Anchor Bay / Anamorphic Widescreen (1.66:1) / Color / 1 disc / 88 minutes

When rapper Snoop Dogg sang about seeing demons in his 1993 song “Murder Was the Case” (I stop breathin’ / damn I see demons!) he might have been paying homage to the 1986 Italian classic, DEMONI.

Of course, DEMONI itself may have been paying homage to another film, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, when filmmakers Dario Argento (SUSPIRIA) and Lamberto Bava created “Tony the Pimp,” the archetypal angry black man who pulls a switchblade and knows how to use it when bile-spewing demons attack his hos. Indeed, Tony is the most memorable character in DEMONI, a film that probably seems a bit tame nowadays, even to a PG-13 audience. Still, there’s plenty of campy fun in this splatterhouse classic, and I guarantee it’s better than SAW IV.

What’s not to like? There’s gore, sleaze, drug use, guns, demons, helicopter blade mutilation and a fantastic scene involving a swordsman on a motorcycle. All of this is encapsulated by a storyline that barely makes sense, acted out by community theater-quality performers who recite dialog that could have been written by a 7th-grader. Get your popcorn ready.

Produced by Argento, DEMONI is the best-known film from Lamberto Bava, son of Italian horror/giallo pioneer Mario Bava (BLACK SUNDAY). Argento, who by 1986 had already made a slew of great films including DEEP RED, THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE, SUSPIRIA and TENEBRE, shares writing credit on DEMONI with Bava. The result is a flick not unlike the Rodriguez/Tarantino “vampires south of the border” collaboration, FROM DUSK ‘TIL DAWN.

The story is centered around a group of people who become trapped in a West Berlin movie theater crawling with a vampiric breed of demons. Fresh-faced Natasha Hovey plays Cheryl, a skittish schoolgirl who meets up with her friend Hannah (Argento’s daughter Fiore) one evening after receiving tickets to see a horror movie downtown. The pair decide to blow off their classes and head to the new Metropol theater. They are joined by a bizarre crowd: Tony the Pimp and two prostitutes, a couple German lads George (Urbano Barberini) and Ken (Karl Zinny), a blind man and his dutiful (but unfaithful) wife and her lover, and a handful of others.

One of Tony’s working girls, Rosemary, apparently unleashes evil when she cuts herself on a silver mask decoration in the theater lobby. Tony admonishes her, “That will teach you to touch things.” Nothing immediately happens though.

Moments later, while watching the film (some schlock about a group of teens unearthing the tomb of Nostradamus), a similar mask is seen on-screen. Rosemary begins her transformation into a demon and all hell breaks loose.

It would be pointless to try and explain the action that fills the next hour. It’s pure lunacy: The crowd tries to escape the theater and they find the doors bricked up. Tony the Pimp theorizes that the movie is the source of the evil, breaks into the projection booth and smashes all the equipment, ranting, “They won’t get me, that’s for sure!” For unknown reasons the survivors take refuge in the balcony, yanking up rows of seats and stacking them up for protection. Those who are bitten or scratched by demons then become demons themselves. The action plays out over a noisy bed of 1980s hair metal from the likes of Motley Crue and Saxon, crappy Euro-pop and synthesized prog-metal from Goblin maestro Claudio Simonetti.

Add to that, a senseless subplot involving two coked-out car thieves and their chesty female companion who all end up in the demon-infested theater while running from the law, and you have a recipe for insanity.

DEMONI starts slow and with the dialog as bad as it is, it’s hard to stick with it. But hang in there and you’ll be rewarded with such depravity as a bloodthirsty demonoid bursting from Fiore Argento’s back, and Barberini going on a murderous rampage astride a dirt bike armed while wielding a samurai sword. There’s also a naughty scene: A razor blade drawn across a cocaine-dappled bare breast in the back seat of a stolen car! A high level of gore — exploding pustules, rotting flesh, projectile vomiting and throat-ripping — is maintained throughout, compliments of effects man Sergio Stivaletti (Argento’s PHENOMENA).

Bava’s direction is passable, but nothing special. It’s better than his later efforts, such as the listless DEMONI 3: THE OGRE (1988), one of several films that have nothing to do with the DEMONI series, but incorporate the name of the franchise to boost sales (We recently reviewed THE OGRE and the politically incorrect 1991 Lucio Fulci effort, DEMONI 3: BLACK DEMONS).

The story doesn’t make any sense (Is the infestation localized to the theater? If so, how do they explain the ending?) but it really doesn’t matter. This is a film to watch after midnight while enjoying a draught of Maker’s Mark, Martell VSOP, or perhaps, Night Train. Cinematography is a cut above though, and the use of color — rich blasts of red, blue, green and every hue in between — is spectacular and recalls Argento’s SUSPIRIA.

The anamorphic presentation looks and sounds better than it ever has thanks to Anchor Bay’s re-mastered, uncensored effort. The DVD contains decent bonus features, including an audio commentary with director Bava, make-up artist Stivaletti and journalist Loris Curci, behind-the-scenes footage and the original trailer. My only gripe is the poor English overdub (although I love the menacing Mr. T accent they gave Tony!).

Despite its flaws, this is top-notch 80s horror. Savor this four-star effort!

Check out a trailer below. Be warned, it really doesn’t do the movie justice!