In 1985, Dario Argento and Lamberto Bava put together what is probably the greatest of all Heavy Metal horror films, Demons. Sure, other films have focused more on the music, and there are no musicians or bands in Demons, but the atmosphere, the pacing, and the attitude is clear, this is a heavy metal movie. Written by Argento and directed by Bava, the film is a blast of gooey fun that encompasses all that was great about '80s horror. There are fantastically outdated outfits, flashy music, and, best of all, plenty of practical gore and creature effects to keep the kiddies squirming in their theater seats. Demons is a classic, and if you don't agree, we can take it outside.
When a young girl is approached by a weird, silent dude in a shiny metal mask with free passes to an unnamed film in a deserted movie house, who is she to say no? So begins our descent into Hell. The sparse crowd at the Metropol, all lured by the promise of a free film, is soon swept up in a wave of demonic possession, not the cutesy kind where you lay in your bed, puke, and spin your head around, but the nasty kind where you turn into a crazy goblin and attack your friends. Little effort is taken to flesh out the characters, however, we do get to see plenty of flesh ripped out of them as the film rolls along. This is not a film about emotions or dread, this is a film about blood, guts, and neon green puke, and I like it.
Demons is easily Lamberto Bava's best film. He hasn't approached this level of success since, however, if this is the legacy one has to leave, I think I'd be satisfied. With help from some regulars from Argento's early '80s films, Bava makes his mark on the horror world boldly. Besides writer/producer Dario Argento, this production features the composing work of Claudio Simonetti of Goblin (Deep Red), who does a brilliant job matching the aesthetic of the film, and the F/X mastery of Sergio Stivaletti, who was fresh off of a triumphant performance in Argento's Phenomena. That being said, the vast bulk of the talent in Demons is clearly behind the camera, and not in front of it.
The acting in Demons is pretty much universally mediocre. However, any fan of '80s Italian genre cinema will be aware that with most of the films boasting international casts, there was almost always a major language barrier on the sets. The same seems to the the case with Demons. Even though the spoken language on set was clearly English, the cast seems to struggle, and at times the film devolves into forced melodrama. However, they are being chased by snaggle-toothed demons, so I'm willing to give it a pass as long as the film delivers the creeps.
Honestly, Demons is far from perfect, and if I were grading on a scale to match serious films, it would fall somewhere near the bottom, but Demons has something that most serious films don't, fun. The film is riotous fun, and it starts with the opening credits and goes right on through the closing credits, there is not a minute of screen time wasted, and that's how a film should be. The combination of the talents behind the scenes makes for a wonderfully enjoyable film that rightfully holds a place in the pantheon of '80s horror, and Arrow Video has done it up right!
Then there's Demons 2. The less said about the sequel, the better. While not a disaster on Return of the Living Dead Part 2 scale, it certainly marks a sharp drop off in quality. The very contained logic created for the creatures in the first film is strained, and there seems to be no forward motion in the plot. I know, plot is often less important in these films than action, but in its attempt to feel claustrophobic, Demons 2 abandons tension for the sake of pacing, and I just found it pretty boring. Claudio Simonetti and his heavy metal compatriots are replaced by the new wavey sounds of Simon Boswell (Santa Sangre), and a host of post-punk bands, who add little to the proceedings. The most fun I had with the film was the ridiculous '80s party clothes and soundtrack, but once the actual demons appeared I lost interest. It should be the other way around. It wasn't.
The Discs:
This steelbook from Arrow Video contains two Blu-ray discs, one for each film, with their accompanying video extras. Video and audio quality for the two are very similar, so I'll combine the reviews for brevity's sake. The video looks fantastic. While I was initially taken aback by the lack of color saturation I was used to seeing with the contrast boosted DVD presentations, it dawned on me that this color palette was probably more accurate. The image isn't dull, but it is less garish than I'd seen before. On the other hand, the image sharpness and texture makes a huge leap up from SD, with depth and texture that looks quite astounding. There is evidence of natural looking grain, and ample fine detail, especially when it comes to Stivaletti's creature effects, which look good enough to reach out of the screen. A very pleasing video presentation.
The audio department is more complicated, though no less impressive. The Italian and English language dubs are different enough that they warrant inspection. The Italian dub has the background score and music tracks much higher in the mix than the English dub. This has the effect of heightening the tension and making the film feel as though it is paced even tighter than it actually is. The English dub focuses more on the dialogue, which pushes the music into the background. My initial thought was that perhaps the Italian track is just louder overall, but on closer inspection, the dialogue is mixed at the same level on each, which means that the music was intentionally given a bump on the Italian track back in 1985. There are also a couple of different music tracks on the different dubs, something I didn't expect to hear! For a film that relies so heavily on music for its atmosphere, Arrow Video did a marvelous job with the sound, and both audio tracks are huge and sound great!
Oddly, while there are several video based extras on the discs, not all of them deal directly with Demons. The first is another in the continuing series of Dario Argento interviews that Arrow and High Rising have featured on all of their Argento discs. Another Demons extra shows Claudio Simonetti talking about his score for the film and how important it was to the feel of Demons. I'm not usually a big fan of these guys tooting their own horns, but in this case, he's right. Without Simonetti's score, Demons is another, probably inferior, film altogether. The last extra focused on Demons specifically is an interview with Sergio Stivaletti, who is happy to talk about his time on the production, which was great and provided some classic creature get-ups and gore gags. There are also a couple of pieces with Luigi Cozzi, who loves talking about horror in general and Argento related films specifically. Lastly, each disc features audio recollections of the film, moderated by High Rising. These aren't so much running commentaries as extended interviews. The participants are listed below, I was less engaged by these than I could have been, but for the right fan they are gold.
The finished product also features a booklet with writing from Calum Wadell, but this was not available for review.
If you were worried about the Blu-ray presentation of Demons, consider your fears debunked. Arrow Video have postponed and postponed this release hoping to get it just right, and this time they've succeeded. This is the best image quality from them on an Italian film in a LONG time, and I am thoroughly satisfied. Highly recommended!
Be aware that Arrow Video's Blu-ray presentation of Demons is, as reported, locked to Region B