DEMONS 2 (1986)

Some teenage dorks are having a birthday party in a upscale apartment building when a demon somehow escapes out of a TV and possesses the birthday girl.  She stiffly walks over to the birthday cake to blow out the candles and before you can say "Mephistopheles Testicles 2: Electric Boogaloo" six hundred three score and six times, she turns into a demon and starts attacking everybody.  The other partygoers are soon transformed into demons themselves and go around wreckin' shit all over the building.  Also, for some reason there's a demon dog and a small Gremlin-sized demon.  Both look silly.

As far as movies of this style go, DEMONS 2 was alright.  I actually liked it a little better than the original simply because it took place all over this large building instead of inside a boring movie theater.  That said, I hope it's a long time before I ever have to watch one of these movies again.  Just like in Part 1, the action moves along at a nice pace but there's still something about the film that I didn't like.  I can get over the cheapness of the film, but it's the way the people respond to being attacked by demons that bothers me.  It's hard to explain and not really worth getting into other than once again the main male protagonist looks like a nerd but when the demons attack he turns into John Rambo.

Above average pace, good amount of blood, demon fu, jumping demon fu, shotgun fu, demon dog fu, jumping miniature demon fu, half naked gym members versus demons fu, Asia Argento fu, elevator shaft climbing fu, potted plant throwing fu, rope rappelling fu, demon hooker fu, car jumping for no reason fu.

Worth a watch for horror fans, but it's nothing to get excited about.  The highlight of the film to me was the few seconds where the partygoers were listening to "Panic" by The Smiths.

Part 1 - Demons (1985)

DEMONS (1985)

I vaguely remember watching this many years ago and being disappointed.  Watching it again, last night, for this review...I'm still disappointed.

An attractive young lady (who never gets naked) is walking through a Berlin subway station when a creepy dude in a goofy mask gives her two tickets to a movie screening.  She takes her friend and they, along with about 40 other people, are treated to a low-budget horror flick about four nerds rummaging around Nostradamus' tomb.  For some reason, the events happening onscreen mirror what happens in real life in the theater.  And before you can say "Mephistopheles testicles" six hundred three score and six times, all kinds of demon possession shenanigans start popping off.  Clawing, biting, teeth falling out, gallons and gallons of pus and blood, glowing eyes, torso ripping, scalp removing, etc.  The action moves along at a steady pace (a lot of it accompanied by 80's rock by Motley Crue, Billy Idol, Accept and Saxon), but unfortunately the whole thing left me feeling "blah".  There was just something about the way the movie was made that left me flat.  The character development was weak, the sets were lame, the story was silly, the demon reveal scenes were telegraphed as fook and the way that one guy turned into Rambo was bizarre.  One minute he's cringing like H.R. Pickens at the horror movie and then 45-minutes later he's riding around on a dirt bike (inside the theater!) swinging a samurai sword around like he's friggin' fuckin' Michael Dudikoff in AMERICAN NINJA!

DEMONS is definitely worth a watch for horror fans since it is mildly influential and mildly entertaining, but it wasn't my cup of tea in 1985 and it still isn't now.  That said, I own, at least, 5 different copies of it on various formats simply because I like the covers. I did enjoy the music also.

Part 2 - Demons 2 (1986)