Horror Thoughts ‘13—Demons 2 (1986) *½

UR, 88 min.

Director: Lamberto Bava

Writers: Dario Argento, Lamberto Bava, Franco Ferrini, Dardano Sacchetti

Starring: David Knight, Nancy Brilli, Coralina Cataldi Tassoni, Bobby Rhodes, Asia Argento, Virginia Bryant, Anita Bartolucci, Antonio Cantafora, Luisa Passega, Davide Marotta, Marco Vivio, Michelle Mirabella, Lorenzo Gioielli, Lino Salemme

“Demons 2” seems to be the same movie as “Demons” in every way. It’s executed with the same grimy brashness. The same bold unabashedness. The same abrupt frankness of shock and gore. The same plot. The same running time. Essentially the same types of characters (including some of the same actors playing different characters). The same creators. Pretty much the same effects. Exactly the same style. And yet, this time it comes across as more annoying than fun.

There was something about the garish nature of the first film that appealed to me. In this one, it just irritated me. I can’t say that anything in particular was different from one movie to the next. Perhaps 88 minutes is the maximum amount of unapologetic zombie grossness and chaos anyone can take without a hint of exposition or character development or some sort of purpose behind it all. It’s quite relentless.

“Relentless” is the word for it. Relentless screaming for the most part. There’s enough screaming in this movie that I felt my head would split eventually. Oh my God, stop with the screaming already! Yes, demons are walking the Earth and they’re about to kill you. Just die already.