In a cinema lobby a woman is scratched by a mask on display and later becomes a demon. A group of film goers become trapped inside the picture house and try to evade becoming demons themselves.
Produced by Dario Argento, it suffers from the usual bad dubbing and choppy editing. That said, director Lamberto Bava and team serve up some great practical special effects (thankfully made in 1985 predating CGI) the lighting is excellent for the most part creating a creepy atmosphere.
Dardano Sacchetti's story, the film within a film and four punks breaking in breakup the linear storyline, it ooze 80s atmosphere and has a great soundtrack featuring many bands of the day. There's also an effective fitting score by Claudio Simonetti which adds to the surreal quality. The acting is a mixed bag, leads Natasha Hovey as Cheryl and Paola Cozzo as Kathy are effective but they get very little to do. Urbano Barberini is modelled on Evil Dead's (1981) character Ash in the later half. Both Nicoletta Elmi and an unknown Emanuela Zicosky as June leave an impression.
Although dated the nihilistic ending and the gooey special effects and set ups give Demons that lasting appeal. It still has all the faults as it did on its original release but is still worth checking out as much of it holds up today.
Demons on IMDB
