Demons 2

Demons 2 (Demoni 2... L'incubo Ritorna) (1986)

Runtime: 92 minutes

Directed by: Lamberto Bava

Starring: David Edwin Knight, Nancy Brilli, Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni, Bobby Rhodes, Asia Argento

From: DACFILM Rome

Last night I rewatched the first Demons-which I still do enjoy-and then saw this movie for the first time. Thankfully I enjoyed this too, although not as much. I explain why below: 

While I have seen Demons more than once before, Demons 2 was something I had never seen before last night. Tracking it down was the big issue, but I finally was able to watch the sequel. Even though I don't think it's as awesome as the original, it doesn't mean I don't find it to be worthwhile.

The plot is very similar to the first one: a demon is set loose in a big building where a wide variety of people are at and due to reasons they can't escape and the demons increase as people become affected. This time, the setting is an apartment building, so there are also kids... some outrageous moments happen to them and I'll leave it at that. A few actors from the first Demons show up here, playing different characters.

I've mentioned plenty of times before how old Italian horror doesn't always make sense. That definitely is the case here, clearly more so than the original film. Plus, there is more than one character that can accurately be described as “a wet blanket”. Yet, despite what I just said and me thinking the movie isn't as pure fun as the first Demons, it doesn't mean I did not enjoy this nor think that there weren't some tremendous scenes, as there were. There are also the requisite gory moments for fans of such things.

The important thing for me is that the movie-despite its flaws-is still fun. I enjoyed all the wacky moments and how several very popular properties were straight up ripped off for this motion picture. Then again, it seemed like this movie was ripped off in the 31 years since this was released. The soundtrack was cool, even though I do like heavy metal a little more than New Wave, which this movie is full of. If you like The Cult, The Smiths, Dead Can Dance, and/or Art of Noise, you likely will dig the soundtrack. If you like Asia Argento, this is one of her first films, although of course she was just a kid here and not an adult in uncomfortable nude/sex scenes which were filmed by her father... I am not sure why her character here vanishes for long stretches of time but I guess that sh*t happens. If you like smoke machines... this will be like manna for you.

I am thankful this wasn't a film that let me down. Seeing such things as Bobby Rhodes (who played the immortal Tony the Pimp in the first movie) played a heroic trainer of bodybuilders-a phrase I never thought I'd type-who tried to band together bodybuilders and random people to try and fight off the demons... like I said, this motion picture is fun.