{"id":29249,"date":"2024-08-14T01:36:08","date_gmt":"2024-08-14T08:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=29249"},"modified":"2024-08-14T01:36:08","modified_gmt":"2024-08-14T08:36:08","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-4k-ultra-hd-review-demons-2-1986","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=29249","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! 4K Ultra HD Review: DEMONS 2 (1986)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This 4K Ultra HD release is currently available from\nSynapse Films. It can also be purchased as a standalone Blu-ray.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So, if you\u2019ve read my recent 4K Ultra HD review of Demons<\/em>\n(1985), you\u2019ll know that I\u2019m a big admirer of that over-the-top gorefest. Admittedly,\nso were many others during its original release. The immediate success of the\nfirst picture warranted a sequel, so the following year Demons 2<\/em> arrived\non the scene. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Truth be told, for this reviewer the follow-up isn\u2019t quite\nas impressive as the original. Regardless, it is a whole lot of fun and includes\nso much monstrous mayhem that it\u2019s hard not to appreciate the movie on its own\nmerits. Synapse Films has put just as much work into this \u201cStandard Edition\u201d 4K\nUltra HD release (a Blu-ray version is also now available for purchase). The\nmovie looks as good as it possibly can or perhaps ever will appear on disc. And\nlike the 4K Demons disc, it\u2019s chock full of phenomenal bonus features. The care\ntaken makes the movie well worth picking up and sitting on the shelf right beside\nthe original.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time out, the setting moves from a cinema to an\napartment dwelling, where an all-new set of characters are introduced. The\nvarious building residents are throwing parties, returning home for the evening\nto have family dinners, or meeting with a, well, sex worker. When a young woman\ncelebrating her birthday gets annoyed by the possible appearance of an\nex-boyfriend at the event, she escapes to another room and watches a television\nprogram on demons. Before long, the monsters are reaching through the TV and\nentering the real world, going on the rampage and infecting whomever they come\ninto contact with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Once again, there are plenty of outrageous and impressive\ncamera and make-up tricks in this follow-up, including one stand-out moment\nwhen the first demon pulls themselves out of a TV set. Additionally, there are elaborate\nattack scenes involving animals, children and a surprisingly large-scale battle\nbetween humans and monsters that takes place in a parking garage.  The movie has another killer score and an even\nstronger soundtrack (that includes tunes from bands like The Art of\nNoise<\/em>, The Cult<\/em>, Love and Rockets<\/em>, The\nSmiths<\/em> and many others). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Admittedly, it isn\u2019t quite as effective as its predecessor.\nThere are a great many characters in this sequel and the movie doesn\u2019t really\nfocus on the protagonists until later in the story, leaving the plotting a\nlittle adrift in terms of whom we should be following or care about. There\u2019s\nalso less gore in this one, although there are plenty of striking monster\neffects and dozens of fast-moving demons. It isn\u2019t perfect, but despite these\nproblems it still delivers heaps of crazy action with plenty in it to\nrecommend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The picture is good, although not quite as brilliantly crisp\nas in the previous entry. There is a note in the disc packaging stating that\nthe negative film stock used for this sequel wasn\u2019t as good as in the original.\nTherefore, there is a slightly heavier layer of grain visible. Indeed, it isn\u2019t\nas jaw-dropping as its predecessor, but the image is still pretty darn great (it\ncertainly looks as good or better than any other low-budget title of the era).\nThe lengthy fight in the parking structure is still very dynamic on the eyes and\nhelps emphasize some of the impressive photography being used. So, it\u2019s still\nworth it, if possible, to pick up a 4K Ultra HD edition of the title. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As far as extras, once again, everything has been ported\nover from the spectacular 2021 box set. There\u2019s an interesting film critic\ncommentary that goes over some of the details in getting this sequel to the\nscreen. It provides plenty of background details that were new to this reviewer.\nThe extras mention that the initial plan for the movie was to continue the\nstory of the survivor from the previous film. Unfortunately, the person had no\ninterest in returning for a follow-up, leaving Argento, Bava and the other\nwriters to come up with an all-new tale on the spot. The production team was\nalso told by distributors to back off on the gore on this installment, so the\ndemons spout more black fluid than blood this time out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The disc also includes another talk with Sergio Stivaletti\non the effects he created for the film, while Lamberto Bava\u2019s son Roy discusses\nthe legacy of the series. Naturally, Lamberto Bava is also interviewed and\nprovides his experience writing and rushing to get the movie completed for its\nrelease. There is also a visual essay on the use of space and technology in\nthe Demons<\/em> series by an author and critic. It provides an\nunusual and mildly exaggerated thesis on how the movie separates different\ngroups of people within the building to comment on themes such as isolation.\nThe person also argues that the series possesses a disdain for TV and media in\na far more convincing pitch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My favorite extra is a discussion with composer Simon\nBoswell on his score for this title and other Italian genre movies. The English\nmusician describes being asked to help out on the project after frequent\nArgento collaborators Goblin<\/em> found themselves with too much\nscoring work. Boswell discusses the amusing process of working on Italian\nproductions. He was also responsible for the incredible tunes playing in the\nbackground of the film. The musician suggests that he tried to move Argento\naway from prog rock and heavy metal to instead embrace more the bands that he\nenjoyed and knew. This leads to a great story of how he managed to convince\nMorrissey to allow The Smiths<\/em> song \u201cPanic\u201d to be used in the film. Then,\nBoswell elaborates on how his work on Italian genre movies began getting him\nscoring gigs on Santa Sangre<\/em>, Shallow Grave<\/em>, Hardware<\/em>, Hackers<\/em> and\nother movies, including the recent Blithe Spirit<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It isn\u2019t quite as awe-inspiringly crazy, but Demons 2<\/em>\nstill has its charms and the 4K Ultra HD version is another incredible release\nfrom Synapse that comes as highly recommended as can be. I\u2019ve had a great time\nwith these films since my childhood and not only does the new image look\noutstanding, but the many extras provide fascinating and enlightening information\nabout the productions that may surprise many viewers. Synapse\u2019s 4K Ultra HD Demons\n2<\/em> certainly presents the film in the best possible light. If you\u2019re a\nfan of foreign genre titles, be sure to pick it up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This 4K Ultra HD release is currently available from Synapse Films. It can also be purchased as a standalone Blu-ray. So, if you\u2019ve read my recent 4K Ultra HD review of Demons (1985), you\u2019ll know that I\u2019m a big admirer of that over-the-top gorefest. Admittedly, so were many others during its original release. The immediate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":23710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[119,206,215,300,2923,2936,3365,4990,5200,5686,5687,5688,5689,5690,5691,5692,5698,5699,5700,10042,12048,14197,19488],"class_list":["post-29249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-119","tag-206","tag-215","tag-4k-ultra-hd","tag-blasts-from-the-past","tag-blasts-from-the-past-4k-ultra-hd-review","tag-box-set","tag-cult-movies","tag-dario-argento","tag-demons","tag-demons-2","tag-demons-2-4k-ultra-hd","tag-demons-2-4k-ultra-hd-review","tag-demons-2-film-review","tag-demons-2-movie-review","tag-demons-2-review","tag-demons-ii","tag-demons-ii-4k-ultra-hd","tag-demons-ii-review","tag-italy","tag-lamberto-bava","tag-monster-movie","tag-synapse-films"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29249\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}