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Demons: Standard Edition
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Synapse Films Review written by and copyright: Eric Cotenas (8th August 2024). |
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The Film
 When Berlin music student Cheryl (Natasha Hovey) receives free passes to an unspecified movie, she and classmate Kathy (Cat in the Brain's Paola Cozzo) ditch class to attend a premiere at the recently re-opened Metropol theater. Also in attendance are bickering couple Frank (Nude for Satan's Stelio Candeli) and Ruth (Giants of Rome's Nicole Tessier), teenage couple Hannah (producer Dario Argento's daughter Fiore from Phenomena) and Tommy (Guido Baldi), blind Werner (Ladyhawke's Alex Serra) and his daughter Liz (Sally Day), pimp Tony (Circle of Fear's Bobby Rhodes) and his hookers Carmen (Caligula: The Untold Story's Fabiola Toledo) and Rosemary (Murder-Rock: Dancing Death's Geretta Giancarlo). Cheryl and Kathy meet cute over a vending machine and pair off with George (Gor's Urbano Barberini) and Ken (Delirium's Karl Zinny) and settle in for the movie in which a quartet of kids including future director Michele Soavi (Stagefright) who also pops up in the film proper as the masked man giving out movie passes, Marcello Modugno (Dial: Help), Eliana Hoppe (You'll Die at Midnight), and Jasmine Maimone (Paganini Horror) make a nighttime visit to the tomb of Nostradamus. The kids discover a silver demon mask that one of the guys jokingly tries on and cuts himself just has Rosemary had done before the film with the display mask in the lobby. Rosemary's cut begins to bleed again so she goes to the restroom where she undergoes a messy transformation into a demon "an instrument of evil" that starts slaughtering moviegoers in parallel to the massacre in the film. When a clawed Carmen crashes through the screen and undergoes a transformation right in front of the audience, the feeling moviegoers discover that they are trapped in the theater as the demons continue to attack and spread infection. Originally planned as a story in an unfilmed anthology project, Demons co-scripted by Argento and director Lamberto Bava along with Mario Bava/Lucio Fulci-regular Dardanno Sacchetti (The Beyond) and Argento-regular Franco Ferrini (Sleepless) proved to be a crowd-pleaser worldwide with its splattery unrated gore and charged metal soundtrack. The demons are truly vicious here in an effects showcase for Sergio Stivaletti (Wax Mask) who got his start as an uncredited effects technician on Riccardo Freda's genre swan song Murder Obsession and had contributed animatronic and make-up effects to Argento's Phenomena and would branch into digital visual effects on The Stendhal Syndrome although the more seasoned Rosario Prestopino (Burial Ground) was responsible for the clawed faces, torn-off scalps, ripped throats, gouged out eyes, and the large chunks bitten out of their victims all bathed harshly in neon and red and blue gels by Bava's regular cinematographer Gianlorenzo Battaglia (The Barbarians). The claustrophobia of the theater setting is disrupted by cutaways to a quartet of joyriding coke-addled punks Lino Salemme who would also appear in a different role in Demons 2, Peter Pitsch (the diva's companion in Argento's Opera), Giuseppe Maria Curciano (The Monster of Florence), and Bettina Ciampolini (Distant Lights) who stumble into the theater while fleeing the cops to provide more demon-fodder; but the energy has already flagged considerably by this point, at which Bava and Argento pick things up with an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink third act that includes a back-bursting demon birth, Barberini playing a knight astride a motorcycle steed (well, he does come from one of Italy's royal families) slashing away at demons with a razor-sharp katana from the lobby display, and a helicopter dropped through the theater ceiling. An early example of the compilation soundtrack, Demons' employment of heavy metal and new wave is more often hit-than-miss. Motley Crue's "Save Our Souls" scores the intro to the film-within-a-film, Pretty Maids' "Night Danger" accompanies the theater-goers mass exodus and Saxon's "Everybody Up" as George and Cheryl take to the streets, while Accept's "Fast as a Shark" amps up the level of badassery during George's motorcycle takedown of the demons. Go West's "We Close Our Eyes" and The Adventures' "Send My Heart" seem like strange listening for the punks but Billy Idol's "White Wedding" is an inspired choice when they indulge in some coke-snorting. In spite of this line-up, former Goblin keyboardist Claudio Simonetti's synth score has no trouble maintaining prominence from the main title sequence throughout the suspense sequences like the parallel stalking of Carmen behind the theater screen and the comely camper in the film-within-a-film being a prime example. Besides Soavi, the supporting cast includes some other Italian horror cinema history fixtures like Nicoletta Elmi the red-headed tyke of Argento's Deep Red, Mario Bava's Baron Bloodand Bay of Blood, Massimo Dallamano's Night Child, and Andy Warhol's Frankenstein all grown up here as the striking usherette Ingrid, Geoffredo Unger (the masked assassin stunt double of Blood and Black Lace), and House by the Cemetery's Giovanni Frezza who also figured into the prologue of Bava's A Blade in the Dark. 
Video
Demons was distributed unrated theatrically in the United States by the short-lived Ascot Entertainment Group. When they acquired the film, they made some changes to the dubbing as well as adding some additional music stings and sound effects (particularly the claw slash and growl under the title card), and some trims to the Coca-Cola product placement shots. The dubbing is restricted to the bickering couple and the punks, but it is good enough to make one wish they had redubbed the entire film (although the export track features some of the usual Italian dubbing regulars including Nick Alexander). Unfortunately, they made these changes in mono, sacrificing the Dolby Stereo track which is both referenced in the dialogue and the logo still appears in the end credits although that may have been unavoidable since New World's post-production team also ran into problems working with Toho's Dolby Stereo DME for Godzilla 1985 necessitating the final mix to be in mono despite having already created end credits with a Dolby Stereo logo. Although the opening and end credits were in English, the supporting cast list had the "Altri Interpreti" heading even though other export prints had the "Supporting Cast" heading. When New World distributed the film on videocassette (and Image on laserdisc), it was in this altered mono version in a serviceable fullscreen transfer. At this point, the only quality source for the original stereo surround track was the letterboxed Columbia VHS and laserdisc in Japan. In 1998, The Roan Group made a step in the right direction with laserdiscs of the film and its sequel along with Argento's Tenebrae and Phenomena featuring letterboxed 1.66:1 transfers with Chace Surround remixes in stereo surround and AC3 5.1 as well as audio commentary tracks by Lamberto Bava and Sergio Stivaletti (moderated by journalist Loris Curci). These same transfer was released by Anchor Bay on VHS and non-anamorphic DVD the following year with Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 surround tracks. Anamorphic reissues of all four films were issued by Anchor Bay in 2007. While the Argento films turned out to be upscales rather than new transfers, Demons and its sequel turned out to be new more colorful transfers.  An HD remaster from camera negative performed by the Cineteca di Bologna hit the UK first from Arrow Video on Blu-ray in 2012, although the bountiful package was compromised by a number of factors, among them compression artifacts from squeezing each of the films and their respective extras (including new commentaries and interviews) onto BD25 discs and the use of mono-only tracks in both English and Italian reportedly due to an inability to fit the stereo tracks to the new scans. While the Anchor Bay 16:9 master might have had its colors boosted losing some detail in the saturated neons the Arrow transfer looked a tad muted. Synapse took the same scan, performed new color correction, and released it on a stacked website exclusive-limited edition Blu-ray/DVD steelbook combo in 2013, restoring the original English and Italian stereo tracks as well as fitting the U.S. mono track the first film as an option followed up with barebones, English-language only Blu-ray and DVD releases in 2014. Fast forward to 2021 where Arrow dropped a Dolby Vision UHD set of both films followed by separate standard editions UHD/Blu-ray of the film and its sets sequel from new L'Immagine Ritrovata scans of the original camera negative with the extras from the 2012 release and two new commentary tracks and a pair of new visual essays. While some Synapse projects are long in gestation, Synapse's Don May dropped a teaser about possible a UHD upgrade for both films from the 4K masters and separate 6000-copy limited edition UHD and Blu-ray sets of both films were announced and released in the space of a few months, and this time around the standard editions are as stacked as the limited editions (although do not the UHD editions have a couple exclusive extras over the Blu-rays). The menu screens have the layout of Arrow Video Blu-rays rather than the banner arrangement of Synapse discs, and the production info supplied with the disc suggest that these are not only the same 4K masters as the Arrow but also the same Michael McKenzie encodes and Dolby Vision grading on the UHDs and SDR grades on the Blu-rays. The identical Arrow and Synapse 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.66:1 widescreen, seamlessly-branched transfers of the export and Italian versions (88:22 each) featuring English and Italian credits respectively and the U.S. version (88:29) opening with the Ascot International logo presentations do away with the dull grading of the Arrow 2012 edition and take after Synapse's 2013 grade while also being slightly darker with the expected uptick in detail. Neons pop (including demonic drool) and demon make-ups have a slimy sheen while the saturation of blood depends on the lighting. A few slow motion shots still look grimier but that is a mark of the film's production circumstances. 
Audio
While the transfers may be a port of the UK editions, Synapse has done more than add and subtract some extras. While Synapse re-edited the US theatrical mono track to fit the international version of Demons for their 2013 Blu-ray, Arrow recreated the U.S. cut from the 4K master of the international version for their 2021 edition. Rather than using Arrow's audio laserdisc-sourced track for that version, Synapse has elected to remaster the US theatrical dub. While Arrow was able to do new 5.1 remixes of the Italian and English mixes and Synapse has carried them over along with the stereo English and Italian from their 2013 edition in place of Arrow's 2012 mono mixdowns. In addition to the differences in the dubbing and sound effects between the stereo and mono tracks of the international and U.S. versions, also noticeable is the use of Scorpions' "Dynamite" on the Italian track in place of "Night Danger" on the English track. While "Dynamite" is the superior choice, it is surprising just how well both songs suit the same editing. The optional English SDH subtitles for the English tracks and the English subtitles for the Italian tracks also look like Arrow's style (the U.S. theatrical version also includes optional English SDH subtitles). 
Extras
Synapse has dispensed with the 1997 laserdisc commentary track with Bava, his son Roy, and Stivaletti in favor of the 2012 audio commentary by director Lamberto Bava, special effects artist Sergio Stivaletti, composer Claudio Simonetti, and actress Geretta Geretta (Giancarlo), moderated by Mike Baronas, Art Ettinger, and Mark Murray featured on both the Arrow 2012 and Synapse 2013 steelbook editions. Baronas, Ettinger, and Murray introduce the track and presumably quietly prompt Giancarlo who commentates in both English and Italian, and serves as moderator asking questions of Bava, Stivaletti, and Simonetti. Bava notes that he had been developing the story with Dardano Sacchetti (Cat O'Nine Tails) and that they approached Argento later on in development, particulars on the cast noting Barberini turned down the sequel and had a difficult choice about going back to acting after becoming a Knight of Malta and that Giancarlo was in New York when the call came for the sequel. Stivaletti discusses the demon mask and make-ups including three phases of demons ending with the backburster as well as the all of the prosthetic wounds which were the work of late colleague Rosario Prestopino. Simonetti discusses his score and seems less pleased with the imposition of songs from other artists. New to both the Arrow and Synapse 2021 releases is an audio commentary by critics Kat Ellinger and Heather Drain, co-hosts of the Hell's Belles podcast who discuss the place of Italian horror in the mid-to-late eighties, the influence of German expressionism on horror in general and on the film with Bava's choice of Berlin, the film's borrowings parallels with The Purple Rose of Cairo and its influences on self-aware horrors like Wes Craven's New Nightmare and Scream, and the film's combination of metal and horror at a time of the Video Nasties in the UK and Satanic panic in the US. Carried over from the Arrow 2021 edition is "Produced by Dario Argento" (27:13), a visual essay by author and critic Michael Mackenzie focusing on Argento's output as a producer independent of his father Salvatore and brother Claudio, starting with the four film TV series Door into Darkness the beginnings of his self-styled image as celebrity director with onscreen introductions and TV appearances followed by Dawn of the Dead, the Demons films, his Soavi duo The Church and The Sect, his giallo-based TV game show, and his later films in which he served as both producer and director (sometimes partnered with brother Claudio). Mackenzie interestingly notes how the weaknesses of the more personal and self-referential nature of his eighties works as director carried over to his works as producer in which he exerted an influence despite his claims elsewhere that he was hands off.  While the Arrow 2021 disc's archival extras were restricted to their 2012 edition, Synapse's archival extras are a combination of Arrow and Synapse 2013 extras. From the Arrow comes "Darios Demon Days" (10:30) in which Argento notes how much easier it was to write Demons 2 compared to reworking the Sacchetti/Bava script for the first film, Bava's choice of the Berlin setting, and the use of heavy metal on the soundtrack. Also from Arrow is "Defining an Era in Music" (9:34) in which Simonetti discusses the score versus the song choices, the soundtrack's popularity, the music video clip for the main theme, and the soundtrack's re-release. From Synapse comes "Dario and His Demons: Producing Monster Mayhem" (15:51) in which Argento emphasizes the freedom he gives his directors as producer, and notes the thematic similarities in choosing Berlin for Demons and Switzerland for Phenomena. Also from Synapse is "Splatter Stunt Rock" (9:12), an interview with stuntman Ottaviano dellAcqua (wormface of Lucio Fulci's Zombie) in which he discusses his stunt work as a teenager, and his collaborations with Demons stunt coordinator Freddy Unger (the masked killer double of Blood and Black Lace), as well as his opinions of Argento and Bava. The disc closes out with the film's Italian theatrical trailer (2:09), the international trailer (2:09), and the film's U.S. theatrical trailer (1:32). 
Packaging
The standard edition drops the limited edition slipcover but does carry over the insert with a reproduction of the Metropol ticket on one side and information about the transfer on the reverse.
Overall
Dario Argento breaks the fourth wall of Italian horror with Lamberto Bava's Demons.
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