If you can get over the 80s kitsch and dubbing, Demons is cracking horror film with extreme gross out and a huge dose of black humour. Produced by the seminal Dario Argento, Lamberto Bava's Italian cult classic is completely bonkers and makes very little sense, but don't let that stop you. It's FUN. It's tongue-in-cheek. It's arguably one of the coolest horror movies ever, and it's the one Screen Scenes always goes back to.
Our protagonist is pretty student Cheryl, who is travelling on the subway in Berlin to meet her friend Kathy. A mysterious masked man pursues her, and offers her free tickets to a movie screening at a local cinema. Cheryl talks Kathy into going with her, and in the packed movie theatre foyer they meet lots of other characters who've also received free tickets - two young men/would be suitors, a blind man and his carer/wife/lover (not explained), two teenage lovers, a bling cool-as-fuck man with two women (one of whom - Rosemary - scratches her face on a demonic mask from the foyer), and an older couple.
The screening begins, and they've been invited to watch a horror movie about a man who turns into a demon after wearing a demonic mask. Ah! This self-reflexive notion is too much! Rosemary starts to display the same symptoms as the character on screen, and excuses herself to the bathroom. The scratch on her face goes pusy-POP and she turns into a grotesque, bloodthirsty demon. Rosemary comes back to attack her friend, and the carnage begins.
It may sound absolute guff, but Demons is accomplished with a big sense of style; it's also set to the 80s metal of Motley Crue, Saxon and Pretty Maids which makes it AMAZING. The use of Go West's 'We Close Our Eyes' is, however, inexplicable. The horror is played out with some truly stomach-churning moments that although dated, still work well (a demon tearing a woman's scalp off is particularly nasty). The trapped characters sense of despair becomes more chilling as they try to escape, but they're confronted with a bricked wall where the exit of the cinema would be. There is no way out.
Demons also throws sneaky little teasers at you. Out of the blue, the film cuts to a group of 'punks' who are driving around Berlin doing drugs and generally being uncouth. The guys are pretty muscular, one looks like a young Stallone, and fate brings them to the cinema. You think, somehow, these kids have been brought in to rescue the survivors. Not at all. They hide in the cinema from the cops and are quickly despatched as demon fodder. WTF.
There is no explanation of the masked man, who we meet again later in the film, or why he's inviting people - and these particular people - to the screening. The punks get into the cinema, so surely this would mean there's also a WAY OUT for the survivors. Forgetting all this, it really doesn't matter as Demons is such a great horror romp. Cheryl and her suitor George go all Ash Evil Dead on us towards the end when they kick demon butt, and there's a fantastic moment when a helicopter crashes through the cinema ceiling and you realise that things are REALLY bad out there. The demon epidemic has spread outside of the cinema. How will they get out of this one? Until the very end, Demons keeps you guessing and then throws in a curveball that you genuinely do not see coming. It's ACE.
5/5 reallllly bad demon teeth
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