Or How to Ruin a Sequel in 90 Minutes
There are bad sequels, and then there’s Demons 2. This is the kind of film that makes you appreciate the phrase “lightning doesn’t strike twice.” Lamberto Bava and Dario Argento thought they could slap another coat of gore on the walls of their 1985 cult hit Demons and call it a day. Instead, they delivered a cinematic wet fart that lingers far too long.
The Setup: Same Old, But Dumber
The first Demons had an actual hook: a movie theater audience turns into demons because of a cursed film. Simple, trashy, effective. Demons 2 says, “What if the demons came out of your TV?”—and that’s it. That’s the whole idea. A demon literally crawls through a television screen and takes over an apartment building. It’s less horror, more like Poltergeist’s weird cousin who drinks too much at family gatherings.
Our unlucky high-rise tenants include a pregnant woman, a kid home alone, a gym full of roid-raging bodybuilders, and a birthday girl who throws a tantrum so hard it basically unleashes hell. If you’ve ever wondered what happens when soap opera archetypes collide with gore effects, wonder no longer.
Acting: The Real Horror
The performances make community theater look like the Royal Shakespeare Company. David Knight plays George, a man whose sole personality trait is “generic male lead.” Nancy Brilli is Hannah, his pregnant wife, who mostly screams and cradles her belly like she’s auditioning for a prenatal vitamins commercial. Coralina Cataldi Tassoni plays Sally, the demon queen of overacting, who goes from whiny brat to foaming monster without ever passing through “believable human being.”
The only real curiosity is a 10-year-old Asia Argento in her film debut. She doesn’t have much to do except look confused—which, to be fair, is the appropriate reaction to this script.
Effects: Gooey but Goofy
To give credit where it’s due, the effects team still had buckets of slime, gallons of fake blood, and some creepy prosthetics. The problem is they’re deployed like a kid let loose with finger paint. A dog turns into a demon and immediately becomes funnier than frightening, looking like a rejected Muppet from The Dark Crystal. A child demon bursts open to reveal a smaller, gremlin-like demon inside—a scene that’s meant to be terrifying but plays more like a deranged Kinder Surprise toy.
The gore is there, sure, but it’s lost in a fog of bad lighting and worse pacing. Every transformation looks like it was filmed in a basement with three lightbulbs, then edited together by someone who sneezed on the splicer.
The Gym Bros Save Nobody
A highlight—or lowlight—is the group of bodybuilders led by Bobby Rhodes. These guys are the apartment complex’s answer to the Avengers, except their weapons are shotguns and sweatbands. For a brief, glorious moment, you think the movie might turn into a demon-versus-gym-rat showdown worth watching. But no. They’re slaughtered almost immediately, proving that muscles don’t matter when the script wants you dead.
This subplot is basically an inside joke stretched into 15 minutes: “What if macho men fought demons?” The punchline is, “They’d die stupidly.”
The Pregnant Woman Trope
Nothing says “cheap horror” like endangering a pregnant woman. Hannah spends the entire runtime either screaming, hiding, or waiting for her husband to save her. At one point, she kills a demon child only for a winged mini-demon to pop out. By the time she actually gives birth during the climax, it feels less like suspense and more like a bad metaphor: yes, the movie has finally given birth to a mess.
Sally the Birthday Demon
If there’s one character who defines Demons 2, it’s Sally. First she’s sulking at her own birthday party, then she’s possessed via television, then she’s barfing bile all over the apartment complex. She becomes the central villain, though not because she’s scary—just because the film keeps cutting back to her in various stages of gooey meltdown.
By the finale, she’s chasing the survivors across rooftops, blinded, burned, and still screaming like she just got told she couldn’t see Jacob (remember him?). Sally isn’t terrifying—she’s exhausting.
Production Woes
Filmed in Hamburg and Rome, the movie looks cheap despite Argento’s name slapped on it. The sets are sterile, the lighting flat, and the camerawork often resembles security footage. The idea of confining demons to a high-rise could’ve worked as claustrophobic horror. Instead, it feels like everyone’s just waiting for the elevator.
The soundtrack is full of 80s post-punk and synth-pop, which could’ve been cool if it didn’t clash so hard with the tone. Nothing kills a demon massacre faster than a bouncy track that sounds like it belongs in a neon aerobics class.
Ending: Smash the TV, Smash the Audience
The finale limps toward a conclusion: George kills Sally (finally), Hannah pops out her baby, and they escape. But wait! Sally appears again on TV monitors, lunging at the camera in one last attempt at a scare. George smashes the screens, effectively smashing the fourth wall. It’s less “terrifying meta twist” and more “please stop watching this movie.”
Reception and Legacy
Unlike the first Demons, which found cult status for its unapologetic gore and wild energy, Demons 2 is remembered mostly as a disappointment. Even Argento’s hardcore fans struggle to defend it, usually mumbling something about “atmosphere” while quietly admitting it’s trash.
The franchise limped along with spiritual successors (The Church, The Sect), but Demons 2 remains a cautionary tale: sequels need more than recycled ideas and buckets of slime.
Final Verdict
Demons 2 is the cinematic equivalent of reheated leftovers: soggy, flavorless, and vaguely unsettling. It takes everything that worked in the first film and waters it down with bad acting, cheap sets, and a plot thinner than a pizza flyer.
Is it watchable? Sure—if you’re drunk, bored, and want to see a demon dog that looks like it escaped from Fraggle Rock. Otherwise, it’s best left in the VHS bargain bin where it belongs.
