Topic: Demons (1985 - Bava/Argento)

[Chedney Honks]

Lamberto Bava directs a Dario Argento production, with an 80s hair metal and synth soundtrack. The story is demons eat people.

Garish colours, unsavoury gore, hilarious dialogue and stereotypical characters. It's an excellent 'fucking dumb' Italian horror/slasher film. Very grubby atmosphere, very 80s, tacky, both Euro and Yank vibes, incredibly representative of the era. Pure style over substance, no message, cynical. It's fun to dip into such an atmosphere for 90mins, total sensory experience.

Not seen Demons 2 yet but got the LE Arrow BD set. Will pick up a 4K standard release when it comes, definitely one that will benefit from HDR colours, I imagine.

Any fans?

[Magnum Valentino]

Aye, most definitely, only the first one for me. The second is nowhere near as good.

Your man Tony, the pimp, is one dimensional but that one dimension is stretched to its absolute limit. He's a hoot.

The Claudio Simonetti (from Goblin!) soundtrack is good but nothing compares to the motorbike samurai sword scene set to Accept.

The shot of the fuckers coming up the cinema stairs with their shiny eyes is a classic but Lamberto really can't hold a candle to his auld boy can he?

[petercussing]

This is one of my fav films. A mate's parents had it on video and we watched it when they went on holiday one weekend when we were about 15/16ish and from that point on it became a fav watch for us and that's never really left me. Any film where a dude frantically goes, "Smash everything, smash everything"  is alright by me.

Everything about this film is perfect 80s schlock and the crazy twisting plots, the initial set up and large cast of varied characters, along with bonus dudes turning up, i can't tell yous how much i loves it. I seen it tons.

I really like the 2nd, too. It's not as good and has more dumb bits, but it's recombining of the previous cast and it being a direct continuation from the last in that the plot of the last actually happened and got contained is great.

[greenman]

The recent Arrow UHD release was the first time I'd ever seen the second film and whilst not quite as good as the first I did find it very worthwhile.

They are definitely more on the gleeful side of horror, the women who first transform in both especially I think really stand out as that and there are endless set pieces. I wouldn't say there entirely brainless though, I mean most obviously they do have quite a smartly done film within a film aspect to them that's almost poking fun at the video nasty panic of the era, Both times I think you could argue though it comes across that the source of the evil is in the buildings, the original I took as some kind of relic of Nazism or maybe just cold war Berlin harshness and the sequel the isolated modernist tower block.

They are both very good looking films as well, definitely a cut above your typical 80's horror schlock.

[GoblinAhFuckScary]

Saw Demons 2 the other night.

It's basically more of the same but them demons come out of the telly and into your flat now. The music is wonderfully composed by Simon Boswell who also did the excellent score to Jodorowsky's Santa Sangre.

It's not quite as inspired, the pacing frankly tiresome and incoherent, but the lead demon gal Sally is loads of fun and there's a surprise inexplicable return of the best character from the first Demons Tony the pimp, somehow now a fitness instructor and undemonised

[madhair60]

Fucking great movie. Second one is a waste of time

[greenman]

Saw Demons 2 the other night.

It's basically more of the same but them demons come out of the telly and into your flat now. The music is wonderfully composed by Simon Boswell who also did the excellent score to Jodorowsky's Santa Sangre.

It's not quite as inspired, the pacing frankly tiresome and incoherent, but the lead demon gal Sally is loads of fun and there's a surprise inexplicable return of the best character from the first Demons Tony the pimp, somehow now a fitness instructor and undemonised

There are plenty of female villians in italian horror I spose but it is nice to see them play such fun parts rather than only slasher unmaskings.

[Chedney Honks]

The shot of the fuckers coming up the cinema stairs with their shiny eyes is a classic but Lamberto really can't hold a candle to his auld boy can he?

All of this stuff is largely new to me, to be honest, but I did pick up Blood and Black Lace in the recent Arrow sale to get a taste of Bava Sr. I've still got basically all of Argento to explore besides Suspiria, and which I plan to do!

[Chedney Honks]

I wouldn't say there entirely brainless though, I mean most obviously they do have quite a smartly done film within a film aspect to them that's almost poking fun at the video nasty panic of the era, Both times I think you could argue though it comes across that the source of the evil is in the buildings, the original I took as some kind of relic of Nazism or maybe just cold war Berlin harshness and the sequel the isolated modernist tower block.

I was a bit reductive in my description, because I do think there's probably a little more below the surface, but that was the spirit in which I watched it. Couple of German beers, bit pooped, switch off my brain and enjoy the spectacle and stimulation.

I'll definitely keep hold of it and really wish I hadn't delayed on that UHD release! I missed out by a couple of days. From looking at Arrow's 4K releases over the last few years though, it seems absolutely guaranteed that they'll do a standard release and milk it in various ways.

[ImmaculateClump]

All of this stuff is largely new to me, to be honest, but I did pick up Blood and Black Lace in the recent Arrow sale to get a taste of Bava Sr. I've still got basically all of Argento to explore besides Suspiria, and which I plan to do!

I always thought you were a bit sniffy about horror. Did I just imagine that?
Your silence was deafening when I used to talk about my silly horror films elsewhere.
You probably weren't even in the thread :D
I probably just filled in the blanks, imagining you sat there with your monocle in, eyebrow cocked, smirking, tutting, shaking your head incredulously as you skimmed through my posts.

Rent free!

Horror films are best! Much better than munster wrestlers.

Did you see the suspiria remake yet?
It's very different to the original. Loads of great stuff in there, and some stuff less great :D
Really worth a watch after seeing the original, I think. I think you'd like lots of it!

[Chedney Honks]

I do like horror but because my wife loves it we tend to watch a fair bit and it leaves me with almost no desire to discuss it! I generally prefer horror plus something else kind of thing. She doesn't have much interest in the arty or older stuff, though, so that's what I will watch on my tod (and post about here!).

Atmosphere is the most interesting aspect of horror to me.

[greenman]

I find a big issue with horror is I can rewatch the stuff I love so much it limits the desire to seek out masses of more obscure films.

[ImmaculateClump]

I very very rarely rewatch things. I should probably do it more. Something really nice and comforting about sitting down and knowing you're gonna be entertained.
I like to go into stuff as blind as I can so if I get unlucky I can have a really bad run of picking a load of stinkers and it can put me off watching films for a while.

[greenman]

Entertainment is definitely part of it and the Demons films are a great collection of fun set pieces but I would say good looking atmospheric films and strong raw emotion I find easy to rewatch which obviously matches up quite well with a lot of horror.