Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
A group of people are trapped in a West Berlin movie theater infested with ravenous demons who proceed to kill and possess the humans one-by-one, thereby multiplying their numbers.
Demons is a gleefully trashy Italian horror showcase — Dario Argento-produced and Lamberto Bava-directed — that excels in its kinetic, gore-drenched set pieces and Claudio Simonetti's pounding synth-metal soundtrack. The cinema-within-a-cinema concept is a clever self-referential hook that gives it some novelty, but the plot is paper-thin even by splatter-film standards, and the acting is largely functional at best. Bava's direction keeps the energy high and the atmosphere suitably grimy, but the cinematography, while competent and colorful, never reaches the visual poetry of Argento's own work. The ending is abrupt and nonsensical, failing to deliver satisfying resolution even on its own pulpy terms.