7) Demons (1985)

"We got to stop the movie!"

Director
Lamberto Bava

Cast
Urbano Barberini - George
Natasha Hovey - Cheryl
Karl Zinny - Ken
Fiore Argento - Hannah

Turning into a frothing, vomiting, juicy demon during a night out to the movies is just an icky thing. That's pretty much what happens to a group composed of the most unimaginative 80s personas only seen in movies, and too often mimicked by real 80s people.
Demoni, (aka Demons) delivers in the horror. As a story, it has some aspects of originality, but doesn't seem to try too hard in telling a story. Its budget clearly went towards effects, and decided audiences would be diverting their eyes and holding their stomachs too much to notice some missing plot points.
This Italian horror/action film was directed by Lamberto Bava, and produced by Dario Argento. I'll add here that I had previously watched Bava's 1972 film Baron Blood before watching this, and had planned on reviewing it as the seventh film on this blog. However, after three attempts to watch the Baron, and dozing off each time before finally forcing myself to stay awake just to finish it, I couldn't review it. I'm not saying it was a bore. I just couldn't stay awake. So, I didn't want to write an unjust review for a movie I had trouble paying attention all the way through. I do plan to try at least one more time to watch Baron Blood - and stand the whole time just to stay awake if I have to.
Anyways, though an Italian film, the version of Demoni I saw was spoken in English. I searched for an Italian version online to see if it exists, but didn't find one.
The movie opens with college student, Cheryl, riding on a Berlin train. She looks just as lost as the audience will 40 minutes into the picture.
When she gets off the train, and finds herself alone in the large station, Cheryl actually isn't alone. Pretty soon, she's pursued by a man wearing half a silvery mask, and a slick (now ridiculous) 80s outfit.
She tries to flee. But he, of course, gets ahead of her somehow at the top of a flight of stairs. Rather than attack her, which is what the audience is expecting, he does something else - something no one would guess. He gives her movie tickets. She tries talking to him, but he doesn't say much, and starts handing out tickets to other travelers who've suddenly emerged out of nowhere.
The tickets are a for a movie playing at the nearby newly renovated Metropol.
With two free tickets, Cheryl convinces her friend, Kathy into skipping school and going to catch the free movie. Neither of them know what's playing.
So, they go. While they're hanging out in the lobby, we see a wide array of people show up. There's a blind guy and his sight-seeing daughter. There's a young couple, clearly in love. We also see a pimp and two of his prostitutes. And there's also two preppy boys, Ken and George, who immediately take an interest in Cheryl and Kathy. It's a complete 80s feast of has-beens! One character we see is a mysterious red headed woman who's taking tickets, and acting like she has a plan in her head. She makes a few appearances throughout the movie, and doesn't say very much. Keep this character in mind because I'll talk about her later.
Meanwhile, there are movie props displayed in the lobby. Among them is a silver mask that looks like a demon. One of the prostitutes named Rosemary starts playing around (that's not a euphemism) with the mask, and accidently cuts herself on the cheek.
The movie starts, and it's a horror film about demons. Surprise! The movie within the movie involves four token teenagers who find an old grave, dig it up, and discover it's the tomb of the 16th Century prophet, Nostradamus. I wonder if the real Nostradamus predicted his role in Demoni? I'm guessing he did because when the teens open the tomb, all they find is an old book and a mask similar to the one that scratched Rosemary.
One of the teens in the movie's movie puts the mask on because...why not...and he gets scratched, too. A little later he turns evil and kills his friends with a knife.
Meanwhile, Rosemary doesn't feel so hot, and rushes to the ladies room.

Geretta Geretta as Rosemary in Demoni.

The scratch on her face continues to bleed, then blister, then bloat, and finally pops, spewing out a huge amount of pus and nastiness.
Her pimp starts to worry about her (using the term "worry" very loosely) and the other prostitute, Carmen, goes to look for her.
She finds Rosemary in one of the bathroom stalls. She developed sharp teeth and claws, and has green stuff billowing out of her mouth. She attacks Carmen, tearing out a huge chunk of her neck. Rosemary is now on the loose inside the theater.
A terrified Carmen rips through the back of the movie screen and transforms into a demon right there on stage in front of everyone in the theater. It's a pretty awesome scene. Anyways, there's no secrets now. Rosemary is still on the loose. Carmen is on the loose. And the audience is completely panicked.
They struggle towards the entrance only to find out they've been walled up inside the theater with no way out. By whom? We don't know. Why? Again, we don't know. I guess some things just are. And other things are not.
And that red hair lady I mentioned earlier? Well it seems she has something to do with everything going on, but she never lets on. Oh, heck...I'll just get her out of the way before I continue. Red-haired lady can't get out either, and she later becomes a demon. That's it. The end. Goodbye, red-haired lady...whoever you were. We thought you had an important role to play, but...oh, well.
All the theater goers are now trapped in a theater with ravenous demon people. The gore scenes are pretty narly. There's so much happening in this one theater, but yet, not really.
The suspense lies in that aspect - people trapped in a demon-infested theater. The horror movie fun factor is in the gore, scares, and death scenes. But the story line is lacking. It's like having a novelty bottle of hot sauce, with some crazy name like "Satan's Spit" or "Flammin' Hot Butt Blaster Sauce." It's just hot for hot sake, and has a catchy name, but the sauce completely lacks any flavor or savor.
The actors clearly had fun making it. And it's not terribly predictable. Demoni definitely delivers in the gore and scares. It's laid on rather heavily.

 The scenario also gives the movie originality. But it lacks explanation. Why is this happening? Who's responsible? What's the real significance of the mask that turns people into demons?
I senses there's an underlying commentary in which a movie audience turns into demons. There's a sin of some kind the victims took part in. And the characters we see are from all walks of life. Perhaps, the sins of the characters made them vulnerable to suffer demonic attacks, bringing out their real inner ugliness to the surface. The heroes of the film - the ones who get away - haven't necessarily given in to the temptations clearly apparent between them. There actions determined their fate. It's a theory, and an element common in horror movies, especially in the seventies and eighties.
I discovered there's a Demons 2, as well as a made-for-TV unofficial third sequel called The Ogre. Maybe they'll provide an answer. I'll find and review those one of these days.
The iconic scene in the picture is the character George's motorcycle run through the ransacked theater as demons are attacking him from both sides. It then leads to his escape with Cheryl via a grappling hook through a hole in the roof where a helicopter crashed through. Yeah! A helicopter crashed into the roof. That happened. The budget not used for horror effects must have gone into that helicopter.
Demoni is purely a Friday night popcorn movie. It's fun, with some over the top acting, grotesqueries, outfits and attitudes only the 1980s can conjure up.