“Hey, you don’t think it’s going to be a horror movie, do you? You know I just hate them.”

Drake’s rating: You may want some hip waders for this one. It gets pretty gooey.

Drake’s review: Given the price of movie tickets these days, getting a pair of free tickets, even from a nefarious-looking fellow wearing a metal mask, seems like a good deal. And granted, tickets were much cheaper in 1985, but Cheryl and her friend Cathy are nonetheless happy to skip class and go to the Metropol, an old theater that’s recently been renovated. They’re joined by a few dozen other people who have been given free tickets as well, and the crowd settles in to watch a horror flick.

Now in the movie they crowd is watching, a foursome of young adults go poking around in places they probably shouldn’t and find a wicked looking mask. A mask which is nearly identical to the one in the movie theater’s lobby, as a matter of fact. And in the horror flick, one of the characters gets scratched by the mask and turns into a fearsome demon and terrorizes his friends. Not so coincidentally, the young woman who was messing around with the mask in the lobby got a nearly identical scratch. And if you’re thinking that she becomes a demon as well, and terrorizes the audience in the Metropol, then give yourself a big thumbs-up!

The woman who turned into the demon wreaks some demonic havoc in the theater, which is honestly not so different from your standard horror movie havoc. It’s just gooier.

But, in a twist born of George Romero’s zombie films, anyone injured by the she-demon eventually turns into a demon themselves, and the demonic mayhem escalates from there. The crowd at the Metropol do their best to stay alive, fighting against an ever-growing horde of demons that seem to be virtually unkillable. And also very gooey, as they drip bright green bile and drip various colors of other bodily fluids.

A fast-paced film backed by a rock & roll soundtrack that includes music by Billy Idol and Mötley Crüe, Demons is overflowing with impressive practical effects. Bodies, human and demon alike, are crushed, torn and mutilated as the blood doesn’t just flow, it sprays with abandon as the hydraulics work overtime. The foam latex work is impressive and the makeup is first-rate, which is where the focus of this film lies.

Well, that and the goo. Have I mentioned the goo? It’s pretty much everywhere in this movie. This is a very gooey flick.

Unfortunately, the impressive FX work comes at the expense of the story. Demons tries to go the Romero route here as well, with a band of people in a desperate fight for survival against a supernatural horde. But unlike Night of the Living Dead or its sequels, the characters in Demons are paper-thin, existing merely to become demon fodder before turning into gooey, fanged monsters themselves. There’s no depth here, just glitz and goo. So much goo.

Demons is a great-looking movie, with impressive gore and great effects. But that’s really all the movie has to offer. The story exists just to get everyone into the theater, and then just kind of fades away as the demonic carnage takes over. It’s hard to feel much of anything for the characters, since they really only exist to become victims of the demons. And the demons themselves are never fleshed out, either. They aren’t given any motivation or even direction by a malevolent force. They just rend and tear and drip goo.

If a gooey good time is what you’re up for, then Demons certainly fits the bill. It’s an entertaining watch for what it is, and a fun mix of horror and some unlikely action bits. Including our hero riding a motorcycle right over the seats of the Metropol, and killing demons with a samurai sword since this is the ‘80s and a katana was that decade’s ultimate weapon.

Just don’t expect too much more from it, since Demons’ gooey coating covers up an empty center.

Intermission!

• Demons was directed by Lamberto Bava, a third-generation filmmaker and son of cult movie director Mario Bava. The younger Bava served as an assistant director for his father for some 15 years before taking the directorial reins himself on Macabre in 1980.
• It was also co-written and produced by the legendary Italian director Dario Argento, who was looking to produce more films after the success he had with Dawn of the Dead.
• Nice synth intro track. I’m assuming that’s the work of former Goblin Keyboardist Claudio Simonetti.
• Boy, the camera does love to longer on the latex work here.
• Everyone flees the demon-infested theater for the lobby, only to find the door to the outside is locked. That’s definitely a safety code violation.
• Coked-up punks just driving around. Because if there’s one thing this flick needs, it’s more characters.
• Huh. A helicopter fell through the roof. Sure. That happens.
• OK, the lead character’s whining is really nerve-grating.
• If there’s one thing I learned from this flick, it’s that looking cool on a motorcycle and swinging a katana is the only way to kill demons.