In a subway, university student Cheryl (Natasha Hovey) is pursued by a strange looking man wearing metallic clothes and a bizarre mask. Thinking he is going to her hurt her, she flees only for the man to pursue her. He eventually catches up to her, only to give her a leaflet for a local cinema. Relieved, she hooks up with some friends and they go to catch a movie there. At the cinema, another girl scratches her face on an out-of-place looking statue whilst trying to wear the mask that the statue holds. Feeling unwell, the girl goes to the toilet only for the scratch to ooze pus and turn her into a demented demon, thirsty for blood. The other cinema viewers soon find themselves overrun by these strange demons, and must find an exit before they are all killed.
For a horror film with a title as definitive as Demons, and coming from the son of a giallo master and director of comic book masterpiece Danger: Diabolik (1986), I expected much better. It's harder to fuck this up than to get it right. Mario Bava's son Lamberto doesn't seem to have been genetically passed his father's skills (although this is the only film of his I've seen, so perhaps I'm being judgemental), as he fumbles through this film, failing to deliver a decent set-piece or a memorable moment of gore or special effects. In fact I find it hard to find anything remotely memorable about this film. Seriously, with a title like Demons, an 80's synth-horror feel, and the names Bava and Argento (as producer) on the crew list, this is a huge disappointment. And now I have to sit through the sequel!
Directed by: Lamberto Bava
Country: Italy
Rating: **
Tom Gillespie
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