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Dèmoni (Demons)
English-language film poster
Directed by	Lamberto Bava
Produced by	Dario Argento
Written by	Story: Dardano Sacchetti Screenplay: Dario Argento Lamberto Bava Franco Ferrini Dardano Sacchetti
Starring	Urbano Barberini, Natasha Hovey, Paola Cozzo, Bobby Rhodes, Fiore Argento
Music by	Claudio Simonetti Billy Idol Mötley Crüe Accept Pretty Maids Saxon
Release date(s)	1985
Running time	88 min.
Language	English and Italian (dubbed)
Budget	$1,800,000 (reported)
Followed by	Dèmoni 2 (1986)

Dèmoni (also known as Demons) is a 1985 Italian horror film directed by Lamberto Bava and produced by Dario Argento. Screenplay by Bava, Argento, Franco Ferrini, and Dardano Sacchetti, from a story by Sacchetti. Filming took place in Berlin - Germany and Rome - Italy.

Plot summary

The film begins when two young women receive tickets to a free film screening at The Metropol, a newly opened movie theatre in Berlin, Germany. When they arrive they discover that a large crowd has shown up for the screening and they sit down to watch the movie, a violent horror film. Out in the lobby a woman has scraped herself on the face with a bizarre mask, and she notices that the mask is the exact same as a prop used in the film. She goes to the bathroom, and as she looks in the mirror the cut on her face bursts open, spewing out a foul pus. She is soon transformed into a bloodthirsty, fanged demon. Before long the cinema patrons are forced to battle for their lives as one by one they are transformed into vicious monsters.

Cast

• Urbano Barberini...George
• Natasha Hovey...Cheryl
• Paola Cozzo...Kathy
• Karl Zinny...Ken
• Geretta-Geretta...Rosemary as Geretta Giancarlo
• Fiore Argento...Hannah
• Bobby Rhodes...Tony
• Nicoletta Elmi...Ingrid the usherette
• Michele Soavi...Man in Mask
• Fabiola Toledo...Carmen
• Stelio Candelli...Frank
• Nicole Tessier...Ruth
• Guido Baldi...Tommy
• Bettina Ciampolini...Liz
• Giuseppe Mauro Cruciano...Hot Dog
• Sally Day...Carla
• Eliana Miglio...Edith
• Jasmine Maimone...Nancy
• Marcello Modugno...Bob
• Peter Pitsch...Baby Pig
• Lino Salemme...Ripper
• Enrica Maria Scrivano...Nina
• Alex Serra...Werner
• Claudio Spadaro...Liz's lover
• Giovanni Frezza...Kirk, boy in jeep
• Lamberto Bava...Extra in Subway
• Sami Habib Ahmed...Kathy's baby demon
• Sergio Stivaletti...A victim
• Goffredo Unger...Jeep Driver

Soundtrack

• Billy Idol - "White Wedding"
• Accept - "Fast as a Shark"
• Mötley Crüe - "Save Our Souls"
• Claudio Simonetti - "Demon"
• Claudio Simonetti - "Killing"
• Claudio Simonetti - "Out of Time"
• Rick Springfield - "Walking on the Edge"
• Pretty Maids - "Night Danger"
• Go West - "We Close Our Eyes"
• The Adventures - "Send My Heart"
• Saxon - "Everybody Up"

Reception

Demoni is generally held in high regards by horror fans due to its simple plot, high gore content, and classic heavy metal soundtrack. It currently holds a 6.4 rating on IMDB, but only a 50% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Sequels

Trivia

• In addition to co-writing the script, Dario Argento also produced the film.
• Argento's daughter Fiore plays the character of Hannah.
• The building used for the exterior shots of the movie theatre still exists, it regularly hosts horror conventions today.
• Michele Soavi, a devotee of Argento's work and his assistant director on several films, also served as an assistant director on Demoni and has two starring roles, as the man wearing the silver mask and as Jerry, one of the characters in the film playing at the Metropol.
• Nicoletta Elmi, who plays the usherette, appeared in Argento's 1975 classic giallo Deep Red. She also had a small role in the 1971 horror film Twitch of the Death Nerve, directed by Mario Bava, the father of Demoni director Lamberto Bava.
• Posters for Werner Herzog's Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht and Argento's Four Flies on Grey Velvet can be seen hanging in the Metropol's lobby. There is also a AC/DC poster in one scene.
• This film was #53 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments.
• In the Playstation video game, Silent Hill (1999), there is also a theater named the "Metropol". The theater also has posters on the outside walls advertising for the film "Demons", which is an obvious reference.
• No gore was cut from the original script.^{[citation needed]}
• Most of the interior cinema scenes were shot in an actual closed down movie theatre. The building still exists but is now a bank.

External links

• Dèmoni (Demons) at the Internet Movie Database
• Dèmoni (Demons) at Allmovie

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