Demons (1985)

 

Ah, Italy... Why do you insist on creating the most batshit insane horrorfilms at times? Well, this used to be the case during the 70s and 80s, when they tried to knock off American releases and sometimes stumbled on something entirely their own. 'Demons' is clearly made in the wake of the zombie craze, but is about, well, demons. Everything else is pretty akin to an outbreak of the undead kind, though. 

A young girl gets an invitation handed to her by a very strange man wearing a silvery half-mask. It doesn't say what the invitation is for, so naturally she convinces her friend to go along with her to a place called The Metropol, which turns out to be a cinema. So it seems they are going to watch a premiere of some film or other. In the entrance hall, several props are on display, among which a ninja on a motorcycle holding a silver demon mask. One woman fools around with this and gets scratched on her face. 

Yes, this is important to the plot. So is the sword, actually. 

When the patrons are seated, it turns out they are going to watch a horrorfilm about demons and in the film, a guy putting on the mask gets a scratch and then subsequently turns into a murderous creature. 

Guess what happens to the lady who scratched her face? 

Whoever gets scratched or bitten also turns into a rabid, green goo spewing demonic figure and soon everyone is scrambling to stay alive. Some of the visitors are rather eclectic as well: there's a pimp-like figure, a blind man and his adulterous wife, a young couple and some odds and ends. Mainly the focus is on our two lead girls and two guys that they quickly latch on to. 

If you now assume the film does the standard thing most films of this ilk do, you'd be wrong. Turns out the cinema is haunted and there is absolutely no escape for our patrons. And things get even more weird when a couple of junkies get in from the outside, one woman spawns a real demon creature THROUGH HER BACK and then we haven't even mentioned the bonkers' finale where our hero rides a motorcycle up and down the aisles chopping of heads with the katana from the lobby, set to Accept's 'Fast As A Shark'. 

Yes, you read that last bit correctly. 

Is this a particularly good film? No. As is often the case, the acting is wildly awful and the dubbing pretty distracting. Especially the black man, who was clearly dubbed by someone who thought all black people talk like some third-rate pimp who talks jive. But no one's here for the acting. The gore is abundant, and you get ripping, tearing, beheading, strangling, goo, blood, maulings: the whole smorgasbord. Some shots are actually rather haunting. The best example is probably when the possessed people give chase and their eyes light up as you can see on the poster. It is suitably creepy. Apart from that, it's the crazy finale that makes it all worthwhile, as I'm pretty hard-pressed to think of any other film that ends on such a completely absurd yet awesome note. 

I mean: sure, once our leads do get out, it turns out the world is going to hell in a handbasket, but you'll still be reeling from the previous five minutes, wondering if you did just see what you saw. 

You did, by the way.

This is one of those films that is a blast from start to finish. Yes, it's silly, goofy and sometimes even verging on bad, but made with such reckless abandon you can't help but enjoy the everloving fudge out of it. If you're feeling adventurous, give it a go.