The Demons Saga

 

The Demons saga

From Italy

            The Demons saga is a set of Italian horror films from the 1980s. Identifying which films truly belong in the saga is a little difficult. It was not unusual for films of this era to be marketed under multiple names, often to capitalize on the success of some earlier (but unrelated) successful film (Lucio Fulci’s Zombi and its sequels are a good example of this).  Below are the three films viewed as the “official” films in the franchise.  All three are produced by horror icon Dario Argento.

Demons

1985

Director- Lamberto Bava

Cast- Urbano Barberini, Natasha Hovey, Karl Zinny, Paola Cozzo, Fiore Argento, Geretta Geretta, Michele Soavi, Bobby Rhodes

            Various people are lured by a man in a silver half mask into a movie theatre they’ve never heard of to see a movie that has no name.  The movie shows a man turn into a demon by donning a demon mask. Similar events begin to occur in the real world movie theatre. Demons infect people, turning them into demons while the survivors try to fight them off. Meanwhile there is some side story about a bunch of coked out miscreants cruising the town that also end up in the theatre.

Various other shenanigans ensue involving a dirt bike, a samurai sword, robot movie projectors and a helicopter crashing through the theatre. When the survivors finally emerge, it seems a demon-apocalypse has already spread over the world.

 

            If the premise of this movie seems hard to follow, it is. But not to worry, your confusion will be amply rewarded. The movie seems more interested in exploring certain ideas or specific visual images than in creating a cohesive narrative.  The first 30 minutes of the film is slow and at times will make you wonder if the movie is going anywhere. But not to worry. After the first human gets infected, the theatre turns into the Grand Guignol.

            There is a lot of gore and it looks very good with nice convincing practical effects. The gore isn’t just plentiful; it’s creative, with the victims being torn apart by ravenous demons in various ways.  Maybe the best is a demon being ”born” by crawling out through someone’s back. Another great scene is a human transforming into a demon and their demon teeth grow and push out their human teeth which is a little painful to watch.

 It also has a really good soundtrack, featuring hard rock acts like Motley Crue and Billy Idol. It contributes to the energy of the film which really does take off after its slow start.

Overall, this is an enjoyable film with some good, unique make ups and some original scenes. It has its own identity and the demons don’t really look like monsters from any other franchise, which is probably why it has achieved a cult following. Just don’t ask too many questions.

 

Demons 2

1986

Director- Lamberto Bava

Cast- David Knight, Nancy Brilli, Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni, Dario Casalini, Bobby Rhodes, Asia Argento

            This isn’t so much a sequel as a remake. It follows the same theme; a group of humans are trapped (this time inside an apartment building instead of a theatre) and must fight off the demon horde as people are transformed one by one. It even features the same actor (Bobby Rhodes, but as a different character) as the one rallying the people in their defense. Instead of a movie mirroring what is happening in the real world, this time it’s a TV show. There is even another band of youthful miscreants out on the town, thought this time without the cocaine. The demon apocalypse that ended the first movie is referenced in this film, but it was apparently short lived and society has moved on, little changed by it (talk about denial).

            This sort of pseudo remake is not unique. Evil Dead 2 is essentially a remake of the first film, though in that film the sequel had much better production values and Sam Rami had grown considerably in skill as a director, making the remake worthwhile.  I can’t tell that Lamberto Bava was trying to do anything different in this film and the production values seem about the same, though the make ups seem a little more polished.

 

            So why bother seeing this film? Well despite having essentially the same plot, the gimmicks are different. In the first film, the demon infection was transmitted through the demon’s claws. That is still true in this film, but now the demon blood, which seems to be corrosive ala Alien, also transmits the infection. The humans, when turning into demons, seem to bleed away their old flesh. That blood burns through the floors of the apartment building, infecting other humans. At one point, the friendly family dog laps up some of the infectious goo and turns into a demon dog. A child is infected and after the little brat transforms a silly looking gremlin bursts forth from his stomach and chases a pregnant woman around her apartment (how many movies have the guts to show that!).

            This film also has the distinction of being the big screen debut of eventual horror icon, Asia Argento, who was only 9 at the time.

Fans of the first film will enjoy the second. On the other hand, you can enjoy Demons 2 without ever having seen the original.

 

The Church  (La Chisea, Cathedral of Demons, Demon Cathedral)

1989

Director- Michele Soavi

Cast- Hugh Quarshie, Tomas Arana, Barbara Cupisti, Asia Argento, Giovanni Lombardo Radice, Antonella Vitale,

Story wise, The Church has nothing to do with the previous Demons movies. I guess it is considered a sequel because it’s produced by Argento but also it has some similar themes; people seem to be more infected rather than possessed, usually with a wound, and it also involves people being trapped in a structure (this time a cathedral).

The story begins in the middle ages with a group of Teutonic knights massacring a village and throwing the bodies into a mass grave (students of medieval armor may want to avert their eyes as I’m pretty sure the helmets were just painted flower pots).

A thousand years later a Cathedral stands over the grave, apparently to hold prisoner the souls trapped there. Tomas Arana plays Evan, a new librarian hired by the church. He meets the capricious Lotte (played by a 13 year old Asia Argento), the daughter of the church’s  Sacristan, and Lisa (Barbara Cupisti whom fans will recognize from Cemetery Man) who is restoring some of the church’s artwork.

Through his pilfering into the church’s history, Evan releases the demons trapped inside the church and he becomes their first victim. It’s not really explained why the souls there are demons and not just ghosts, but oh well. The demonic plague spreads resulting in several interesting and gory deaths.  Lisa slowly falls under the evil’s spell and offers herself up in very memorable fashion. Father Gus (Hugh Quarshie who has had a ton of genre roles ; Nightbreed, Dr. Who, Star Wars Episode I, Highlander etc.) is a priest trying to stop the demons by bringing the cathedral down around them (which seems like an ineffective way to stop demons but whatever).

The Church has some unevenness that prevents it from really getting scary and there are some plot holes. However, there is a lot to recommend it. Michele Soavi made it a much more serious film than the predecessors and the imagery will really stick with you (for instance, a giant goat faced winged demon making love to a girl on an alter ). Soavi’s next film was an Argento produced film called The Sect (sometimes called The Devil’s Daughter or even Demons 4). Of course, he later hit it out of the park with his classic Cemetery Man (which was also released under the title Demons ’95 , see how confusing this is!). Phillip Glass did part of the soundtrack and those familiar with his work will instantly recognize it. It features Feodor Chaliapin Jr. as the Bishop (he also appeared in Argento’s Inferno and a much less fortunate evil church movie, Catacombs). I was impressed by Asia Argento’s believability as a young actress.

The Church can definitely be enjoyed on its own without the benefit of seeing the other Demons movies. However, fans of the Demons franchise can also watch The Church and get a competent horror movie that does justice to its predecessors.