7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 3.8 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
A group of people are trapped in a large West Berlin movie theater infected by ravenous demons whom proceed to kill and possess the humans one by one, thereby multiplying their numbers.
Starring: Urbano Barberini, Natasha Hovey, Karl Zinny, Fiore Argento, Paola CozzoHorror | 100% |
Foreign | 37% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
English: LPCM 2.0
Italian: LPCM 2.0
English, English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region B (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Italian director Lamberto Bava's "Demoni" a.k.a. "Demons" (1985) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video. The supplemental features on the disc include audio commentary with director Lamberto Bava and special effects guru Sergio Stivaletti; second audio commentary with director Lamberto Bava, actress Geretta Geretta, composer Claudio Simonetti, and special effects artist Sergio Stivaletti; video interview with Italian director Dario Argento; video interview with composer Claudio Simonetti; and a featurette with Italian director, writer and producer Luigi Cozzi. The release also comes with four-option reversible sleeve with original poster and video artwork with additional fifth artwork panel featuring all-new Jeff Zornow artwork; double-sided fold-out poster; collector's booklet featuring brand new writing on the film by Calum Wadell; and more. Region-B "locked".
One hell of a theater
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 Arrow Video.
The film looks quite impressive on Blu-ray. Even though a very large portion of it takes place inside the dark movie theater, detail and clarity are indeed very good. Depth is also consistently pleasing, with most close-ups where there is a sufficient amount of light looking terrific (see screencapture #11). Color reproduction is solid - there is a wide range of warm and very natural colors. Problematic denoising corrections have not been performed. There are no traces of post-production sharpening adjustments either. There are no serious compression issues. All in all, the high-definition transfer, which appears to have been struck from a very recent master produced from a new scan, is one of the best I have seen for an Italian horror film in Arrow's catalog. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).
There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: English LPCM 2.0 and Italian LPCM 2.0. For the record, Arrow Video have provided optional English SDH subtitles with the English track and English subtitles with the Italian track.
The lossless English track delivers a degree of dynamic intensity that serves the film very well. Claudio Simonetti's soundtrack, in particular, gets a very strong boost. There are also clips from various heavy metal tracks by such legendary bands as Accept, Saxon, and Motleuy Crue, as well as rock legend Billy Idol, that clearly benefit from the improved fidelity. Occasionally some very small sync issues are noticeable, but this should not be surprising as post dubbing was done for the final English audio track. The dialog is crisp, stable, clean, and very easy to follow. Also, there are no audio dropouts or distortions to report in this review.
If you enjoy horror/splatter films, then you do not want to miss Arrow Video's release of Lamberto Bava's cult film Demons. It delivers just about everything these types of films are supposed to deliver. More importantly, it has been recently restored from the original camera negative by Cineteca di Bologna and looks very good on Blu-ray. If your reside in a Region-A territory, please keep in mind that this is a Region-B "locked" release. RECOMMENDED.
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