About

Demons will screen from a 35mm film print.

Demons is a riotously entertaining meeting point between the three directors at the heart of this program. It was produced and co-written by Dario Argento, with a further co-writing credit for Lucio Fulci's long-time collaborator Dardano Sacchetti, and was directed by Mario Bava's son Lamberto, who had also worked as an assistant director for both his father and Argento.

Taking place primarily in a Berlin cinema, Demons finds the packed audience at a preview screening of a new horror film suddenly fending for their lives when a mysterious infection from within the movie starts turning audience members into the titular demons. Chaos reigns once the moviegoers must fight to survive this supernatural attack.

The film is a self-reflexive departure from the trappings of giallo cinema in favour of a more direct and gory style of horror – owing more to Night of the Living Dead than Night of the Scorpion. Its premise acts as a sly dig at the societal concern of the time about the perceived negative influence horror films were having on the morality of their audiences. The filmmakers responded to this disquiet with a meta and gleeful celebration of screen carnage.

Demons is one of the most purely entertaining horror films to emerge from the 1980s. Between its thrashing contemporary soundtrack (featuring Billy Idol, Rick Springfield, and Claudio Simonetti) and penchant for gratuitous bloodshed, it is a rollicking experience to be savoured on the big screen.

R18+