Tongue in cheek mid 80's horror comedies that were hugely
successful and i remember having them on VHS (transferred from Laserdisc).
In these films people of the Apocalypse turn into Demons instead of
Zombies, or maybe into Demon Zombies or Zombie Demons ? Well,
everything starts with some people in a film who raids a Tomb and finds
a Demon mask and book with a Demon curse, so OK Demons it is.
This US Synapse 2 disc edition had a lot of extras but please note that
it's a region A edition (stated so on the sleeve anyway).
Disc 1 - Demons
(1985):
The film takes place in Berlin, Germany, and Cheryl
(Natasha Hovey) meets a friend, Kathy (Paola Cozzo) and when a man in
a face mask
(Michele Soavi) hands them a ticket for a cinema showing of a mysterious
unnamed movie, they unwisely decide to skip music class and
instead attend the event. At the cinema they are ushered in by legendary
red-haired 1970's horror and gialli child actress Nicoletta Elmi,
and she's all grown here and she's beautiful and yummy with big curly
hair (who would've thought when watching her in i.a. Deep Red).
Inside the cinema the girls are soon accompanied by 2 guys, George (Urbano
Barberini) and Ken (Karl Zinny, the wheelchair guy in Bava's
1987 Serena Grandi giallo "Delirium").

Above: The Ticket - Welcome to the Apocalypse
The film starts and it's a horror movie about some youngsters
raiding an old tomb and finding a Demon mask and an old book with a
Demon
curse. When the film is getting somewhat scary, a black girl in the
audience, Rosemary (Geretta Geretta, Margie from Lucio Fulci's 1984
"Murder Rock") suddenly (she had a small scratch from a Mask
in the Metropol cinema foyer) turns into a Demon and starts attacking
people.
Chaos erupts when the victims of Rosemary turn into Demons and from
here-on people tries to stay alive and they are trapped, walled in by
The Theatre of Death. There are i.a. Hanna (Fiore Argento, Dario's daughter
and, yes, the first victim in "Phenomena"), the pimp (Bobby
Rhodes, also in "Demons 2") and the blonde punk girl (Bettina
Ciampolini) and there's the "Helicopter" scene. Will anyone
get out alive ?
The film a new 4K restoration is presented in 1.66:1
wide ratio with english or italian audio DTS-HD MA 5.1/2.0 with english
subtitles, Please
Note Region A stated on sleeve.
Included Reproduction of the original movie ticket (see pic above),
a fold out poster of Demons artwork, reversible sleeve.
Audio commentary by Kat Ellinger and Heather Drain, Audio commentary
by Lamberto Bava, Sergio Stivaletti, Claudio Simonetti, Geretta
Geretta and others, Produced by Dario Argento (27 minutes, written and
narrated by Michael MacKenzie, Arrow 2021), Archival Special
features: Dario's Demon Days (interview 10 minutes), Defining an era
in music (Claudio Simonetti (9 minutes), Splatter Stuntrock (interview
with stuntman Ottaviano Dell'Acqua, Dario and the Demons (16 minutes),
Trailers

Above: Reversible sleeve
Disc 2 - Demons 2 (1986):
The Sequel takes place in a high-rise apartment building
and very young Asia Argento makes her film debut and some of the
actors from "Demons" can be seen here as Frank the doorman
(a coke snorting punk in the first), and Bobby Rhodes as the
Gym instructor (a pimp in the first) but in both films Rhodes is resourceful
and leads the fight against the Demon horde.

Sally's Party and .... "Come
to Nikki!"
Sally (Corasina Cataldi,
the unlucky wardrobe girl in Argento's "Opera" that get slashed
by a scissor) is having a birthday party.
At the same time TV shows a program about Demons, and many of the tenants
in the house are watching it including the young
kid Ingrid (Asia) and also Sally (sulking
in her room during her party). In the most famous and cool scene from
any of the Demon
films Sally sees the TV program Demon turn and look directly at her
and then slowly advance and enter the "real" world through
the TV screen - this in an iconic scene clearly inspired by David
Cronenberg's 1983 horror Masterpiece "Videodrome"
where
James Woods watches TV and Debbie Harry's lips come closer and closer
to finally break the screen and enter his room - "Come
to Nikki" and later Japanese director Hideo Nakata used this effect
in his 1990's horror classic "Ringu/Ring".
By entering Sally's room through her TV screen the Demons
are loose in the house and soon there's chaos with bitten or scratched
people turning into Demons. The Demon Virus on rampage in a 12 storey
building. This do resemble another Cronenberg movie,
his 1975 "The Parasite Murders or Shivers, where tenants in a modern
high-rise building get infected by parasite slugs turning
them into sex crazed zombies/maniacs and causing panic. So this is a
film for genre lovers and Lamberto Bava and Argento make
a lot of nods to films they love.
Whatabout Sally then ? She was sulking but turned into Demon Sally she
kill all her guests and is having a great birthday party
and Corasina Cataldi is my favourite Demon in this film. She seems to
enjoy her new "Demon life" to the fullest.
In the film we also have a young couple, George (David Knight) and pregnant
Hannah (Nancy Brilli) and as a "George" in the first
film were the only one who survived the Demons attack, will this "another"
George be the one here too ?
The film a new 4K restoration is presented in 1.66:1
wide ratio with english or italian audio DTS-HD MA 5.1/2.0 with english
subtitles,
Please Note Region A stated on sleeve.
Audio commentary by Travis Crawford, Together and Apart: Video essay
by Alexandra Heller Nicholas (26 minutes, 2021 Arrow),
Screaming for a Sequel: The Delirious Legacy of Demons 2 with Lamberto
Bava (16 minutes), Creating Creature Carnage: Interview
with Sergio Stivaletti, The Demons Generation with Roy Bava, A Soundtrack
for Splatter: Interview with composer Simon Boswell,
Original Italian and English Trailers