So, my friend has been lying to me for over a decade about seeing "Demons" when they actually saw "Night of the Demons" (I know, I made them watch that too) and I finally sat them down to watch it in full last weekend.
"Demons" (1985)
Demons: Directed by Lamberto Bava. With Urbano Barberini, Natasha Hovey, Karl Zinny, Fiore Argento. A group of random people is invited to a screening of a mysterious movie, only to find themselves trapped in the theater with ravenous demons.
www.imdb.com
It's seriously been around 20 years since I last gave it a spin and it's a mixed bag, for sure a classic, but a lot of the practical effects just don't hold up. Also, the jail bait coke skank looked like she was 13 years old, she reminded me of the first HIV virgin victim from the movie "KIDS", and to add insult to injury, her sad tit was the only one flashed in a movie chock full of Italian foxes who oozed sexuality (looking at you big red the ticket taker).
OK, coomer hat off, the real villain in this movie is not the demons, but the movie theater itself. I think the environment might only be matched by "The Prince of Darkness" by how slimy, broken down and hopeless the building appears and feels.
The two male Caucasian leads look like Italian Jensen Eckles from Supernatural and a non gay face Ezra Miller (along with the coke punk who scrapes coke crumbs off the sad titty with a razor - they could be brothers). The actress who starred as the initial black hooker demon deserved an Oscar for her performance, why don't we get diversity hires like this in 2022?
This movie also had the "Ominious Fast moving shrieking evil wind" effect in the middle of the movie that was utitilized by the deadites in The Evil Dead, but it seems like they forgot to let us know what it was and never employed the effect again. This did indeed make boomers shit their pants in fright in 1985.
But damn, that location was like a Forgotten Malls of America youtube video, I just don't know if it can be matched. Zoomers who enjoy that endless computer yellow hallway generated "horror" genre might want to check this movie out, it's in the same wheelhouse.
I don't what to see a remake in this current reality, but I like to imagine that in another dimension Zack Snyder did a remake in 2005 right after Dawn of the Dead with Steve Moore (The Guest) scoring the the soundtrack.
Has anyone since this movie had the balls to drop a helicopter into the mix for fun??? Everything is just so formulaic and boring now.