Lamberto Bava

(In French, On Cable TV, April 2020) If you haven’t seen the first Dèmoni, don’t worry too much if Dèmoni 2… l’incubo ritorna plays in front of you—the links between the two films are built on atmosphere and plot more than characters or events leading to the sequel. Once again, we are in an enclosed space, as something transforms people into bloodthirsty demons (i.e.: zombies). Except that, rather than being in an old movie theatre, we’re in a big modern high-rise apartment, and instead of a film creating the zombies, it’s a TV broadcast. Also written by Dario Argento and directed by Lamberto Bava, the rest of Demons 2 plays along similar lines: people trying (usually unsuccessfully) to defend themselves, gore effects, shiny-eyed demons, and the like. There is some playfulness in the way some expectations from the first film are overturned, so if you’ve got a mind to talk yourself into a double-bill, that will make it even better. Otherwise, this sequel, which was rushed into production to make it to theatres almost exactly a year after the original, doesn’t benefit from any substantial improvements in budget, scripting or execution: it’s pretty much the same thing with more demons and more people to kill. Great 1980s elements, though. Its too-scattered approach is good for showcasing gory effects and bloody kills, but not so much for plotting or character development. Still, while not quite as fun or focused or enjoyable as the first time around, Dèmoni 2… l’incubo ritorna is clearly in the same vein, and more enjoyable than other giallo or cannibal Italian horror films of the early 1980s.

(In French, On Cable TV, April 2020) I’m game for any movie talking about movies, even if it’s a schlocky Italian horror movie about unsuspecting patrons being stuck in a movie theatre as they’re changed into demons. Yep, that’s Dèmoni all right—co-scripted by Dario Argento in full supernatural demon fan mode and directed by his protégé Lamberto Bava. The story isn’t complicated: It’s about a bunch of people invited to watch a movie about demons, then dying, one by one, to real demons. Their troubles don’t end once they’re outside the theatre, but that’s a classic horror slingshot coda. Before we get there, however, this hardcore horror film has plenty of black-comedy fun to offer: it doesn’t quite attain its fullest potential, but it’s gory and wild and crazy and nonsensical and subservient to the rule-of-cool and somewhat still unlike most horror movies out there, so that’s a plus. The cultural references are all very mid-1980s too. The lineage between Dèmoni and Argento’s more traditional giallo is obvious, but the result remains a capable mid-1980s horror film, and one of the few Italian horror movies of the decade that I can stomach without too many qualms.