Demons (1986)

I figure Dario Argento's classic horror film Demons is as good as any to start with here on Heavy Metal horror. It’s really what blog is all about! It’s a great horror film, with lots of gore and a predominantly Metal soundtrack! Read on... IF YOU DARE! Muwahahahahaha

Film - Demons

Year - 1986

Director - Lamberto Bava

Producer - Dario Argento

Country - Italy

The movie starts out with the female lead on a train full of 80s clichés. The Demons theme song is the definition of cheesy awesomeness, but more about the soundtrack later. After getting off the train, our female lead is stalked by some weird cyborg looking dude. He catches up to her and it turns out he was just trying to sell her a movie ticket. She meets up with her friend, they decide to skip class ad go see the movie instead. At the theatre we meet our cast of assholes. A pimp and his two hos, a dickhead husband with his wife, two teenage lovebirds, a blind dude and his horny niece, two typical 80s preppy dudes(who are the love interests of the two female leads) and a creepy usher chick. In the lobby there's a motorcycle and a silver mask. One of the pimps ho, being predictably stupid, decides to horse around and put the mask on. This earns her a dirty look from creepy usher chick and a cut on the face. The movie within a movie starts, the acting in this little movie within a movie feature is pretty horrendous not that the main feature is the most brilliantly acted piece of cinema but still... The characters in the MWM are looking for the Tomb of Nostradamus or some shit. They find it and with it the same Demon mask hanging up in the Lobby. Hmm wonder what that could mean... A character in the MWM puts the mask on gets a cut on the face just like the one hooker did! She obviously, gets a bit concerned about this after another character in the MWM says that whoever wears the mask will become a demon. Our friend, the ho-bag runs to the bathroom to check on her cut, it turns into a lovely festering boil! It bursts in a tasty display of special effects goodness. The other ho goes to the bathroom to check on her friend, only to find the bathroom empty. She checks a stall and her friend, now a DEMON, pops out and attacks her, sending her running. Oddly, the Movie within a movie is more of a slasher flick but the film itself isn't it has more in common with a zombie movie. All it takes is a scratch to transform into a Demon. Next we're treated to a transformation scene of the second hooker chick turning into a demon. Then the rest of the movie is basically characters getting killed off and trying to avoid getting their asses killed. Later on four more characters are introduced. They're some cokehead punks, whose only purpose seems to be taking up screen time, snorting coke and playing crappy, generic 80s music. Oh and Billy Idol.  

AMAZING special effects, the demon transformation scenes are amazingly well done. The demon make up looks fucking awesome! Lots of nice gore effects, this one chick get’s scalped and it is SWEET. There’s some blood vomit, regular vomit, gouged out eyes, crushed skulls, fingers getting ripped off' decapitations, little demons bursting out of peoples backs and lots of bloody, demon inflicted gashes! They even manage to throw in some nudity. Just one nipple though... what a gyp! This is an Italian film with English dubbing so the acting is predictably affected by this. However the dubbing is far better then some other dubbed films. The soundtrack of this film is noteworthy; it’s almost all from Metal bands. It features songs from Accept, Motley Crue, Pretty Maids and Saxon as well as some pretty awesome original synth music from Claudio Simonetti. The Demons theme song in particular is a strong point from the sound track. The plot is simple, but still good and engaging. That doesn’t stop the big rather large plot hole of the cyborg dude (who appears again at the end of the movie) It’s like... what the fuck? What’s up with that dude? Where does he figure into the plot? Despite that, the plot is very good. It may SOUND stupid, but it really isn't once you actually sit down and watch it. Oddly there’s very little in the way of character development or back stories or really, anything that makes the characters much more then vague personifications of personalities to get killed by demons. Not that it’s a bad thing, as this movie probably wouldn’t be nearly as entertaining if they had wasted time doing such things. There’s a hero and there’s a female lead. All the other characters are just cannon fodder. Besides the female lead being the first character we see, we never know who the hero is going to be till the very end of the film. The only reason he’s the hero, is because he’s all we have left! This is interesting, because a lot of movies have a designated hero. Even slasher flicks tend to have someone designated to be the last living character. They’re usually developed to be the least douchbaggy characters from the start. But Demons barely develops any character; this isn’t a character driven story.

I highly recommend this film. If you like Gore, Metal, Horror or any combination of the three you'll probably love this movie. It’s not that hard to find on DVD, your best bet is online. The film also appears to be uploaded to YouTube as well if you would like to watch it there. I suggest purchasing a DVD copy though.