Demonia [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

Demonia is probably one of Lucio Fulci's most obscure and lesser-known movies. Made in 1990, the story is about a team of archaeologists, led by Professor Paul Evans (Brett Halsey from Fulci's The Devil's Honey and The Touch Of Death), who are studying ancient ruins near the town of Santa Rosalia on the island of Sicily. Overlooking the site is an old monastery where, according to legend, 500 years earlier terrible, unspeakable events took place. Liza, one of the professor's colleagues, develops a morbid interest in the monastery and the legends attached to it and decides to investigate further and discovers a secret cavern containing remains of people who had been crucified.

Unfortunately her actions set in motion a series of strange, supernatural events - a man called Porter (played by Fulci regular Pier Luigi Conti, a.k.a. Al Cliver) meets with a bizarre, untimely death involving a harpoon gun, two other archaeologists get drunk and decide to explore the ruins and fall to their deaths, an old woman is attacked and clawed to death by her cats, a local butcher is killed and nailed to his chopping board and another man is gruesomely ripped in half.

As you can imagine this film contains some gory scenes that were Lucio Fulci's trademark. However, the gore in Demonia seems pretty restrained when compared to other Fulci movies such as Zombie Flesh Eaters, The Beyond and The New York Ripper. In fact the film as a whole is nowhere near as good as some of Fulci's classic horror films but it is also fair to say that he also made a few films that are much worse than Demonia! So what we have here is a mediocre sort of movie (by Fulci's standards) that does not really stand out in any way but I think that Lucio Fulci fans should still check this one out. Just do not expect it to be up there with some of his very best works.

The basic story..A group of archeologists are in Sicily on their latest dig in the ruins of a crypt. However, it's not long before strange and unexplained things occur and the locals and team members are turning up brutally killed...
This is one of the better later Lucio Fulci films, but obviously is not anywhere near being in the same league as his classic works. The film does sometimes plod along at a slow pace but it's not all bad. The atmosphere is pretty good with a few creepy moments and most of the deaths are bulit up with some ok suspense. The killings themselves are of course the highlights and they are nice and gory and definitely grab the attention when they come. The fx are a bit shoddy at times but in all they are fun gory deaths that i'm sure fans will find enjoyment in. Some of Fulci's later stuff was bad to the point of it not being worthy of rewatching, but i personally think "Demonia" is a keeper.

This film is a great example of a fulci gorefest that works on many levels.
The price was excellent as well.