Directed by Lamberto Bava with Urbano Barberini, Natasha Hovey and Karl Zinny
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The history of Italian horror movies has seen many directors, writers and actors dedicating their lives to build something that the rest of the world would admire, respect and eventually copy. People like Lucio Fulci, Mario Bava, Umberto Lenzi, Lamberto Bava, Michele Soavi and of course Dario Argento took the horror genre to a whole new level, giving the fans something unexpected and genuinely gory and scary, as well as well crafted and creative.
During the 80s Italian horrors were surfing on high waves, thanks to Dario Argento’s past masterpieces like Profondo Rosso or Suspiria, and more recent efforts such as Inferno, Tenebrae, Phenomena and Opera, but also thanks to other directors who helped the cause. Among them Lamberto Bava, son of horror master Mario Bava.
After his first 
feature, Macabre, Lamberto realized that it was time to unleash the gore and the sickness, and to embrace the 80s exaggeration in terms of flashy colors, morbid taste, over-the-top music and acting. With the help of Dario Argento, who cooperated to write the screenplay, and Sergio Stivaletti, whose disturbing makeup creations were visually stunning, the director created a movie destined to become a cult in its genre.
The plot is very simple, a group of people are trapped in a cinema and have to fight against growling and gruesome demons, but together with a powerful and rapturous soundtrack, from Motley Crue to synthpop extravaganza, the result is an overwhelming horror mayhem that made Italian horror reach its peak of creativity and experimentation.
Before its completion and before someone saw the first rough cut, Demons was already sold all over the world. Something like that was very unusual, especially for horror movies, and obviously, it never happened again. The rest of the 80s saw a few more Argento’s flicks, the sequel of Demons, Michele Soavi’s La Chiesa and not much more.
That was the end of the new wave of Italian horror cinema, and although many of those directors are still working and producing, things have changed, horror has changed, the taste has changed. There will be other good horror movies, but surely the stereotypes and pop icons are seen in Demons, as well as in other films, can only be copied and taken inspiration from.
Not to be missed by the true fans of horror, for a night of reckless and atrocious entertainment!
