by: Alan Smithee

Demons is an Italian horror film from the 80s. A lot of Italian horror directors try to make their films artsy, or have a fresh story, or have complex characters. This film has none of those! Who is to blame? Dario Argento. He is the producer and writer of this film. I can go on and on about how much he is overrated. Every so called horror movie buff says he is one of the best directors/writers who has ever lived. And they are wrong!

None of his stories make sense and his films get too boring and have random violence that doesn’t fit in. This film has every bit of him in it, but that makes it good in an odd way. What’s this movie about, you ask? All these people are getting tickets to the reopening of this old theater that has been closed for years. The guy handing out the tickets looks like a cyber punk threw up on some poor Italian man. Anyway, these two girls that I guess we can call the main characters go to the theater.

Who is all there? Random good looking guys that will of course be their dates, a pimp and his . . . friends, an old couple, a young couple, a blind man and his wife who cheats on him right in front of him (like he is going to see ha-ha), and this red head who looks like she is up to no good and who works at the theater but doesn’t matter and was in there for no reason!

*Argento alert* Now, there is this random mask in the theater; the same mask is in the un-named movie they are watching. One of the pimp’s “friends” puts on the mask and it cuts the side of her face. She slowly starts turning into a . . . DEMON! After that she bites her other friend and she also turns into a . . . DEMON! The “famous” demon transformation scene has been on countless “scary movie moments” lists; it’s a very disturbing and effective scene in the movie.

After that demons start coming left and right. And the two “main characters” escape, but . . .  to see that the city has been taken over by demons.  That’s about it. The movie isn’t that long, so there isn’t any build up to the demons. They just come right out with no care in the world.

Oddly enough this is a good, well, good bad movie. It’s really cheesy and rushed, but it has its moments. This film has inspired many, so it’s not surprising I get the same feeling I got from the movie From Dusk Till Dawn. People who are not horror fans will not get this film and will think it’s pointlessly . . . horrific. But, we horror fans love pointless horror! That’s the point! And I am proud.