Rating: 
Summary: It's not art, but I like it
Review: I really don't know how someone can criticize these films, what exactly were you expecting? This isn't Citizen Kane here, it's Demons. These are films about monsters running amuck and slicing people into potato salad. Abandon any kind of expectations for these films and go with it. As you know, Demons has people trapped in a movie theater with creepy, taloned, fanged, greenish creatures. There is absolutely no explanation given for this event. You never discover who made this film(the film playing in the theater), who's showing it, why they're showing it, how the entrances get blocked off, how the mask ends up in the lobby, etc. But who cares anyway? There are tons of things that don't make sense-people turn into Demons without actually getting scratched, a mini-Demon hops out of somebody. None of these things make sense, but the movie's fun to watch either way.
Demons 2 is basically a remake, but the setting is now switched to an apartment complex. Everyone seems to be watching this film about the events of the first Demons film. This film seems to be a documentary, then it seems to be an actual movie, then the events seem to actually be taking place in the real world in some other location. There is no camera crew with the people in the "documentary", and Bava films their little adventure as though it's actually happening-But it's supposed to be being viewed by the people in the apartment!! And how does a Demons come through a tv screen for no reason? Personally, I love these weird unexplained moments because it gives the movie(s) more of a nightmare/fantasy element. These films seemed much scarier to me when I was a kid(I didn't understand the concept of bad dubbing, acting, writing, etc. I was just creeped out by the Demons), but I still love them. I've always been intrigued by the Romero-ish situation of being stuck inside a building, fighting for your life against horrible creatures. The difference between these and Romero's films is that the threat isn't waiting outside, it's trapped in there with you! I think that's why I like these so much. So, try giving the Demons films a whirl around midnight or so, it's fun.
Rating:
Summary: It's not art, but I like it
Review: I really don't know how someone can criticize these films, what exactly were you expecting? This isn't Citizen Kane here, it's Demons. These are films about monsters running amuck and slicing people into potato salad. Abandon any kind of expectations for these films and go with it. As you know, Demons has people trapped in a movie theater with creepy, taloned, fanged, greenish creatures. There is absolutely no explanation given for this event. You never discover who made this film(the film playing in the theater), who's showing it, why they're showing it, how the entrances get blocked off, how the mask ends up in the lobby, etc. But who cares anyway? There are tons of things that don't make sense-people turn into Demons without actually getting scratched, a mini-Demon hops out of somebody. None of these things make sense, but the movie's fun to watch either way.
Demons 2 is basically a remake, but the setting is now switched to an apartment complex. Everyone seems to be watching this film about the events of the first Demons film. This film seems to be a documentary, then it seems to be an actual movie, then the events seem to actually be taking place in the real world in some other location. There is no camera crew with the people in the "documentary", and Bava films their little adventure as though it's actually happening-But it's supposed to be being viewed by the people in the apartment!! And how does a Demons come through a tv screen for no reason? Personally, I love these weird unexplained moments because it gives the movie(s) more of a nightmare/fantasy element. These films seemed much scarier to me when I was a kid(I didn't understand the concept of bad dubbing, acting, writing, etc. I was just creeped out by the Demons), but I still love them. I've always been intrigued by the Romero-ish situation of being stuck inside a building, fighting for your life against horrible creatures. The difference between these and Romero's films is that the threat isn't waiting outside, it's trapped in there with you! I think that's why I like these so much. So, try giving the Demons films a whirl around midnight or so, it's fun.
Rating:
Summary: damn good stuff!
Review: i saw demons for the first time at my dads house, he bought it an said we couldnt watch it untill halloween, he always has a theme for movies, zombies, werwolves, and this year demons. demons and the movie demon knight (check it out!) he said it was simmler to return of the living dead (my fav movie) and i thought "it cant be that good...". it was halloween night, about midnight, and i was glued to the tube, i thought "move over rotld, theres somebody to take your place" i liked it so much, i wanted to buy it reeeealy bad, and last christmas, i got demons\demons 2 as a present, and i liked demons 2 just as much as i liked the original, it was great! i just bought demons 3 from..., i order most dvds here, but demons 3 just wasnt released in the us, it has nothing to do with demons 1 and 2, but it is a sequal, and has to kind of do with it, there is a big ogre, who.... i wont give it away, just buy this dvd! it is well worth the 40 bucks! it is scary, gory fun! great to watch at night! and after that order the other demons sequals from midnight video... and buy this dvd here!
Rating:
Summary: Awesome Suspense, then Intense Killing and Blood
Review: I watched Demons when I was 14, and until today I never forgot this awesome Zombie movie. If you're expecting slow-moving Zombies eating away human flesh in a mall, then expect more - because the demons are fast, and they tear away flesh like you've never seen before. What really drew me to this movie was the suspense created initially when the characters watch a movie in a really creepy theatre, and the parallel plot that runs in the fictionous movie soon becomes real - but too late, everyone is trapped in the theatre, and they have to find a way out before they become demons themselves. Forget about Demons 2, the original is still the best.
Rating:
Summary: Like Father, Like Son
Review: I'll keep this one really simple and make it easy for you.This is a good movie. Just like his daddy Mario Bava,Lamberto Bava knows how to move an audience.He knows what scares you,he knows what horror fans expect from the Italian horror genre.OK enough said.
Rating: 
Summary: Great gore and imagery, so-so movies
Review: I'm reviewing Demons and Demons 2 (aka Demoni and Demoni 2) together because they are very similar movies made a year apart by mostly the same people. They were written by legendary director and writer Dario Argento along with Lamberto Bava, the son of the late, great director Mario Bava. Dario also produced both movies and Lamberto directed both movies. They were both filmed in Italy and made to look like an American city. They were both filmed in English with decent dubbing for the most part. They both very much celebrate the 80's both in music and fashion. And they are both very gory with lots of blood, and splatter. Demons starts out with a strange man with a partial mask made out of metal riding around on roller skates passing out invitations to a horror movie at the reopening of some old theater. At the start of the movie the theater is about half full and the story on the screen is about teenagers who discover some old graveyard and a mask that turns one of them into zombies which starts the whole "If you get bitten by a zombie you turn into a zombie" thing. A girl attending the movie with a friend and their bald headed pimpish/he-man/studley-man type date is in the lobby and tries on a mask that is part of a lobby promotional prop for the film. She gets pricked by something sharp in the mask and it draws a little blood. After they sit down she notices some blood on her cheek and goes to the bathroom to clean up. In the bathroom she changes into a zombie and this starts the whole chain. After awhile there are zombies running around everywhere and the non-zombies left in the theater are trapped because the doors are inexplicably chained shut. Since there is no escape they have to resort to fighting and of course it is just a matter of time before they are slowly picked off. At one point towards the end some zombies make it outside and while we don't see it, a whole apocalypse type zombie movement starts in the city. The few characters that make it out of the theater alive get in a jeep and are headed for the hills away from the zombies. In Demons 2, the setting is in a high rise apartment building and instead of the zombie movie being shown on a screen, it is being shown on the television. There are several different character plots occurring at the same time with the common theme that they all have a zombie movie playing on the TV. Somehow a demon comes out of the TV and starts to wreak havoc. Once again, before too long, the non-zombie people are grouped together and fighting for their lives. Asia Argento makes her first movie appearance in Demons 2 as a little girl fascinated by the zombie movie. This film does branch out a little bit from the first in that the demons have taken over a TV studio and are somehow transmitting their zombieness over the airwaves. Hey, it could happen! There was a little more money for Demons 2 and it shows in the makeup. While the first movie was a little more disgusting, this one has slightly better effects. One of the funnest parts (or most painful depending on viewpoint) is the 80's music and styles in both films. Dead Can Dance, Billy Idol, Motley Crue, Rick Springfield and other make the soundtrack seem like a Time/Life 80's disk. The bright pastels and skinny ties worn by the actors also give it a very 80's look. You can buy the movies separately or as part of the Anchor Bay's 2 disk set "Dario Argento Collection 2: Demons / Demons 2". This is the copy I owned (but sold on ebay) and has a commentary by director Dario Argento, special effects make-up effects artist Sergio Stivaletti, music composer Claudio Simonetti and journalist Loris Curci. There is also a behind the scenes segment and trailers. Both films are displayed in 1.66:1 and look and sound great.
Rating:
Summary: Because of that scratch she beacame a Demon!
Review: I've had both the Demons films on vhs for years, my mates and i used to watch 'em all the time, they are just pure cult classics and dvd really does them both justice i was especially impressed with the first demons on dvd it looks and sounds great the gore scenes are a little longer in places too which is a treat and lambertos commentary is quite amusing too, yeah Natasha Hovey is a babe and Bobby Rhodes is a baddass !!
Rating:
Summary: Bone-crunching, spleen eating horror!
Review: Italian horror maestro Dario Argento and Lamberto Bava joined forces to produce two of the goriest, most merciless, most stylish, and arguably the best zombie films ever made: for my money, Demons and Demons2 are nectar of the Gods for gorehounds and horror movie fanatics. Plot, character development, and pacing all take a backseat to the most important element of any zombie movie: brain-eating, bone-crunching, viscera-devouring goodness. Both of the Demons movies deliver the goods in spades, and have the additional virtue of gorgeous and crisp cinematography, eerie and stylish lighting, and the highest splatter-to-running-time ratio of any horror movie ever made, with the possible exception of Peter Jackson's Dead/Alive. Best of all, the "Demons" movies are utterly merciless: all of the more benevolent horror movie conventions are gleefully abandoned. See dewey-eyed adorable little children get mutated into flesh-devouring demons! See one of the little demon children explode as it gives 'birth' to a yowling, screaming little imp! See a fluffy, loyal family dog growl and bark at a pool of demon blood, only to be transformed into an insane and hungry monster, its snout rolling back up over its eyeballs as a new set of green 'eyes' grow out of its nose! See a blind man get his eyes gouged out even as he begs for the demon to stop! In short, both movies are sheer horror genius, a 7-course feast (with some nice 1987 Chateau LaTour thrown in) for the discriminating gorehound. It simply doesn't get any better than this, folks, and best of all, you can watch Demons/Demons2 again and again and never get tired of it. Can you honestly say that about "Night of the Living Dead"? But let's dispense, quickly, with the plot: there is none. Alright, I'm being a little glib: there is a plot, but don't expect either film to stick to it. Demons takes place in the Metropol, a haunted (but mysteriously refurbished) Berlin movie theater; patrons gather for a free screening of a new horror movie (about teenagers exploring an ancient cathedral who awaken---you guessed it---demons). One of the moviegoers, Rosemary the prostitute, scratches her cheek on a demonic mask in the lobby; the wound becomes infected (oh boy does it ever!) and begins to bubble and ache. Rosemary excuses herself, and goes to the bathroom to tend to her now throbbing, pulsating cheek wound, and, after a deliciously gory transformation scene (in which gobbets of flesh, buckets of blood, and waterfalls of pus fly everywhere) becomes a demon. Rosemary gets out and starts clawing and biting other patrons; people turn into demons; things get out of hand; and after a while Berlin has considerably more to worry about than the Soviets. The second movie offers more of the same, this time in a Berlin apartment building. Both films also inexplicably feature a subplot about a carload of ill-tempered punk rockers who spend roughly 75% of the film driving aimlessly around Berlin listening to new wave ditties, but don't worry---they get theirs. Both movies feature the aforementioned gobs of gore, stunning demon transformation scenes, and hip eighties soundtracks (featuring Motley Crue, Billy Idol, Dead Can Dance and The Cult). You get to see Berlin in all its old Cold War glory. And best of all, you have the sheer delight of two of the most shockingly gory zombie flicks ever put to film on a sleek, gorgeous DVD transfer! Some have complained the acting in the film is atrocious, but what do you expect from a film which was originally shot in German and Italian, and then dubbed over into English---and not using good, expressive English voices, but folks who sound like their acting skills are sub-porno, at best. Look, you can't have it all---and anyway, you get the winsome Fiore Argento in Demons and the tasty and plummish Asia Argento in Demons2 (Dario's daughters). Something this enjoyable shouldn't be legal, so take advantage of Demons/Demons2 while you can.
Rating:
Summary: Bava's Terror in the Aisles
Review: Lamberto Bava's "Demons" (and its slightly inferior sequel)makes little sense, but for a non-stop edge-of the seat roller coaster bloodbath it had few competitors in the mid-1980s. Even The Evil Dead paused now and again between the dismemberings. Bava tries to set the scene for the first twenty minutes, then abandons all sense of logic to ensure you stay on the edge of your seat with 70 minutes of superbly edited mayhem helped immensely by Sergio Stivaletti's slimy special effects and Claudio Simonetti's eerie, gurgling, pounding synthesisers. This is an example of Italian horror cinema at it's most frenzied, confusing, laughable, exhilarating, loud, intense, stylish and horrific. It does nothing by halves and takes no prisoners, laughing in the face of serious criticism just before tearing the eyes out of that face and transforming it into a green foam-drooling unstoppable killing machine. This is a good thing. Five stars. No question.
Rating:
Summary: They will make cemeteries their cathedrals and DVD a home
Review: Personally, I've been very impressed with the Dario Argento Collections and have gone out of my way to pick them all up. Normally I wouldn't go for the combination packaging because I fear lower quality discs and an overall cheapening of the packaging, but these releases have been an exception to that rule. Anchor Bay has done a great job giving you a nice case and inserts depicting the original release art. Besides, I honestly love these two movies and was glad to see them combined into one very effective combo, allowing me to watch both Demons and its predecessor back to back. Now, I have something to play when my friends are around and we want to see some gore with our possession and still have a little bit of fun in the "somewhere in-between." Having Argento and Bava at my fingertips is a wonderful thing, indeed. To the movies:
Demons is a tale of some poor, unfortunate souls that thought accepting free screening passes to the movies was a good idea. The characters, a hodgepodge of people simply waiting in line for a wonderful, high bodycount gorefest, seem to change their minds, however, when things begin to go awry in the most horrible of fashions. While in line, a "lady of the night" waiting to watch the movie picks up a mask that looks very much like the face of a demon and puts it on. In the process of removing it, she finds herself scratched on the cheek. Well, when the movie they are watching shows a scene with one of its characters also experiencing this same mask/scratching effect, the beautiful wonderland of possession shows itself in all its graphic wonder.
The demons in the story looks good, the effects are nicely done, and the setting is completely off-balancing. Its a five star plus.
Demons 2 isn't as serious about its horror as the last movie, as the review on the back of the packaging implies. To quote it, "The nightmare returns when the residents of an apartment complex must battle an onslaught of crazed zombies." Now, while I don't call getting possessed becoming a Zombie, I do call this a great movie that still has gore, a more humorous approach than the first, and is still close to a five star piece for anyone who likes sequels. There are droves of people to feed to the dying machine, and the hopelessness the first movie captured is still there, possessing those unfortunate enough to cross its path. As the movie said, "They will make cemeteries their cathedrals and the cities their tombs!" Now if that doesn't say cute and cuddly, what does?
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