Demons 2 Review

You'd have to be downright stupid to go into any 80's horror flick with some sort of expectations. Very rarely are they even remotely scary, they often use mood killing rock and synthesized soundtracks, and the characters always make the most idiotic decisions in the process of fleeing from whatever evil force is after them. Demons 2 is one of my favorite examples. The movie was made in Italy in 1986, so you might expect it to be somewhat different from an American horror film. In reality, it's not much different from any others I've seen. In fact, it feels like the film makers went to great lengths to make it appeal more the American audiences.

If you mute your television, you can clearly see that the characters are speaking English. I suppose the actors all spoke with some sort of accent though because they've all had their voices dubbed over. This leads to just about all of the voices being ill-fitting for their characters. Some of the voices over-exaggerate their emotions, some give no emotion, and others are just completely out of sync with the actor's facial movements. Good luck watching any scene involving the security guard without laughing.

I should also note one bizarre scene in which the main character George is seen reading a German physics book. Somehow, the movie was made in Italy. It was later Americanized. Yet for some reason, the characters are reading German books. It's not particularly important. It's just weird.

In fact, the movie is filled with moments that just seem strange. For instance, seemingly everyone is watching the same documentary about Demons on television. At the same time apparently, the events in the documentary are happening as everyone watches it. Even weirder, when the movie shifts the perspective to the teens in the documentary there's not a camera to be found. One other strange moment is when a man brings a prostitute up into his apartment and the first thing he says is "Do you mind if I leave the T.V. on?". And of course he's watching, you guessed it, the demon documentary.

The beginning of the movie focuses on the birthday party of a girl named Sally. When her brother/friend/who gives a shit tells her that her ex-boyfriend Jacob is on his way over to the party she throws a fit and tells him to wait outside for Jacob. Sally then storms off into her room to cry because nothing ruins a birthday like someone wanting to visit. In her room, Sally watches the same demon documentary everyone else in the apartment building is watching, but somehow the demon in the documentary enters Sally's room through her television set. Naturally Sally's reaction to seeing the demon crawl out of the T.V. is to sit there screaming. The demon attacks Sally, Sally becomes a demon, and so begins the main conflict in the movie.

The rest of the movie is the residents of the apartment building ineptly trying to survive the spreading demonic epidemic. One of the groups of residents is a group of bodybuilders led by a guy named Hank. Despite not being the smartest characters in the movie they do an admirable job of fighting off the demons.

Hank and his cohorts are one of the biggest sources of comedy throughout the film. One of his best scenes is when he and another bodybuilder are trying to break down the front door of the building to escape. To get through the door he repeatedly smacks the door with a pipe while the other bodybuilder throws free weights at it. Somehow after realizing the pole and weights aren't enough, Hank comes to the conclusion that a potted plant will do the trick. He shouts "Everyone stand back!" and proceeds to throw it at the door and, unsurprisingly, it has no effect. Interestingly, it's never explicitly mentioned that the doors are locked, and Hank never actually tries to open it normally. As the demons begin to break into the lobby, one of the bodybuilders knocks another potted plant over in an effort to slow them down. Yes, the use of potted plants to stall the demons as opposed to anything that's actually useful is a recurring theme in the movie.

While the entire second half of the movie mainly focuses on George the physics student and his pregnant girlfriend, an entire sub-plot unfolds involving Jacob the ex-boyfriend and the parents of a little boy who just so happens to be the most intelligent character in the movie. As Jacob makes his way to Sally's party, his new girlfriend criticizes his driving. Fear not though because Jacob makes sure to remind us that he's never been in an accident in every scene he appears in.

Meanwhile, the parents of a young boy who is home in the apartment building begin to worry when their son doesn't pick up the phone. They decide to hurry home from their trip to... wherever the hell they were and see if he's alright. As Jacob and friends near the apartment building so do the parents and, as if Jacob was just asking for it, he swerves into their car. Sally's friend who was waiting for Jacob then calls an ambulance which arrives in mere seconds. Jacob and the parents aren't heard from at all after this, making their presence in the movie completely pointless.

The only scenes that are even remotely scary are the ones where all you can hear are the sounds. The entire movie is accompanied by a soundtrack composed mainly of synthesizers, guitars, and drums. I'll admit, the music really isn't bad, but it kills the movie's horror vibe every time you hear it. It makes the movie seem more like a low-budget action movie like The Toxic Avenger, which is somewhat fitting since by the end George has transformed into a retarded Rambo wannabe.

The effects and makeup aren't exactly spectacular either. The demons essentially look like zombies, except they have sharp teeth, and long fingernails (and can apparently turn people into demons simply by pulling their hair). Some of the effects just appear out of nowhere. In one scene, George and the prostitute watch the security guard get killed as he falls down in front of them. The camera zooms in on his face which only appears to have gotten some blood on it. The camera then pans away for about three seconds, then pans back, and he now has a huge gaping gash covering the entire right side of his face.

You may be thinking "Wow, way to give away all of the good scenes.", but really the ones I've mentioned are only a few out of an entire movie filled with bad dialogue, stupid characters, and bad special effects. As far as horror movies go, Demons 2 is pretty bad. Yet, it's still entertaining. You could say it's fun to watch for all the wrong reasons because it never accomplishes what it set out to do. Ultimately, this is one of those movies that you and your friends should watch together so you can all laugh at how bad it is.