Demonia [DVD]

Classic horror, so glad there is finally a true Hd version! Decent bonus features

Warning: SPOILERS!!! This horror film, directed/co-written by Lucio Fulci during his "twilight" period, may not make a lot of sense, but there's no denying that it has an atmosphere of dread that just won't quit. Filled with scenes of nasty gory violence, something we have come to depend on from Fulci, this film may leave you shaking your head in disbelief, but I guarantee you will not be bored. This film can be considered a late addition to the "Nunsploitation" genre, a genre I am not a big fan of, but Fulci puts his own "brand" on it, making it a unique viewing experience, especially for 1990. SICILY 1486: A group of angry men drag five nuns into a room of the Santa Rosita Monastery and crucify them on large wooden crosses, hammering metal spikes into the palms of their hands and then killing them by pounding metal spikes into their hearts. The men then leave the room laughing, while the camera shows us a mountain of human bones in the floor below this room. The room is then sealed up and the nuns' deaths will be a village secret for centuries to come. TORONTO 1990: Anthropologist Liza Harris (Meg Register; MINISTRY OF VENGEANCE - 1989) is participating in a séance, when she sees the image of one of the crucified nuns and passes out. When she wakes up, her boss, Professor Paul Evans (Brett Halsey; Fulci's THE DEVIL'S HONEY - 1986), is standing beside her and berates her for attending "senseless" séances, reminding her that they are going to Sicily tomorrow to study Greek ruins as part of an expedition to discover how Greek history influenced Sicily. It will be a trip neither of them will forget and only one of them will survive. Once in Sicily, Liza becomes obsessed with the ruins of the Santa Rosita Monastery, even though Professor Evans tells her that the monastery has nothing whatsoever to do with the expedition. The mayor of the small village pays the Professor a visit and warns him not to ask the villagers any questions, they are very private people and don't like to talk to strangers and trying to question them could be extremely dangerous, even deadly. The Professor and Liza then go to visiting oceanographic anthropologist Porter (Al Cliver; Fulci's THE BEYOND - 1981) on his boat and he tells Liza to stay away from the monastery, because the locals will kill to keep their secrets. Porter tells them that the locals will refuse to help them at all, because they believe that the "past belongs dead." He is right, of course, as the locals refuse to even acknowledge Liza when she walks into the village and one local, butcher Turi DeSimone (Lino Salemme; GRAVEYARD DISTURBANCE - 1988), threatens Liza's life if he sees her at the monastery again. One night, Liza walks to the monastery in a trance-like state and destroys a fresco of a nun with her pickaxe, opening a hole in the wall that leads her to the room where the nuns were crucified over 500 years ago, their skeletons still hanging on the large wooden crosses. The sight of the murdered nuns snaps Liza out of her trance and she screams and runs away. This discovery leads to a series of gory murders perpetrated by the ghosts of the nuns. The first to die is Porter, who returns to his boat after going on a booze run. He finds the lights on, which seems strange since he knows he turned them off. He enters the boat's living quarters, only to have a headless ghostly nun (!) kill him with a spear gun bolt to his chest. Expedition crewmembers Kevin (Pascal Druant; BLUE TORNADO - 1990) and Sean (Grady Thomas Clarkson; ARENA - 1989) use the monastery as a place to secretly drink, away from the nasty Professor (who just got done yelling at his crew for singing!), when they hear the sound of women laughing in the distance. They both go to investigate and fall into a pit full of sharp spikes and end up dead with several wooden spikes impaled through their bodies. When their bodies are discovered, Interpol agent Inspector Carter (Lucio Fulci, in an extended uncredited cameo) and his partner Lt. Andi (Michael J. Aronin; THE LONE RUNNER - 1986) question Professor Evans and Inspector Carter tells him he will hold him responsible if there are any more deaths. He tells the Professor that his wife is from this village, so he better not talk to any of the locals if he knows what's good for him. Inspector Carter and Lt. Andi then look for the missing Porter on his boat and find his severed head attached to the boat's anchor. Lt. Andi accuses the Professor of being the murderer of Porter based on a ten-year-old story (and Lt. Andi's love for detective novels!) where the Professor refuted one of Porter's discoveries, which resulted in the Professor losing his profession and his standing among his peers when he was proved wrong. The Professor denies the allegation, telling Lt. Andi that it is all water under the bridge; he and Porter made up and were now friends, but the Professor wonders if he and his crew should pull out of Sicily and head back to Toronto. Liza then meets a medium/cat lady named Lilla (Carla Cassola; THE SECT - 1991), who tells Liza that the five crucified nuns were actually beautiful satanic witches who (cue the flashbacks!) invited young men to join them in orgies and would kill them (by stabbing them in the neck) as they reached orgasm, drinking their blood and then going insane with delirium. If any of the nuns became pregnant, they would deliver their babies and then immediately throw them into a fire as a sacrifice to Satan (end of the flashbacks!). Lilla tells Liza not to tell anyone what she has just heard if she wants to stay alive; what she needs to do is ask God for help. When Liza leaves Lilla's home, Lilla's collection of cats go on a flesh frenzy and attack Lilla (after she hears the nuns laughing), graphically tearing out her eyes and eating them. A ghostly nun enters Turi's butcher shop and impales Turi in the neck with a meat hook. She's not done with him, though, as she nails his tongue to a butcher's block (!) and finishes him off by locking him in the freezing meat locker (in typical Fulci overkill). Inspector Carter finds a piece of ancient cloth next to Turi's frozen body and now knows that the Professor is not involved. Robbie (Francesco Cusimano), a young boy who is the son of crewmembers Susie (Christina Englehardt; SKINNER - 1993) and John (Ettore Comi) is kidnapped by a faceless (but not headless) ghostly nun, but he escapes, only to find his father in a booby trap, both his legs tied between two bent trees. His father tells him not to move, but Robbie doesn't listen and steps on the tripwire. He watches his father being torn in half, from nuts to neck (really graphic and gory) as his blood sprays all over a shocked Bobby's body. Just as the Professor is ready to call it quits, one of his crewmembers tells him he has made an important discovery and the Professor changes his mind, but makes it clear to Liza that she has to stop obsessing about the monastery, that's not why they are here. Liza doesn't listen and goes back to the monastery, which riles up the locals, who band together and crucify Liza on a wooden cross, just like their ancestors did to the five nuns. But they take an extra step and burn Liza alive, as the Professor enters the room and mourns her death. But Liza then appears dead on the stone floor, her body no longer burned. For the Professor, it's all too little, too late, as the film ends with the image of a dead Liza lying on the floor. While this film looks very cheap, especially the low-quality gore effects (by Franco Giannini; THE RAT MAN - 1987), Lucio Fulci does manage to imbue this film with a dream-like quality. One such scene shows the Professor yelling to Liza from a far distance not to enter the monastery, while Liza is standing in the middle of the ruins of an ancient stone amphitheater. You have to admire Fulci's sense of style, even though it is obvious he didn't have a lot of money to work with, yet he instills a sense of extreme mystery and awe with his camera setups, none more imaginative than this sequence, shot from both protagonist's point-of-view. It is a beautiful well-shot scene, worthy of a big-budget epic, not a low-budget horror film, yet here it is. That's not to say this film doesn't have its share of problems. The screenplay, by Fulci and Piero Regnoli (PATRICK STILL LIVES - 1980; and Fulci's VOICES FROM BEYOND - 1991), is pretty weak. It seems to be just a series of shock/gore sequences with very little connective tissue between scenes. The pacing is also languid and Brett Halsey's Professor Paul Evans is off-putting, denigrating Liza when he should be supporting her and putting his expedition before Liza's well-being. He's not a very nice man, to Liza or his crew, who let off a little steam at night by singing songs around a campfire, only to have the Professor yell at them for not allowing him to sleep. Even though some of the cinematography is very lavish, the film still has the look and feel of a TV movie, such as Fulci's SWEET HOUSE OF HORRORS (1989), THE HOUSE OF CLOCKS (1989) or TOUCH OF DEATH (1990; also starring Halsey). Still, the film's dream-like quality, mixed with bloody gore (no matter how cheap it looks), manage to propel this film past the ordinary and into a territory I recommend whole-heartedly. It's not prime Fulci, but it still contains more plusses than negatives. A lot of critics give this film bad reviews, but I invite them to view this film again and reassess their opinions. I am willing to bet a lot of them will, for the simple reason that time heals most wounds. It's funny how films we hated when we were younger become classics or semi-classics as we become older. This is one of those films, at least for me. Parts of this film may remind viewers of Fulci's CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD (1980; the opening séance scene) or any of his early-'80s gore flicks and that's never a bad thing, but this film contains enough atmosphere to survive in its own universe, especially the real ruins that are actually in Sicily, Italy, giving this film an authentic look and feel, something which couldn't be done on a stage with sets (even though Fulci was also a master with sets, as he proved with HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY - 1981). This film never received a theatrical or VHS release in the United States until 2001, when Shriek Show/Media Blasters released it both on VHS and DVD (which is how I viewed it, even though they are long OOP). Also featuring Paolo Cozzo (DEMONS - 1985), Isabella Corradini, Paola Calati, Bruna Rossi (ARIZONA ROAD - 1991) and Ruth Anderson as the ghostly nuns. Not Rated. UPDATE: Now available on DVD & Blu-Ray from Severin Films, the purveyors of everything Italian and bless 'em for it!

Love Fulci? Love nunsploitation? Then this is the movie for you! It does drag a bit in places, but the best scenes, of which there are many, absolutely make up for this.

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.

this is my second favorite fulci film {behind house by the cemetery}it has a great story and the best gore ever the ending does kinda leave you hanging

Very good.

Bon film d horreur italien [1990] , pas de VF , bonne restauration HD 👍Je recommande👌

Letzter guter"fulci" Film ! BD sehr gute Qualität .

E' un buon cult per gli appassionati. Ovvaimente Dario Argento, Mario Bava e Pupi Avati sono su un altro pianeta.

Little spoken of Fulci film delivers in spades. All the Fulci techniques are alive and well in this one. Make a game of it!

Lucio Fulci est certainement mon réalisateur de films d’horreur italien préféré et pourtant il est injustement moins connu que Mario Bava, Dario Argento et autres Ruggero Deodato (goutez moi « la longue nuit de l’exorcisme », « l’au delà » ou « la maison près du cimetière », vous m’en direz des nouvelles).Pour « demonia » sorti en 1990, soit des années après l’apogée du maitre, un petit groupe d’archéologues canadiens s’en va visiter les ruines d’un monastère dans lequel des nonnes adoratrices de Satan ont été crucifiées. Comment les canadiens en sont arrivés là ? En étudiant de vieux grimoires avec des Belzbuttoscopes à rayons gamma ? Pas du tout, en faisant tourner les tables ma bonne dame. 10 ans d’études scientifiques financées à la sueur du front de leurs parents pour en arriver là, je suis effondré.Notons un parti pris original dans ce film, en règle générale quand une nonne se fait crucifier c’est par un prêtre qui a soulevé sa soutane de façon un peu enthousiaste et 9 mois plus tard ça débouche sur un avortement clandestin suivi d’une promotion de la porteuse de cornette à aller évangéliser les léproseries en Afrique sub-saharienne, là elles ont juste pas ouvert leur livre de prière à la bonne page. Ce que j’aime chez mon cher Lucio c’est que pour une fois en transalpie c’est pas du giallo (dont vous savez que je l’apprécie moyen) et quand mister Fulci cause de crucifixion, c’est comme au stand démo de Bricomarché, on ne cache rien à la clientèle ! Hélas c’est durant les toutes premières minutes, ensuite « demonia » devient si palpitant que mon esprit s’est mis à dériver fortement pendant que je m’écoutais pousser les poils dans les oreilles. Entre scènes théatrales et visions d’une archéologue que je ridiculise en croquant un seul des champignons que je cueille dans mon jardin Lucio Fulci m’a perdu sur ce coup là. Alors certes on a 2 minutes avec hémoglobine sympa (crucifixions et écartèlement jusqu’en phase finale) mais les 1h26 qui restent valaient elles le coup de restaurer un Lucio Fulci aussi mineur ? 1/5