Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.0

Demons Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov December 18, 2014

Italian director Lamberto Bava's "Demoni" a.k.a. "Demons" (1985) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Synapse Films. The bonus feature on this release is an original English-language trailer for the film. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

One hell of a theater

Early into the film, a young and very beautiful girl (Natasha Hovey) is approached by a man with a metal mask covering a portion of his face. He hands her a flyer about an upcoming show at the newly opened Metropol Theater. The girl looks so innocent and so naïve that we immediately realize that she will become a target. These types of girls always do – at least in horror films. Shortly after, a second girl (Paola Cozzo) appears. She is just as beautiful and just as naïve. They talk and agree to visit the Metropol Theater because tonight they have nothing else to do.

As the girls enter the theater, the camera zooms around and we see the other folks who have come to see the show. There are two very handsome guys obviously looking to meet single girls, a stylishly dressed man chewing a bubble gum with two rather provocatively dressed women, a married couple, and some movie geeks.

In the theater’s lobby there is a bike with a samurai holding a silver mask. One of the two women with the stylishly dressed man puts it on and cuts herself. It is a very small cut, nothing to worry about. Then everyone enters and the show begins – a horror film about demons on the loose.

Soon after, the woman with the cut goes to the restroom and becomes a demon. Her girlfriend comes looking for her, but gets bitten and also becomes a demon. They go back in and begin biting anything that moves. For a while, the audience can’t figure out what is going on as the screams from the film and those of the people dying in the back get mixed up.

The plot of Lamberto Bava’s Demons is indeed quite silly. Unsurprisingly, there is nothing really terribly exciting about it – unless you like gore. If you do, this is a film you don’t want to miss as some of the killings are indeed quite graphic, though the plastic dummies that are used throughout the film are pretty bad. From time to time the red and green paint (for some reason a lot of the demons have some green stuff coming out of their mouths) they are covered with, however, makes them look appropriately repulsive.

The acting is a mixed bag, with a number of the more interesting characters looking notably stiff in front of the camera. There is a lot of screaming and growling. There are prenty of pretty bad lines that are uttered as well. In fact, some of them are so bad that decent portions of the film actually look quite funny.

The editing, however, is surprisingly good. Once the carnage begins, there is a steady rhythm. There is also a good balance between the close-ups and the wider shots that show the mayhem inside the theater. The editing was done by Piero Bozza (assistant editor on George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead and Dario Argento’s Suspiria and Tenebre).

Demons also has a cracking soundtrack featuring tracks by such rock legends as Accept ("Fast As A Shark"), Motley Crue ("Save Our Souls"), Billy Idol ("White Wedding"), Saxon, and Scoprions. The original music for Demons was composed by veteran Brazilian composer Claudio Simonetti (Dario Argento’s Opera, Tenebre, Deep Red).

Note: In 1986, Demons was nominated for International Fantasy Film Award for Best Film at Fantasporto.

Demons 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 arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Synapse Films.

The technical presentation is excellent. In fact, I think that Demons now looks as impressive as The Image, which is one of Synapse Films' very best looking releases. Generally speaking, detail and clarity remain pleasing throughout the entire film. Shadow definition is excellent as well. As a result, plenty of the darker footage now boasts improved depth. On Arrow Video's Region-B release this was the key area where I felt there was still some room for improvement (and partially because during the encoding the black levels were not properly set). Once again there is a wide range of warm and natural colors, but this time balance is superior. Saturation is also more convincing. (Compare screencaptures #1 from the two releases). There are absolutely no traces of problematic degrainig or sharpening adjustments. Lastly, the encoding is outstanding. All in all, this is a wonderful presentation of Demons that is guaranteed to please its fans. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3or SA in order to access it content).

Demons Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: International English Stereo track (DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0) and U.S. English Mono track (DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0) track. For the record, Synapse Films have provided optional English SDH subtitles for the two tracks.

I viewed the entire film with the International 2.0 track and then did some select comparisons with the U.S. track. There are substantial differences between the two and not only in terms of audio effects/enhancements, there are actually entire music themes with some obvious alterations. I think that the International 2.0 track is a lot more effective, but you should experiment with both and see which one you prefer. For the record, there are no pops, cracks, background hiss, audio dropouts, or distortions to report in this review.

Demons Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

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

Demons Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It is very easy to tell that this budget release of Lamberto Bava's Demons from Synapse Films offers a far more pleasing technical presentation of the film than Arrow Video's Region-B release, which we reviewed back in 2012. The only bonus feature on it is an original trailer, but Synapse Films also released a Limited SteelBook edition of Demons which had a number of different bonus features. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.