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Demons
Other // R
List Price: $24.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
A little over a decade ago, I got a video tape as a gift that had some guys going into a theater for a marathon of bad films, presented as zany, whimsical clips for our viewing pleasure, mostly bits from H.G. Lewis movies and a lot of vintage nudist camp films. At the end, the guys tried to leave, but were walled in the theatre, and a bunch of zombies attacked them. I thought that was a pretty cool ending to the video whose title I can't remember and probably never will, as it's been trapped in the abyss of stored video tapes (seriously, we probably have over a thousand) for years and years.
Anyway, if you're wondering why I'm bringing this up, the frame story is a knowing nudge to "Demons", which I was blissfully unaware of at the time. To describe the plot, that probably-too-unrelated-story sums it up pretty well. A colorful metal-masked fella is giving out promotional passes to a renovated theater. No one's going to pass up a free movie, and this one's a doozy -- in it, some stupid kids find a mask in Nostrodamus' tomb, and one of them, of course, puts it on and turns into a demon. Everyone the demon injures turns into a demon (I guess co-writer/producer Dario Argento picked up something from his work on "Dawn of the Dead"), and it doesn't take too long before the movie-within-a-movie turns into an all-out demon assault. A hooker in the audience recognizes the mask as one she tried on earlier in the lobby, and the nick it left on her face begins to boil and fester. She excuses herself to the little demon's room, where she transforms and...well, you know the rest. The audience is trapped in the theater with an ever-increasing number of demons, whose presence and motivation are never explained, fighting for their lives. Although it's just a different spin on '80s zombie movies (group of people in a confined space fight zombies and fight becoming one themselves), the slightly different spin "Demons" uses makes for a pretty entertaining, if not entirely original, movie.
Video: Released back in the days before Anchor Bay recognized the beauty and splendor of 16x9-enhanced transfers, "Demons" (letterboxed at 1.66:1) may not be anamorphic, but it looks damn good. I'm watching it for the fifth time right now, with my television less than five feet away, and seriously, I don't see a single flaw. Aside from not being enhanced for widescreen televisions, I can't say anything even approximating the land o' the negative. The clarity is amazing, the rich colors and fleshtones seem accurate, blacks are rock-solid, and I didn't notice any grain or edge enhancement. Five star rating all the way.
Audio: There are both Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Surround 2.0 tracks. Although I haven't sat through the 2.0 Surround version, I doubt it'd be much different than the 5.1 mix. Claudio Simonetti's score is as well-represented as it was in "Phenomena" (the only other disc I have featuring his music), although I didn't really like the score here quite as much. Producer/co-writer Argento's love of metal/hard rock, however, is much better suited to "Demons" than "Phenomena", featuring a better selection of music and a more powerful sound overall. Even though the 5.1 mix is a pretty lackluster remix of a stereo track, the quality of the source is high enough that the lack of directional effects and such is tolerable.
Supplements: In true Anchor Bay style, "Demons" dishes up a pretty decent special edition. First up is a commentary with director Lamberto Bava and two Anchor Bay commentary regulars, effects artist Sergio Stivaletti and journalist/moderator Loris Curci. I thought some of Argento's commentaries were a little tough to get through because of the language barrier, but "Demons" has a translator, which sounds like it'd be a plus, but it makes it even harder to appreciate what's being said. Along for the ride are a trailer, cast/crew bios, and a subtitled Italian behind-the-scenes thingie (primarily focusing on how a single shot was done) that's barely over a minute long.
Conclusion: "Demons" was one of the first DVDs I bought after "Phenomena" (yes, I'll shut up about that disc now), and I was really disappointed with it at first. Bobby Rhodes' performance was the only factor I saw as being at all redeeming with the movie, but intense boredom a few months later inspired me to give it another spin. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood when I first saw it, but the few times I've seen it since have been extremely entertaining. Taken for what it is, I highly recommend "Demons".
Anyway, if you're wondering why I'm bringing this up, the frame story is a knowing nudge to "Demons", which I was blissfully unaware of at the time. To describe the plot, that probably-too-unrelated-story sums it up pretty well. A colorful metal-masked fella is giving out promotional passes to a renovated theater. No one's going to pass up a free movie, and this one's a doozy -- in it, some stupid kids find a mask in Nostrodamus' tomb, and one of them, of course, puts it on and turns into a demon. Everyone the demon injures turns into a demon (I guess co-writer/producer Dario Argento picked up something from his work on "Dawn of the Dead"), and it doesn't take too long before the movie-within-a-movie turns into an all-out demon assault. A hooker in the audience recognizes the mask as one she tried on earlier in the lobby, and the nick it left on her face begins to boil and fester. She excuses herself to the little demon's room, where she transforms and...well, you know the rest. The audience is trapped in the theater with an ever-increasing number of demons, whose presence and motivation are never explained, fighting for their lives. Although it's just a different spin on '80s zombie movies (group of people in a confined space fight zombies and fight becoming one themselves), the slightly different spin "Demons" uses makes for a pretty entertaining, if not entirely original, movie.
Video: Released back in the days before Anchor Bay recognized the beauty and splendor of 16x9-enhanced transfers, "Demons" (letterboxed at 1.66:1) may not be anamorphic, but it looks damn good. I'm watching it for the fifth time right now, with my television less than five feet away, and seriously, I don't see a single flaw. Aside from not being enhanced for widescreen televisions, I can't say anything even approximating the land o' the negative. The clarity is amazing, the rich colors and fleshtones seem accurate, blacks are rock-solid, and I didn't notice any grain or edge enhancement. Five star rating all the way.
Audio: There are both Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Surround 2.0 tracks. Although I haven't sat through the 2.0 Surround version, I doubt it'd be much different than the 5.1 mix. Claudio Simonetti's score is as well-represented as it was in "Phenomena" (the only other disc I have featuring his music), although I didn't really like the score here quite as much. Producer/co-writer Argento's love of metal/hard rock, however, is much better suited to "Demons" than "Phenomena", featuring a better selection of music and a more powerful sound overall. Even though the 5.1 mix is a pretty lackluster remix of a stereo track, the quality of the source is high enough that the lack of directional effects and such is tolerable.
Supplements: In true Anchor Bay style, "Demons" dishes up a pretty decent special edition. First up is a commentary with director Lamberto Bava and two Anchor Bay commentary regulars, effects artist Sergio Stivaletti and journalist/moderator Loris Curci. I thought some of Argento's commentaries were a little tough to get through because of the language barrier, but "Demons" has a translator, which sounds like it'd be a plus, but it makes it even harder to appreciate what's being said. Along for the ride are a trailer, cast/crew bios, and a subtitled Italian behind-the-scenes thingie (primarily focusing on how a single shot was done) that's barely over a minute long.
Conclusion: "Demons" was one of the first DVDs I bought after "Phenomena" (yes, I'll shut up about that disc now), and I was really disappointed with it at first. Bobby Rhodes' performance was the only factor I saw as being at all redeeming with the movie, but intense boredom a few months later inspired me to give it another spin. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood when I first saw it, but the few times I've seen it since have been extremely entertaining. Taken for what it is, I highly recommend "Demons".
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