Demons 2 (1986)
Director: Lamberto Bava
Demons is probably one of the
best pieces of gory grindhouse ever, and mostly because it ended with a
bang. The hero Samurai-Sword fought
demon zombies to the sound of 80s rock, before having to kill his new girlfriend, on the back of a jeep, while escaping an overrun city. What better sequel setup could you ask for? Demons
2 could feature a whole world overrun by demons and a few select
survivors trying to live through the last hours of an apocalypse. That’s not what Demons 2 does though.
Demons 2 follows the “give’em
more of the same!” tradition of sequels. While the first movie was a bunch of
people stuck in a movie theater, being threatened by a demon zombie plague, the second one features a group of people stuck in a large apartment building. The events of the first Demons are slightly referenced in yet another ‘movie-within-a
movie’ narrative device. This time they
push the angle, that these monsters come from the film you're watching, in a much
bigger way. Even as far as to show the
first major demon coming out of the TV to attack an unsuspecting viewer.
Wait so… what? Oh, screw it… whatever I didn’t come here for this to make sense.
If you’ve
read my review of the first movie, you know I’m in love with it. Everything from the goofy acting, the crazy
pimps, and demon puss pimples, fills me with glee like a 9-year-old boy. That love floods over to this sequel as
well, but only a little bit. Demons 2 takes the building
blocks of the first and tries to do the same thing, but with just a little
extra. It sadly misses its mark. We
spent just too much time making back-story for characters we know are going to
die. We have subplot after subplot in
different locations in the building.
They all have their so-bad-its-funny sort of charm, there’s just too many
though. We have body builders fighting
demons, a house party turned into ground zero, a pregnant couple, an old lady
with a dog, and a child left home alone.
Luckily Tony the Pimp is back too… but with a
different name and an obsession for fitness.
Sure, we get the more of the great creature
effects, like the demon
baby, but we also have the horrible demon dog, which starts with promise and
eventually just turns into a dog with a mask on. It’s all still gory fun, but it's not as much
gory fun. If you liked the first one, you’ll stand to get a kick out of this, but it doesn’t have nearly the same
amount of heart. I will give it credit
for killing both the dog and the kid; two characters you always just assume
will live.
Then
there’s the whole meta-plot ‘movie within a movie’ stuff. It’s ultimately pointless and hard to follow.
So, was the first movie just a movie IN this movie, and they are watching the
sequel while we’re watching them in a sequel?
Is the movie from the first Demons in any way related to the movie in the second Demons? Are the
events in the movies within the movies, real life? Is this like The Ring where if you watch the
movies, you die like in the movies? Why the hell would you show this movie on
TV? What about the mask in the first
one? Why is demon blood acidic now? Those questions alone made my brain explode
a little bit. We’re not supposed to worry
about that stuff in a cheese-ball gore fest like this. My best advice is to
just turn off all of your brain, every brain cell, you just need to destroy
it.
Still, it’s a decent movie to watch
at 3 in the morning, when you come home intoxicated, but it’s not good for much
else. Basically, if you like Demons, you’ll at least get a kick
out of Demons 2. If you didn’t like Demons, you should just step back and leave it be.
Now, just don’t get me started on the rest of this franchise's
supposed sequels.
Jesus… I can’t… I just won’t.
- Will Woolery
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