Protraph Lack of good storyline.

Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Foreverisacastironmess Warts and all, I have great fondness for this insane '80s splatterfest about demons running amok in a movie theatre, and I think a lot of its appeal is due to the setting, and the stylish gothic cinema where all the violent action takes place in this has a lot of cool retro visual flair to it, and it made for an inspired arena for horror once the fun really begins! I love the way it plays up to the movie-within-a-movie theme, I think it's done a lot more cleverly than the movie is given credit for, most of all in the excellent early sequence where the girl is screaming her head off behind the cinema curtain as the camera pans back and forth between her and the shocked audience, and the screaming character in the movie that they were watching! That tense hectic scene was brilliantly put together and was probably the most memorable one in the movie. This picture and its lesser but still fun sequel have a trashy, campy vibe which is something you can't really miss, but I wonder how much of that is down to the monstrous voice-dubbing job that made everyone sound like complete idiots, it's probably a quite different viewing experience in its original language.. For how over the top and cheesy a lot of it is, to me there's also something genuinely nightmarish in its atmosphere that gets to me a little, although none of them look quite as terrifying as Rosemary, the vicious crazed demons and all the frantic terror they bring is scary and the flick does have some genuine frights in its favor amid all the cheese. One of my favourite scenes is when the guy and his girlfriend are crawling through the spooky vent and they can hear the claws of a demon somewhere close by scraping against the metal but they can't tell where until it's suddenly revealed that it's actually his girlfriend who's been infected and has transformed right in front of him! it's a very eerie and effective little scene. Once the demonic chaos is really unleashed it all feels pretty hopeless and the patrons are completely doomed...unless of course there happens to be a spare katana and a working motorcycle handy! The famous motorbike demon slaughtering scene alone gives the rest of the movie a free pass, it's one of the most draw-dropping what-the-heck-am-I-watching sequences to be found in all of '80 horror and is both epically ridiculous and ridiculously epic!!! Effects-wise I love what they did with the mysterious and creepily alluring man who works as the herald of the demons and hands out the free cinema tickets of certain doom! His design is very striking, the metallic chrome half of his face looks like something that's grafted into his flesh rather than appearing like something that's just stuck on him, he looks amazing. And out of all the many and varied poor unfortunates who meet their demise down at the Metropol, my favourite is the big bald and black 70s disco pimp complete with hookers, he's so hilarious and entertaining to watch in action, and I really think they missed out by not having him be the film's main hero! The only thing I really do dislike is the everything with the completely unnecessary grimy gang of no good crackhead street punks who unwittingly let loose the plague of the demons upon the rest of the world in what must have been one very rapid apocalypse! A lot of the Italian dubbed horror flicks of yesteryear like most giallos that I've ever seen are so trippy and vague that they're kinda beyond me, but there ain't nothing deep about Demons, as a movie it demands nothing more from its audience other than that they hopefully have a fun macabre blast with it, and for me it's always worked just fine on that level. So while it isn't perfect by any means it is consistently entertaining, a little scary at points, and just so much fun that is earns itself a special place in my heart. Gotta love Demons, it's a classic x.

skybrick736 Great Italian horror doesn't have always have to be a slow-burning giallo, which relies on storytelling and drawing out scenes to build the film's intensity. No, proof of that is Exhibit A, the film Demons. Lamberto Bava's Demons is one of the corkiest but thrilling movies to watch out there. The film is chock full with gore, which looks truly disgusting on screen. The most remarkable aspect of the film is the demons' makeup effects that are painfully ugly to look at, and pretty frightening too. There is also a good line up of characters all having your traditional silly one-liners in a film that has no ambition to take itself seriously. Highly recommend this high-octane action, demon fest to anyone that is looking for a fun, gross flick.

Giallo Fanatic I first time saw this movie when I was a teenager and honestly, I liked it. But at that time I had no idea of how original this movie is. It's not zombies, it's not witches, it's not aliens, it's not superhuman killers but demons. Demons with a mysterious origin that is as obscure as how absurd this movie is. There are many things I really like about this movie, the special-effects, the gore, the absurdity, the irony, the coal black humor, the music and the atmosphere. Firstly, it has an absurd story. Almost as if psychotic, people gather inside a cinema to watch a movie because they got invited. Among them, a black woman, cuts herself with a creepy and mysterious mask. Unknowing to her and the people around her the mask turns humans into murdering demons. When her transformation completed, it didn't take long before there are a lot demons loose in the cinema. The people can't escape because the exits were walled with concrete, with no logical explanation. That is absurd, but the story isn't the most important here, it is mostly a special-effects movie. With the demons, comes along a fest of practical special-effects, violence and gore. Secondly, the special-effects are still impressive, also disgusting and that's the reason why practical special-effects are still better than CGI.We see normal, human teeth coming off, replaced by what appears to be more like shark teeth. We also see human nails replaced with claws, flesh being torn and lots of blood. All done with practical special-effects. The special-effects seemed quite demanding and hard to execute, but it went so well I still find them convincing to this day. Thinking about it gives me a little nausea. But amid-st the gore, violence and absurdity of all, the movie has sense of humor and irony. For example, the people trapped inside the cinema blames the movie for what is happening. Yes that is illogical (and funny) but it has a strong reflection on reality, with censors and people often blaming movies for promoting violence and making people violent. That is absurd. More of the humor bits is the blind man who went to the cinema, oh the irony! How about the coke inside the Coca Cola can? Hilarious! The music is quite exotic, adding to the absurdity of the movie. Also the atmosphere, the atmosphere is so absurd the movie feels more like a nightmare. It is almost like a comic book. Which I like a lot. I love movies with atmosphere. Like I wrote earlier, this is quite original. Unlike most movies you'll see today or of yesterday. I didn't realize that as a teenager but now I do. I actually like it more than I did as a teenager. This movie is pure cult movie gold. 9/10

Mr_Ectoplasma A group of various people wind up at an apparently newly renovated movie theater in West Berlin in the 1980s for a movie premiere— a horror film, apparently. There are strange metallic demon masks in the lobby. Promotional material, perhaps? As the film starts, the screams on screen become a reality, as it seems that audience members are becoming possessed by demons one-by-one. Even more unfortunate is the fact that someone has sealed all potential exits.It took me years to get around to seeing this film, though I've heard it lauded for years. While there are certainly better genre films out there, "Demons" is a solid and incessantly entertaining zombie flick. Backed by a script co-written by maestro Dario Argento and with fluid direction from Lamberto Bava, there is a hell of a lot of fun to be had here; think, "Evil Dead" in a movie theater, except with a killer '80s soundtrack. There are some remarkable special effects on display, which may be a highlight for many people. The pace is rather quick and there are few dull moments, although there is a nice establishment of atmosphere in the old-fashioned cinema house that becomes increasingly claustrophobic once our characters realize they've been walled in. Aesthetically, the film is quite dated, and shows its eighties colors rather extravagantly (Euro punks in leather jackets driving around to Billy Idol), but if you can appreciate the extravagance of the period, you can definitely appreciate the extravagance of the bloody disaster of an auditorium that you get here. At the end of the day, this is simply a fun film, and one that cinephiles will especially appreciate given the self-reflexive cinema overtones. Eighties kitsch does not a bad film make. 8/10.