This is Matt comin’ back at ya with another Must-See-DVD review. The film of choice this time is Lamberto Bava’s Demons and boy is it sweet. Demons, produced by Dario Argento, is my all-time favorite Italian horror movie. This film contains all the necessary elements for a classic 80’s horror movie: ensemble characters, heavy metal, blood by the bucket and breasts (although the lone breast-shot is very unattractive).

A number of people have been invited to a movie premier by a strange man with a metal mask. This zombie-STYLE movie also includes Giallo slasher elements through the film the crowd views. I’m not sure but I assume what is viewed on the screen was made for this movie. A woman puts on a strange mask which scratches her face. Soon after, the woman is running to the washroom where she mutates into a demon. Terror ensues.

The characters are part of what makes this movie classic. Included are lovers (the male and female protagonists), a pimp with his women, a blind man with his niece, a dirty old man who pursues the young niece and a bunch of cocaine-snorting, Billy Idol loving punk teens. Until he becomes a Demon, the pimp is the leader of the pack as he orders people around. This guy is so badass that when someone tells him not to dispense of a dead body over a railing he delivers the line “Aw man, you aint worth shiiiit!”, he’s obviously seen a zombie film or two and knows what to do.

The gore in this film is very cheesy but gratuitous enough that you laugh every time. Another trope of Italian horror films is the gory close-up shot. Anytime someone is sliced open, their eyes are ripped out or their fingernails and teeth pop-out during transformation you can bet that the camera is in nice and tight…..you can almost taste the fake blood and polyurethane. And what Italian horror would be complete without what I like to call a G.E.T. sequence. What is G.E.T. you ask? Well if you’ve seen Lucio Fulci’s famous film Zombie you’ll remember the cringe-inducing scene in which a woman’s eye is pierced by a splinter of wood (complemented by a close-up shot of course); another example of a Gratuitous Eye Trauma sequence (always fun to watch!). In Demons, the victim is the creepy guy who was handing out movie tickets at the beginning of the film and the wood splinter is replaced by a metal rod.

Now I would like to take a moment and describe to you what may be the most bitchin’ scene in cinematic history. If this doesn’t peak your interest in this movie then you cannot call yourself a fan of horror, the 80’s or anything awesome (just kidding). Near the end of the film most of the people have died or become demons. The two lovers are fleeing from a horde when they come across a display featuring a dirt bike and…….wait for it…….a samurai sword! The two hop on the bike a ride around the theater slicing and dicing to the heavy metal track Fast as a Shark by Accept. What more could you ever want? How about a heap of other great songs to make the Demons soundtrack second-to-none. Bands included are Billy Idol, Accept, Motley Crue, Saxon and Scorpions.

Have you seen this movie? Will you see this movie? Tell me what you think……………

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