Lamberto Bava and Producer Dario Argento delivered this sequel a year in from the original. This time the setting is a modern apartment block – but the rules are pretty much the same. Some poor soul has an attack of the demons from her television set (yes it is as daft as it seems), transforms into an ugly green slime spitting monster and starts to attack and transform all of her friends – and then the rest of the apartment block.
There isn’t much in the way of progression, and the themes of Media being demonic are not fleshed out perhaps as much as they could have been to make this rise above another splatter movie. But the Demons are different enough from lumbering zombie to make this film still a decent cult treat for fans. The effects are still sick enough to put you off any snacks you were intending on eating whilst viewing the film.
The cast do suffer from being dubbed, and you even get the odd familiar face from the first film playing a different role. And you can also spot Asia Argento at a much younger age in her first screen role.
Demons 2 was certainly strong enough to make fans cry out for a third film. That wish has still yet to be fulfilled… except in graphic novel form. Demons 2 has the second part of the Demons 3 graphic novel accompanying it. It also has a commentary track and feature on Italian horrors. Maybe not quite as much input as you get on the first film’s disc, but strong enough to make it worth buying. The sound and visual quality naturally have been stepped up a notch. Horror doesn’t get much more fun that these!
Steven Hurst