilitate the numerous action and scare sequences.
To anyone looking to get into B-movies or Italian horror (or better yet, both) I highly recommend this film as it's a very accessible entry point into both genres.
Backed by a script co-written by maestro Dario Argento and with fluid direction from Lamberto Bava, there is a hell of a lot of fun to be had here; think, "Evil Dead" in a movie theater, except with a killer '80s soundtrack.
If you're looking for a serious horror movie and your typical Argento film you'll probably hate this one, so, watch it with an open mind and you'll enjoy it.
Suspiria is million times better), the use of colors and the sets are just striking, and there are lots of atmospheric, beautiful to look at and yet terribly frightening, classic moments, such as the demons walking down the hallway sequence, and coming from the son of Mario Bava and produced by Dario Argento, I wouldn't be surprised if there were some great visuals.
Swiftly and deadly the fiction on the silver screen transforms into reality as cinema-goers start changing into zombie-like demons...I can't help but feel that the undeserved high ranking of the movie is given in a large part due to the participation of the legendary Dario Argento, an icon of horror movies and poster boy for Italian cinema in general.
Lamberto Bava's wild cult classic is a knock-out of bloody horror mayhem.Folks watching a horror movie suddenly find themselves trapped in the theater as they are attacked by grisly killer demons!While Demons lacks logic in its storyline, it more than makes up for it with some truly wicked action and awesome makeup FX.
I had heard alot about this film and having finally tracked it down was most dissapointed with what I found.The initial concept is a good one, a film within a film dealy, which causes demons to infest a cinema full of bad actors.The execution is sadly lacking however, after a promising start it quickly descends into a string of pointless gory scenes with absolutely no suspense whatsoever.
The film contains one genuinely good visual moment which unsuprisingly is the shot featured on the cover and posters displayed here but thats as far as it goes.Its hard to see what this film had to offer well after the likes of "Night of the Living Dead" or the "Evil Dead" apart from a couple of poorly edited and drably shot gore sequences.Its derivative and drab, only appealling to the kinds of goofy horror fans who are more interested in modes of death than genuine thrills and movie craftmanship.4 out of 10.
To be fair, this film does in fact appear more like a proper followup than 'Casa del L'Orco' did, at least so far as the 'look' of the demons themselves.In 1994, Michele Soavi made a big name for himself with the widely respected 'Dellamorte Dellamore' (released in R1 as 'Cemetary Man').
very entertaining itallian horror has ample gore although weak acting it has impressive visuals stylish direction and a decent script to make it a fun and enjoyable romp i highly highly recommend this movie too you ***1/2 out of 5.
But, let's face it, they're still zombies by another name.The story follows a group of people who go to watch a free horror film in a creepy cinema, only to find that life really does imitate art and the demons spread from the big screen to the popcorn stalls (so to speak).
Demons may be laughed at by today's standards – it hasn't got the characters of The Walking Dead, nor the coherent story of any recent zombie film, but it does have a weird feel about it and is definitely worth watching if you're a fan of the genre (and like eighties music).
The film is definitely one of the goriest films I know but the effects are done very carefully, even better than a lot of American horror films.The story (as far as there is any): A film that is shown in a Berlin movie theater somehow transforms some of the people into demons.
But when they finally manage to get out through the roof they find that the epidemic has spread out and that most people already turned into demons too (Some Night-of-the Living-Dead thing going on here?).The film is ...
The idea of being forced into the movie theater through happenstance and then coming upon the possessed demon beings makes for a fun turn and starts this one off like most great genre efforts with the people being trapped inside with no way out.
I liked how the plot started with the mask that cuts the girl on the face, which later in the movie they are seeing, bring the evil force out of the screen.
Before long the theatre is full of blood-thirsty monsters.Horror maestro Dario Argento produced and co-wrote Demons, Lamberto Bava took up the director duties.
I must point out though that Claudio Simonetti of Goblin does contribute some quality original soundtrack material too which is much better than the metal – in particular his main theme is very good.The cinema setting is a pretty decent one and you can't help but think this would make for a lot of fun to see on the big screen with an audience.
A group of film goers become trapped inside the picture house and try to evade becoming demons themselves.Produced by Dario Argento, it suffers from the usual bad dubbing and choppy editing.
Soon, half of the audience have been turned into blood thirsty zombies, forcing the remaining patrons to defend themselves from the unholy beastsThis is classic 80's cheese with bad clothing, bad/great soundtrack and poor acting but if you look past all that then this is a great film for any horror movie lovers.
The demons in this movie are being more like zombies, expect with plenty of the speed and superhuman strength to them as well.It's a movie that is especially great to watch for the genre loves.
Director Lamberto Bava's "Demons" is great fun for any horror fan who just wants a lot of mayhem.
"Demons" really is the perfect choice for a horror fan who doesn't demand that their entertainment make a lot of sense (it's got one of the greatest deus ex machinas ever seen in the genre), and it's got plenty of delicious gory nastiness to enjoy, with the always reliable Sergio Stivaletti in charge of the special makeup creations.
Old-fashioned horror fans who still esteem such cinematic virtues as characterization, logic and explanations may come away from director Lamberto (son of Mario) Bava's first film, "Demons" (1985), a trifle disappointed, as this film contains...well, none of those attributes.
That stuff aside this movie moves fast and has lots of great kills and good gory special effects..
if you're looking for good acting and a good plot,this is not the movie for you.but if you like way over the top gore,with a soundtrack containing some great(and not so great)80's hard rock and metal songs,this is your movie.the title might be misleading.the movie is about demons,but i thought they were more like zombies.smarter and faster maybe and with razor sharp claws and fangs,but zombies.the gore factor in this one is off the scale.the movie is entertaining,especially when you see these demons/zombies chasing people around to the the beat of some hard pumping metal tune.the whole thing plays pretty much like one long music video.i just thought it was great gory,disgusting fun.it's not high art,but then what horror movie is.for me,Demons is a 6/10.
Dèmoni (1985)*** out of ****Directed by Lamberto BavaWith Urbano Barberini, Natasha Hovey and Michele Soavi.Lamberto Bava, son of Mario Bava, show us his talent with Hovey, Barberini and others having and invitation to a preview of a movie, without knowing that the horrible things that happen in the film begin to happen in the reality, possessing anyone who is attacked for a demon.
And the direction is great, almost artful in the way Bava works with colors.Well, from now on my expectations will be much higher again when it comes to watching 80's horror movies (and most likely they'll be disappointed more often than not).
This is basically non stop gore and action, crazy lighting schemes, some solid scares, over the top rock soundtrack and some very cool special effects (mostly gore-related).Produced by the great Dario Argento, this movie comes highly recommended.Avoid the sequel, somehow they managed to mess that one up..
Being Beside the point of my fascination with cult horror flicks, this one really worked.The premise of the story is fairly simple, but it is the adrenaline of this film that does not let up.With its fast pace and clever camera use, it almost emboldens blood and gore visuals to that of an almost artistic level.As with other films of this genre and more importantly this era.I must also mention that the film boasts an excellent soundtrack, mixing hard rock bands with the already brilliant Claudio Simonetti.In this classic we have the teaming of Lamberto Bava, with the master techniques of Dario Argento.The sequel to this film is also fair but it pales in comparison to Demons.My word of advice:Only see this if you are a tried and true genre fan..
so its not the cleverist of films and certainly not brimming with clever twists but if your a horror fan who loves a bit of good old blood and guts its great fun.
If you like horror/gore/zombie flicks..do yourself a favor and get this movie.
And they are both very gory with lots of blood, puss and splatter.Demons starts out with a strange man with a partial mask made out of metal riding around on roller skates passing out invitations to a horror movie at the reopening of some old theater.
Demons is probably the best Euro-horror movie I've seen (except, perhaps, for The Beyond).
A good and inventive 80's horror film directed by Lamberto Bava, the son of the late great Mario Bava, succeeds on pure adrenaline of ever-increasing doses of action and gore.
Urbano Barberini was one hec of a stallion check out his bike riding demon busting skills in the film.A noticable aspect about both Dario Argento and Lamberto Bava is there trademark for casting a lot of nice looking girls in there featues only to end up meeting there demise.
Dario Argento and Lamberto Bava (son of the great Mario Bava) are two of the most untouchable powers in Italian horror cinema: this movie, DEMONI, is proof.
It's basically people are trapped in a movie theatere, and a girl scratches her face on a demon mask she put on, just like in the movie they are watching, and she turns into a Demon, and kills.
A bunch of people get trapped in a movie theater while watching a horror movie and later turn into bloodthirsty demons.
I would say that Lamberto Bava (the son of Mario) did one of the better eighties horror movies because of its story and the film in a film scenes.
The plot and the action are terrific; the effects are superb; and the soundtrack if filled with killer 80s heavy metal sounds by the likes of Motley Crue, Saxon, and Accept.Produced by horror maestro Dario Argento and directed by Lamberto Bava (whose father, Mario, was the grand daddy of Italian horror, by the way), Demons is a total work of brilliance.
The very cool and hypnotic sounds of the 80's music by Claudio Simonetti ushers in one of the best Euro style horror films of all time.Demons is not for kids or some Adults.