Wednesday, July 1

Some quick thoughts on Demonia (1990)

Video Junkie VHS sourced from the Japanese VHS

The frustrating thing about this twilight Fulci outing is how quickly it degrades into weary claptrap after showing decent promise. You can feel the film completely give up around the forty minute mark. Though this is no fault of Fulci, who seems in (if misdirected) spirits, floundering without the production structure and budget that helped il maestro excel at his early '80s peak.

Strangely or maybe by design, just as the story takes a shit, the gore modestly picks up. Meat carcasses along with hooks, cats, and phantom nuns attack if you're still watching. A man is also torn asunder from testicles from voice box in a baffling woodland sequence. Earlier, Al Cliver is harpooned by a disembodied, headless, and naked chick on the same sailing vessel (dubbed Perversion) seen in A Cat in the Brain. Fulci even appears in a protracted cameo as an inspector from Interpol investigating the murders, but like every other actor showcased, his performance is quite tepid. The Giovanni Cristiani score is immediately forgettable with Fabio Frizzi disappearing from his career for eight years after A Cat in the Brain.

Sad really, if created in place (and time) of Manhattan Baby with a better cast, one gets the impression this could have been right in step with his golden streak...or at least helluva lot better than this blurry and poorly shot chore.


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