Customer Reviews

Demonia [VHS]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

This is one of my favorite Lucio Fulci films! For those that are there for gore there are some really great scenes to behold! One scene where a guy gets split in half down the middle! The Story itself was pretty good. the only bad part of the film is like Lucio said is the bad Photography, that and its abit (just a bit!) slow during the begining. Highly reccomended to Fulci fans and fans of killer nun genre! Please note that it may take more then one viewing (like Dario Argento's Inferno) to Appreciate this film so if you don't like it the first time, see it a second time you might be surprised! I also must say because of the review at the top, spouting that the film takes about 40 minutes to get going is abet off, its more like 20 minutes until we see the first murder, unless you count the opening scene of the Nuns paying for what they have done. Also I must point out the pacing the film has which was pretty well done. I mean you want to see the end of this film for its hellofa climax! Just one more thing, the quality of the film was due for two reasons(I'm not talking about the dvd but of the film itself). Being that the production could only afford camera equipment that was something like 30 years old might explain it. Also the fact that Fulci wanted this film to be dreamlike. I still say its one of Fulci's best(not quite up with The Beyond, ZOMBIE, or Don't Torture A Duckling. But the film was well done, and it is one of his best of the late 80's early 90's era) Worthy a look for the Eurohorror fan. Fulci Lives! jak

A lot of the times as a filmmaker's career goes on there comes a time when their movies sometimes start to lack. Of course there will always be exceptions. Some filmmakers can remain solid through their career, some make decent flicks later in their career and there are others who make mostly bad movies late in their career and sadly, Fulci falls into the latter.

By the time Demonia was released Lucio Fulci was far past his prime and most of his movies around the mid 80s really weren't very good. Even his better movies from that era weren't very well made, but might have worked on the so bad its good level like Zombie 3. With Demonia Fulci tries to go back to trying to make a more suspenseful flick added with some of his trademark gore. The good thing about Demonia is Fulci goes back to his visual style that helped make some of his movies better than they should have been, but despite that Demonia doesn't quite work, while it does have it's moments it's also a little too slow paced.

The screenplay was written by Lucio Fulci and Piero Regnoli and it really wasn't very good. In the horror genre you can get away with a sub-par script, but sometimes you can't. Most Fulci's movies didn't have very good scripts; often the characters would say and do some rather idiotic things. But he was able to get away with it. The screenplay pretty much lacks any logic, which was typical of Fulci in the 80s.

Fulci was able to write some good screenplays, Don't Torture a Duckling is proof of that. But this time around the screenplay lacks logic and is never really interesting with the exception of a couple moments. Piero Regnoli wrote the cult classics Nightmare City and Burial Ground, but Regnoli and Fulci for the most part don't get much going. Though of all the Fulci flicks I have seen this isn't the worst written, that honor goes to Touch of Death.

Again by this time Fulci was far removed from his prime, but he was still trying to hold on and capture his past glory. He changed his style during the mid to late 80s and if not for his name listed as director you would never know since there wasn't much of his style shown. Here, in Demonia the camera shots are very Fulci and his close up of the eyes is done a lot here.

For the most part Demonia though lacks any real suspense, while he is able to craft some fairly decent scenes, most never really go anywhere. Had Demonia been made 7 or 8-years earlier it probably would have been one of his more solid films. Demonia was done by a director who had seen better days, but for what it's worth, Fulci's visual style makes this movie slightly better than it should have been. Though you know things are bad when you resort to knocking off your own movies. The first few minutes remind me of The Beyond and City of the Living Dead.

The gore level is fairly decent, but some of the F/X are a bit weak, but overall are enjoyable, but it does take a while before we get to the good stuff and the payoff isn't as good as it was back in the early 80s. Though the human wishbone scene was kinda cool, but not as good as it could have been.

The final act is quite idiotic; while there is at least some action it really doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but than again most of Demonia doesn't make any sense. It seemed like a good idea, but somewhere along the way it never really works well. In some of Fulci's movies things happen and we never really are told why and same thing happens here. Demonia is rather incoherent, which was something a lot of Fulci's movies were, but due to the suspense and gore it worked, but in Demonia it's rather annoying.

The cast was rather weak; Fulci again teams with Brett Halsey who was far better here than in Touch of Death. Fulci, regular Pierluigi Conti best known to horror fans as Al Cliver appears in a small role under the name Al Clever. I wonder if that was a spelling mistake. Meg Register while nice to look at gives a rather forgettable performance.

The man himself Lucio Fulci appears as Inspector Carter; Lucio Fulci made a lot of cameos in his movies, but this time around his role is actually fairly decent. He enters the movie around the 40-minute mark and has a couple of scenes instead of the typical cameo.

Demonia is one of the last movies Lucio Fulci would make before his death in 1996. I have seen different listings for the release and he did either 2 or 3 more movies depending on which is the correct release date. Demonia is only for the hardcore Fulci fans. Anyone else it's best to skip this movie.

In closing, Demonia isn't the worst movie Lucio Fulci has done, but it's nowhere near one of his best. Demonia has some fairly decent moments, but overall it never quite works.

Well at least he tried something new. While "Demonia" pales in comparison to some of his early works such as "Zombie" (1980) and "The Beyond" (1981) this one definitely one of Fulci's better films later in his career. It certainly isn't as bad as "Sweet House of Horrors" (1989) (which I contend is by far his worst film.)

The story is based around the 16th century crucifixion of a couple of nuns. Professor Pual Evans and his prize pupil Liza Harris struggle to uncover the horrifying mystery. The story moves a bit slowly, the ending is quite confusing and the gore is sprinkled throughout the film but not incredibly over the top as it was in the previously mentioned "Zombie" and "The Beyond". I recommend this film for Fulci fans only. However, don't expect a masterpiece!

I freaked and had to watch this thing in 2 parts. The performance by the young actress in the lead was excellent,subtle and involving. The animosity of the townspeople for the archeology team was credible. The natural scenery was perfect. The only thing that did not work were the "double-exposure" scenes.

I am sorry to say I was disappointed by this more recent effort from Luci Fulci. The movie is not just a little slow in the beginning... it takes well-nigh 40 minutes before a character gets killed, in a movie that runs 90 minutes! The story is full of red herrings that go absolutely nowhere, including the Brett Halsey character's quarrels with his predecessor. The biggest problem I had was that the film is visually flat and uninteresting... it feels and looks like a TV movie shot on video with a few admitteldy far-out gore effects. The most interesting part of the movie, at least for me, was Fulci's extremely unflattering take on Southern Sicily, and I briefly wondered whether he wanted to draw some parallel between the medieval village mentality and silence surrounding the organized crime in contemporary Sicily. Am I reading too deeply into it? Probably. For those who are interested, Fulci himself appears as an "Interpol" investigator and gives an adequate performance.
The DVD I watched was issued by a label called Shriek Show, and while the source film is very clean, the transfer leaves much to be desired. There are annoying pilexization problems throughout, and a few sequences look as if a wire mesh filter was covering the camera lens. (Seriously, was this movie originally shot on video?!) The DVD includes a text interview with Brett Halsey, which, while informative, is presented in a very small font and those who own TVs smaller than 27 inch screens may have a devil of a time trying to read it. It also has a very brief on-location interview with Fulci (in HEAVILY accented English... next time, subtitles please) bracketted by what appears to be a home movie of the Italian crew setting up a scene while chatting noisily. I hope this is not Shriek Show's idea of a "behind-the-scene" featurette... For Fulci completists only.

dunno, twas a bit odd, and funny. not really worth watching, except for like a topless scene or two involving a cross bow.

With "Demonia", Fulci returned to the supernatural horror after several excursions to other genres.

The movie deals with a female archeologist becoming possessed by the evil spirits of satanic nuns. The opening is typical Fulci and features the crucifixion of the satanic nuns in all the gruesome details. Afterwards, the movie turns to the present and becomes somewhat uneven: On the one hand, it contains beautiful dreamlike sequences, and - especially towards the end - well-executed heavy gore such as a tongue impalement and a body torn apart. On the other hand, probably due to budgetary constraints, it is fairly repetitive and is filled with lots of boring dialogue. The ending is a bit too "dreamlike" and fairly disappointing.

Fulci fans, like the reviewer, will be pleased with the "Godfather of Gore" playing the role of a police inspector and the appearance of Fulci veteran Al Cliver.

As a conclusion, I would say that the movie is generally underrated. It is quite atmospheric and echoes many of Fulci's earlier motives, e.g., the depiction of a superstitious remote village.

We should be grateful to "Shriek Show" for the release of "Demonia". I think the quality of the release is comparable to the one of the recent Anchor Bay releases. The bonus section features an interview with the maestro on the set of "Demonia". Note that the same interview is also included in the bonus material of the special edition of "The Beyond".

Sicily, 1486: A group of angry men convey several nuns to an underground chamber. Here they tie the nuns to crosses, then proceed to crucify them. . . .

Canada, 1990: Professor Paul Evans is preparing an archaeological expedition to visit Sicily in search of Greek remains. (The Classical Greeks established several city-states as colonies in Sicily.) One of his graduate students, Liza Harris, who is part of the professors team, attends a séance and has a strange vision of nuns being crucified. . . .

The expedition arrives in Sicily and begins work at a dig site near the coastal village of Santa Rosalaria. Liza wanders off to investigate the ruins of a medieval nunnery overlooking the site. Something in the atmosphere of the ruins seems to disturb her. She eventually finds a passage leading into a series of crypts beneath the nunnery. At the lowest level, she findsa group of rotting female corpses, affixed by nails to wooden crosses.

Deeply puzzled by finding physical remains that match her earlier vision, Liza goes into town and attempts to consult the town records. But she finds that several key passages dating to the late Middle Ages have been removed from the records. A strange woman appears and promises to give Liza the answers she seeks if Liza will visit the woman the next day.

When Liza goes to meet the woman, the woman tells here about the old nunnery. The sisters there were really devil worshippers. They lured young men to the nunnery, then killed them during the course of wild orgies. The villagers of Santa Rosalaria finally decided to eradicate the blasphemous evil of the nuns, in the fashion Liza has already seen in her visionsthrough crucifixion.

Meanwhile, several murders linked to a phantom female figure have occurred in and around Santa Rosalaria. The locals are convinced that the archaeologists somehow have released the spirits of the evil nuns. A mob gathers, and sets out for the ruins. Inside, they set fire to the corpses of the nuns. This seems to end the menacebut Liza dies also. Apparently the spirit of the head nun had been possessing her and using her body to commit the murders.

Demonia is a slow-paced and unrewarding effort from wizard of gore director Lucio Fulci. The murders are simply an excuse for Fulcis customary gruesome exercises, and the general rationale for the supernatural menace is poorly defined. I was disappointed by this film.

I had never seen this film by Fulci until I got this DVD from Media Blasters - Shriek Show. I must say, it's taken me 3 days to get just 55 minutes through the movie --- that's how involving it is. Not to trash the maestro, but this has to be his most uninteresting film, even moreso than "White Fang". I'll sit through anything and usually can be entertained somehow one way or another, but on this one so far - nada. From the reviews I've read here and elsewhere, things pick up in the last half hour and there's supposedly some gore so I'm assuming the movie will at least have a bit of a payoff and I'm sure it won't be a total loss. But still, that first hour is grueling.

The WORST part of this DVD, however, is the poor digital mastering --- it is absolutely one of the worst I've ever seen on a DVD with digital artifacting going on constantly. Pictures on the wall move around, character's faces morph, hair bleeds (and I'm not talking gore!) and the image just won't stay still. Very poor mastering! It's a shame because the source material looks great --- but the mastering ruins it. You know it's bad when you're paying more attention to the shoddy mosaic artifacting than the movie itself. Someone compared this to Anchor Bay quality --- there's absolutely no comparison (unless you mean their early stuff like the atrocious transfer on "Zombie"). I sure hope SHRIEK SHOW - MEDIA BLASTERS upgrade their mastering for their upcoming releases because they are acquiring some very cool titles like LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S SKIN. And if they don't, they will be known as the "Madacy" for euro-horror titles in my opinion. What a shame!

No figure in the horror film genre is as divisive as Lucio Fulci. After watching one or two of his films, viewers tend to move into one of two camps. One side hails Fulci as a master of terror, a man who upped the gore quotient in his films while creating wonderfully atmospheric pictures. For these people, Fulci is right up there with the likes of Dario Argento as one of the best filmmakers ever to emerge from Italy. The other camp sneers at these claims, pointing to the plodding pace of his films, the use of extreme gore to camouflage plot holes, and the director's inability to draw good performances out of his cast as evidence of mediocrity. Initially, I enjoyed Fulci's films, specifically "Zombie," "City of the Living Dead," and "The New York Ripper" because I did not know any better. When I came on the scene, you went to Fulci to feed your craving for gore. What a difference a few years exploring the genre makes! While I will not go so far as to remove Uncle Lucio from my play list altogether, I have seen enough of his films to realize he is not a cinematic genius. He is at best a good director, at worst an abysmal one, and there are plenty of examples of bad filmmaking in this director's filmography.

Cue "Demonia," one of Fulci's later films (1990) and a rather mediocre effort. On this outing Lucio introduces us to Professor Paul Evans (Brett Halsey), his golden haired assistant Liza (Meg Register), and a bunch of other people we could care less about as they launch an archeological expedition somewhere in Italy. Unfortunately, a huge abandoned convent sits atop a nearby hill where, according to the first five or so minutes of the film, a group of nuns perished horribly at the hands of a mob of greasy villagers back in medieval times. Why? Well, they had weird markings that looked like question marks on their foreheads, were really pale, and any film showcasing a bunch of medieval peasants simply must have them carrying torches in some sort of mob action. It's an ironclad rule no filmmaker dares to break. Anyway, these ragamuffin villagers drag these nuns down into the basement of the convent and proceed to nail them to crucifixes in a series of scenes interesting due solely to the lack of gore. We see a little trickle of sauce, the nuns expire in record time, and the mob shuffles off camera. End of story. Put the lens on the camera, roll up the power cables, toss the stuff in a truck, and go home. O.K., not really. Then the film flashes forward a number of centuries to the wooden Evans and the spacey Liza.

Right from the time the group arrives at the expedition site, we know something is wrong. Liza begins to show an unhealthy interest in the convent. She even goes up there to walk around, against Professor Evans's advice, and soon finds the skeletal remains of the nuns still attached to the crosses in the basement. Then Liza starts having really weird yet supremely cryptic dreams. What's a girl to do in such a situation? Heading over to the local psychic for a one on one about the sordid history of the convent is one answer. According to this gal, who is your typical weirdo mystic found in nearly every other Italian exploitation film, the townspeople executed these nuns because they worshipped Satan and killed some local lads after a series of lascivious hijinks. Now it seems like the nuns have come back, or something, because some of the locals start dying in horrible ways. Psychic chick, for example, discovers that spilling the beans about the local Lucifer lovers carries painful consequences. So does a wild-eyed local butcher by the name of Turi (Lino Salemme), who earns a free tongue piercing thanks to his interest in the situation. Throw in veteran Italian schlock veteran Al Cliver, Fulci himself as a police detective, and an ending that makes little sense and you've got all the makings for a fun way to spend an hour and a half.

"Demonia" is a bit of mystery in terms of its release date. The whole "nuns gone wild" theme--in which movies like "Flavia the Heretic," "The Other Hell," and "The Sinful Nuns of St. Valentine" are the most visible representatives yet released to DVD--had long faded into exploitation history by the time Fulci made "Demonia." Why this film emerged in 1990 mystifies me. Then there are the plot problems. "Demonia" just isn't that interesting of a film. Halsey's character spends his time wondering around looking confused, Meg Register appears to be in a Thorazine induced stupor, and the dialogue is so rigid you could hammer nails with it. So why should you watch the movie? Easy. Fulci completists will want to watch it, of course, but the gore crowd will express interest too. Cats clawing the eyes out of a woman's head, a nail through a tongue, a guy torn in half--get ready to see some sauce here. And while the gore effects aren't spectacular, they were good enough to keep the picture moving along to its spectacularly idiotic final sequences. The conclusion to this film ranks up there with Fulci's "City of the Living Dead" in the sheer stupidity department.

Extras on the DVD include a trailer for the film, a very short text interview with Brett Halsey, a short video of Fulci directing the film, a director's biography, and a "scream access" feature that gives you the option of skipping straight to the killings. If you're just starting out with Fulci, don't start here. Go see "Zombie" or "City of the Living Dead" first. Watching this one would likely turn you off of the man's work for a time.