LET’S GET PHYSICAL: DEMONS (1985) ****

FORMAT:  4K UHD

(Note:  Demons is one of my favorite Italian horror movies of all time.  I’m actually a little stunned to learn I haven’t reviewed it before.  Because of that, I will dispense with the usual “Quick Thoughts” portion of the Let’s Get Physical reviews that I normally do and just review it straight up. I’ll still include the typical “4K UHD Notes” at the end of the review though.)

Lamberto Bava got his start assisting his old man Mario Bava, the king of Italian horror.  If you’ve got to learn from someone, learn from the best.  He made his bones directing solid horror flicks like Macabre and A Blade in the Dark, but he really took things to the next level with Demons.  Working alongside producer and co-writer Dario Argento (whose influence is definitely felt, although this is mostly a Bava jam), Bava was clearly influenced from American horror films like Evil Dead, but he still managed to up the ante considerably.  The result is not only one of the best Italian horror flicks of the ‘80s, but of all time. 

College student Cheryl (Natasha Hovey) is invited to a movie premiere by a creepy dude in a metal mask (future director Michele Soavi).  She and a bunch of other folk head on over to an old movie house to see the film, which turns out to be a horror movie.  Before long, the terror spills off the screen and into the audience as patrons turn into razor-toothed demons.  It’s then up to Cheryl and a dude named George (Urbano Barberini from Outlaw) to survive the night. 

The ooey gooey special effects are a lot of fun.  The demon transformations are essentially a cross between traditional zombies and the Deadites in the Evil Dead.  The rubbery special effects are a hoot too and the air bladder induced bile spewing infected bite marks are a real thing of beauty.  The gore is equally great, and includes throat ripping, eye gouging, and scalping.  

Bava does such a good job at ratcheting up the tension and springing the monsters loose on the audience that it always felt disheartening when he switches gears mid-movie to a bunch of punks outside the theater who are driving around town and listening to Billy idol.  This threatens to take the wind out of the movie’s sails and diminishes the suspense and feeling of claustrophobia he’s built up.  (I did like that they snort coke from out of a Coke can though.)  That in no way ruins the overall fun of the film, but it does interrupt its flow a little bit. 

Luckily, once the punks sneak into the theater, the carnage is truly inspired.  The absolutely apocalyptic ending is really something too and I dug Barberini’s transformation from clueless dolt to motorcycle-riding, samurai sword-wielding, grappling gun-shooting hero.  (You’ve heard of Chekov’s gun?  This movie has Bava’s motorcycle!  Any motorcycle introduced in the first act must be driven around a movie theater and used to kill demons in the third.)  Also, the iconic score by Claudio Simonetti from Goblin is truly one of his best and gives Goblin’s score from Suspiria a run for its money. 

4K UHD NOTES:

The 4K restoration by Synapse is a nice blend of preserving the way it looked in the ‘80s while making the resolution and picture quality sharper than ever.  The colors are nice and rich, and the nighttime and darker scenes look great.  The special effects look particularly icky and the various transformation scenes look a bit rubberier now thanks to the high resolution.  That in no way takes away from their awesomeness.  The money shot where the demons, eyes all aglow, emerge from the theater pit, looks especially top notch in 4K.  The disc also includes three versions of the film, the original Italian, an international English version, and the American theatrical cut.  The commentaries (especially the one by Kat Ellinger and Heather Drain) are worth checking out as well.