Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

Demons 2 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov December 18, 2014

Italian director Lamberto Bava's "Demoni 2" a.k.a. "Demons 2" (1986) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Synapse Films. The only supplemental feature on the disc is an original English-language trailer for the film. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

A nasty little demon

The sequel to Demons takes place in a luxury high-rise apartment building in the heart of a busy city. During a birthday party, a demon comes out of a TV set and begins biting and killing everything that moves in front of him. Then the victims turn into demons and go after the rest of the building's residents. Even a supposedly nice dog becomes a demon and attacks its owner.

While the demons run up and down the building, we follow a number of different characters. One of them is Hank (Bobby Rhodes, Demons), a tough bodybuilder who tries to organize everyone in the large underground garage and show them how to kill the demons. Then there is the beautiful prostitute Mary (Virginia Bryant, The Barbarians), who has just had a session with an important client. Mary gets struck in the building’s elevator together with George (David Edwin Knight), a handsome young professional who is taking care of his pregnant wife, Hannah (Nancy Brilli, Who Wants to Kill Sara?). Later on, George and Hannah become the primary targets for the demons.

The plot is unbelievably chaotic. The camera basically visits different parts of the building where something is happening, or is about to happen. There are some gruesome sequences, but the campy atmosphere from the first film is definitely missing here.

The film’s most serious flaw, however, is its inability to inspire us to care about any of its characters. We see them trying to escape the demons but their struggles are limited in short sequences where the focus of attention is typically on a series of special effects, most of which are not that good. By the time we get to know them, they are either killed or simply pushed away because a new character has entered the picture.

The demons are also far from impressive. A few of the ones seen in the first film looked appropriately repulsive, but these guys look ridiculous. The little kid that turns green, in particular, cannot possibly be taken seriously even by the most forgiving horror fans.

The dialog is predictably disappointing - there are endless clichéd exchanges that add very little, if anything, of substance to the chaotic plot. Once again, there is plenty of screaming and growling.

Similar to Demons, Demons 2 is complimented by a top-notch soundtrack. This time around instead of tracks from classic rock and heavy metal bands, the soundtrack features tracks from top dark wave and alternative rock bands. Some of the highlights are "De Profundis" by Dead Can Dance (classic Lisa Gerrard), "Power" by Fields of the Nephilim, "Heartache" by Gene Loves Jezebel, "Backbeat" by The Art of Noise, and "Kundalini Express" by Love and Rockets. The original music for Demons 2 was composed by the great Simon Boswell (Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Santa Sangre, Richard Stanley’s Hardware, Danny Boyle’s Shallow Grave).

Demons 2 was lensed by Gianlorenzo Battaglia (Lamberto Bava’s Midnight Killer, Ruggero Deodato’s The Barbarians). It was produced by Dario Argento and executive produced by Ferdinando Caputo (Opera).

Note: Asia Argento has a small cameo in Demons 2. This was her first acting role in a feature-length film.

Demons 2 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Lamberto Bava's Demons 2 arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Synapse Films.

Arrow Video's Region-B release of Demons 2 was plagued by various encoding issues that made it quite difficult to enjoy the film. To be perfectly clear, there were plenty of artifacts and larger blocky patches that would frequently affect detail and clarity. Color stability was also problematic (and it was the blacks again that suffered the most). Fortunately, there are no encoding or compression anomalies on this release. Rather predictably, virtually all of the darker footage now looks vastly superior. Depth, in particular, is dramatically improved, and as a result there tiny details that are a lot easier to see. Contrast levels remain stable throughout the entire film. There are no traces of problematic degraining or sharpening adjustments. Lastly, there are no serious stability issues to report in this review. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Demons 2 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (Stereo). For the record, Synapse Films have provided optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature.

Dynamic intensity is far from impressive, but there are select sequences where the music and some of the screams and growls make an impression. The dialog is clean, stable, and easy to follow. The same minor sync issues that are noticeable on the Region-B release of Demons 2 are also present here, but they are indeed inherited. There are no pops, cracks, audio dropouts or distortions to report in this review.

Demons 2 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original U.S. trailer for Demons 2. In English, not subtitled. (3 min, 1080p).

Demons 2 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Demons 2 isn't quite as effective as Demons, but if it happens to be one of your guilty pleasures do not hesitate to order this Blu-ray release from Synapse Films as none of the encoding issues that plagued Arrow Video's Region-B release are present on it. RECOMMENDED, but only for fans of the film.