Horrorfest 2017: Demons

Back to Italian horror for Nicolas Winding Refn's second favorite on this list, DEMONS, a 1985 shocker directed by Lamberto Bava. It was co-written and produced by horror master Dario Argento so going into it I figured it stood a chance of being good, but I was disappointed.

The movie starts off promisingly enough, with a young woman (Natasha Hovey) being stalked by a masked man in a Berlin subway. This is suspenseful and effective because it's the kind of situation anyone could easily find themselves in -- scared in a subway. Turns out the masked man just wants to hand her a flyer advertising a movie premiere, and she decides to attend.

Thus follows many scenes of people watching the movie. It's a horror movie. I stared at the screen in disbelief as shot after shot cut to reactions from the audience. How long are these people going to watch this movie, I thought. Turns out a long time. DEMONS is only 88 minutes long but it's a long 88 minutes.

Eventually a demonic outbreak strikes the theater the premiere is in, and Hovey is forced to fight for her survival with another cinemagoer (Ubrano Barberini) but it's too little too late. What should have been an awesome premise -- basically DAWN OF THE DEAD in a movie theater -- becomes a depressing slog through gore and endless chases.

I think there's a good movie in here, somewhere, but it's hard to watch a movie about other people watching a movie and not be bored. I mean, it can be done -- see MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 -- but it's not done here.

There is a nice metal soundtrack, though.