Demons 2 (1986)

A group of tenants and visitors are trapped in a 10-story high-rise apartment building infested with demons who proceed to hunt the dwindling humans down.

Director:

Lamberto Bava

Writers:

Dario Argento, Lamberto Bava

Stars:

David Edwin Knight, Nancy Brilli, Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
David Edwin Knight	...	George (as David Knight)
Nancy Brilli	...	Hannah
Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni	...	Sally Day (as Coralina Cataldi Tassoni)
Bobby Rhodes	...	Hank
Asia Argento	...	Ingrid Haller
Virginia Bryant	...	Mary the Prostitute
Anita Bartolucci	...	Woman with Dog
Antonio Cantafora	...	Ingrid's Father
Luisa Passega	...	Helga Haller
Davide Marotta	...	Demon Tommy
Marco Vivio	...	Tommy
Dario Casalini	...	Danny - Ulla's boyfriend
Michele Mirabella	...	Hooker's Client
Lorenzo Gioielli	...	Jake
Maria Chiara Sasso	...	Ulla, partygoer with camera

Storyline

A documentary is shown on TV of group of teens who investigate the legendary forbidden zone, in which a Demon infestation once took place (see Demoni I). When finding a lifeless corpse of a demon, one of the teens causes the resurrection of it, and the demon makes it's way into the nearby world by TV-broadcast... An unlucky girl, having her birthday-party at that time, gets possessed by the demon while watching the documentary and soon the entire building in which she lives turns into a living nightmare....

---

Plot Keywords:

grindhouse film | classic horror | child in jeopardy | psychotronic film | supernatural | 

---

Taglines:

Lets Party!

---

Genres:

Horror

---

Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

Shooting began on 30th June 1986.

---

Goofs

When the phone rings at Sally's birthday party, the receiver is clearly on backwards, which would prevent the phone from ringing. The phone is put back on backwards after the call.

---

Quotes

Joe: [to his friends, upon finding a hideous, lethal supernatural creature lying dormant in a dark spooky alley] There's no danger!

---

Alternate Versions

The Anchor Bay/Roan Group 'Dario Argento Collection' videocassette/DVD released in the U.S. features the unedited (unrated) version, 3 minutes longer than the edited R-rated version.

---

Connections

References Demons (1985)

---

Soundtracks

Live in TV
Written and Performed by The Producers

User Reviews

Decent sequel to popular ¨Demons¨ packed with chills , thrills , bloody bites and grisly killings

Follow-up to ¨Demons I¨ , an extremely violent and horrifying film that spawned several sequels and imitations , here the Nightmare Returns . While in original picture the scary events occur when selected at random , people on the street are invited to an advance screen of a new horror movie , as a group of people are trapped in a large movie theater in West Berlin and then a prostitute is bitten turning into a lethal demon , here in ¨Demons 2¨, deeds happen in Hamburgo buildings . As a group of tenants and visitors are trapped in a 10-story high-rise apartment building infested with demons who proceed to hunt the dwindling humans down . There appears blood-thirsting demons chasing humans and a little boy demon who was played by an adult dwarf as well as another small demon , a Gremlin-alike . Gruesome picture in enough budget plenty of chills , suspense , screams , lots of gore , blood and guts . This actually is a very terrifying and eerie flick ; dealing with a demonic infection spreads people in a block of apartments . Meanwhile , a juvenile bunch finding a lifeless corpse of a demon and one of the young boys causes the resurrection . Later on , a party girl becomes a drooling , fanged demon . In a killing rage , she tears apart other in the flats that are infected by ravenous , clawed demons who proceed to kill and posse the humans one-by-one, transforming into bloody creatures who attack the remaining humans , thereby multiplying their numbers . When the party members attempt to getaway , they find themselves caught within .

This exciting picture contains thrills , chills , graphic violence , action-filled with fierce fights and loads of gore and guts . The horror and action moments are fast moving and compactly realized . This is an effective and simple movie ; it results to be a passable Italian horror , including functional special effects realized in traditional style , but also some plot elements are plain stupid . The creepy images of wide range from the genuinely horrifying to the bizarre along with scary and amazing frames . The flesh-eating demons appearance deliver the goods , plenty of screams , shocks and tension . The picture displays shocking and well-crafted transformation in charge of expert make-up artist Gianetto De Rossi . The make-up assistants create a truly horrible cannibal demons , zombies-alike . Pretty good special effects , the resurrection of the first demon was done by shooting a melting wax head in reverse and the first demon popping out of the television was done by having an actor wearing a mask press his face against a latex screen . Unknown cast , though there appears a famous little girl : Asia Argento's film debut . Bobby Rhodes, who played Tony the pimp in Demons (1985), returns as a completely different character in this sequel and Lino Salemme also reappears, this time as a security guard . Commercial musical score by Simon Boswell , full of hard rock and catching songs . Acceptable cinematography by GianLorenzo Battaglia and good production design , as the building used for the exteriors and interiors result to be modern constructions from Hamburgo , Germany .

The motion picture was compellingly directed by Lamberto Bava , as he shows nice visual style , though being lower to former installment in which he cites this as his personal favorite of the flicks he has filmed . His father, Mario Bava (1914-1980), was a legendary filmmaker ; he entered the cinema as his father's personal assistant, starting with ¨Planet of horror ¨(1965). Bit by bit he gained experience from his father, who made him the assistant director for most of the rest of his films . He even co-wrote the screenplay for ¨Shock¨ (1977) . Lamberto enjoyed his best commercial success to date with this "Demons" , produced by Dario Argento, co-written by Dardano Sacchetti and filmed in West Berlin, Germany . This international hit smash allowed him to co-write, produce and direct this sequel, Demons II (1986) that was also successful and turned out to be a certain improvement here and there on previous film ; however, being inferior follow-up . He also directed a remake of his father's "Black Sunday" (1960), which was titled "La Maschera del Demonio" or International title "Demons 5: The Devil's Veil¨ . He used the pseudonym of "John Old Jr." , which was a tribute to his father Mario, who often used the pseudonym "John M. Old" . Lamberto has directed films about all kind of genres such as : ¨Blastfighter¨ , ¨A blade in the dark¨ , ¨Shark: red on the ocean¨, and ¨Macabro¨ that achieved critical fame in some quarters ; however , today Bava Jr. only directs television movies : ¨Fantaghiro¨ and sequels , ¨Caribbean pirates¨ , among others . ¨Demons 2¨ , rating : Acceptable and passable atmospheric film-making from genre master Bava's son that achieved great acclaim among gore buffs . A must see for horror fans .

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

13 February 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

Demons 2: The Nightmare Returns

Filming Locations:

Hamburg, Germany

Box Office

Budget:

$1,500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

DACFILM Rome

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min 88 min (R-rated) 92 min (Unrated Edition) 78 min (cut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1