Italian horror is something unto itself, and there’s no more famous name associated with it than Dario Argento. I considered doing his followup to the classic Suspiria with Inferno, but instead here’s something perhaps a bit more accessible and more dementedly fun with Demoni—or simply Demons as it was marketed internationally, directed here by Lamberto Bava.
The plot itself is straightforward and still suitably bizarre—in Berlin, a group of random people are given tickets to a weird horror film about Nostradamus or something (because of course). The fictional film itself looks like something that could’ve been made as a somewhat lower budget exploitation thing in Italy, suitably enough. Of course, things go wrong, and people soon become victims of possession—with all the gloriously over the top makeup and effects you can imagine.
It’s fair to say that this is more or less the Italian answer to Evil Dead—and as usual with these sorts of production, it’s still a rather international one, filmed in Germany and using actors from both nations to be dubbed over later, as they did.
You want strong characters? Not here. You want a plot dictated by logic? Hah! No, what you get is a constant escalating madness, all motorcycles in cinemas and monsters arising. Schlocky, yes, but it’s energetic as all hell—pun intended—and completely sincere and having gleeful fun in being deranged schlock. Italian horror films ranged from the artsy, to, well, this—and more often than not, all of both. This one here is certainly an entertaining entry to one segment of all of this.
And, of course, you have a madcap synth score from Claudio Simonetti, whose band you might just have of heard of with Goblin—providing at least 45% of Suspiria’s enjoyment value!
Otherwise, Demoni is something that keeps up the madness until the absolute very end—for something to be watched with friends at a party with some drinks, well, this one sure will do a devilishly good job.
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