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Demonia isn't the worst movie Lucio Fulci has done, but it's

Dave. K | Staten Island, Ny | 11/19/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"A lot of the times as a filmmaker's career goes on there comes a time when their movies sometimes start to lack. Of course there will always be exceptions. Some filmmakers can remain solid through their career, some make decent flicks later in their career and there are others who make mostly bad movies late in their career and sadly, Fulci falls into the latter.

By the time Demonia was released Lucio Fulci was far past his prime and most of his movies around the mid 80s really weren't very good. Even his better movies from that era weren't very well made, but might have worked on the so bad its good level like Zombie 3. With Demonia Fulci tries to go back to trying to make a more suspenseful flick added with some of his trademark gore. The good thing about Demonia is Fulci goes back to his visual style that helped make some of his movies better than they should have been, but despite that Demonia doesn't quite work, while it does have it's moments it's also a little too slow paced.

The screenplay was written by Lucio Fulci and Piero Regnoli and it really wasn't very good. In the horror genre you can get away with a sub-par script, but sometimes you can't. Most Fulci's movies didn't have very good scripts; often the characters would say and do some rather idiotic things. But he was able to get away with it. The screenplay pretty much lacks any logic, which was typical of Fulci in the 80s.

Fulci was able to write some good screenplays, Don't Torture a Duckling is proof of that. But this time around the screenplay lacks logic and is never really interesting with the exception of a couple moments. Piero Regnoli wrote the cult classics Nightmare City and Burial Ground, but Regnoli and Fulci for the most part don't get much going. Though of all the Fulci flicks I have seen this isn't the worst written, that honor goes to Touch of Death.

Again by this time Fulci was far removed from his prime, but he was still trying to hold on and capture his past glory. He changed his style during the mid to late 80s and if not for his name listed as director you would never know since there wasn't much of his style shown. Here, in Demonia the camera shots are very Fulci and his close up of the eyes is done a lot here.

For the most part Demonia though lacks any real suspense, while he is able to craft some fairly decent scenes, most never really go anywhere. Had Demonia been made 7 or 8-years earlier it probably would have been one of his more solid films. Demonia was done by a director who had seen better days, but for what it's worth, Fulci's visual style makes this movie slightly better than it should have been. Though you know things are bad when you resort to knocking off your own movies. The first few minutes remind me of The Beyond and City of the Living Dead.

The gore level is fairly decent, but some of the F/X are a bit weak, but overall are enjoyable, but it does take a while before we get to the good stuff and the payoff isn't as good as it was back in the early 80s. Though the human wishbone scene was kinda cool, but not as good as it could have been.

The final act is quite idiotic; while there is at least some action it really doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but than again most of Demonia doesn't make any sense. It seemed like a good idea, but somewhere along the way it never really works well. In some of Fulci's movies things happen and we never really are told why and same thing happens here. Demonia is rather incoherent, which was something a lot of Fulci's movies were, but due to the suspense and gore it worked, but in Demonia it's rather annoying.

The cast was rather weak; Fulci again teams with Brett Halsey who was far better here than in Touch of Death. Fulci, regular Pierluigi Conti best known to horror fans as Al Cliver appears in a small role under the name Al Clever. I wonder if that was a spelling mistake. Meg Register while nice to look at gives a rather forgettable performance.

The man himself Lucio Fulci appears as Inspector Carter; Lucio Fulci made a lot of cameos in his movies, but this time around his role is actually fairly decent. He enters the movie around the 40-minute mark and has a couple of scenes instead of the typical cameo.

Demonia is one of the last movies Lucio Fulci would make before his death in 1996. I have seen different listings for the release and he did either 2 or 3 more movies depending on which is the correct release date. Demonia is only for the hardcore Fulci fans. Anyone else it's best to skip this movie.

In closing, Demonia isn't the worst movie Lucio Fulci has done, but it's nowhere near one of his best. Demonia has some fairly decent moments, but overall it never quite works.
"

Something Different From The Godfather Of GORE

Guido | NY United States | 01/07/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Well at least he tried something new. While "Demonia" pales in comparison to some of his early works such as "Zombie" (1980) and "The Beyond" (1981) this one definitely one of Fulci's better films later in his career. It certainly isn't as bad as "Sweet House of Horrors" (1989) (which I contend is by far his worst film.)

The story is based around the 16th century crucifixion of a couple of nuns. Professor Pual Evans and his prize pupil Liza Harris struggle to uncover the horrifying mystery. The story moves a bit slowly, the ending is quite confusing and the gore is sprinkled throughout the film but not incredibly over the top as it was in the previously mentioned "Zombie" and "The Beyond". I recommend this film for Fulci fans only. However, don't expect a masterpiece!"