Editorials
[It Came From the ’80s] A Theater Full of Hungry ‘Demons’
With horror industry heavy hitters already in place from the 1970s, the 1980s built upon that with the rise of brilliant minds in makeup and effects artists, as well as advances in technology. Artists like Rick Baker, Rob Bottin, Alec Gillis, Tom Woodruff Jr., Tom Savini, Stan Winston, and countless other artists that delivered groundbreaking, mind-blowing practical effects that ushered in the pre-CGI Golden Age of Cinema. Which meant a glorious glut of creatures in horror. More than just a technical marvel, the creatures on display in ‘80s horror meant tangible texture that still holds up decades later. Grotesque slimy skin to brutal transformation sequences, there wasn’t anything the artists couldn’t create. It Came From the ‘80s is a series that will pay homage to the monstrous, deadly, and often slimy creatures that made the ‘80s such a fantastic decade in horror.
“The will make cemeteries their cathedrals and the cities will be your tombs.”
Lamberto Bava’s Demons is a magical display of Italian horror at its finest. Produced and co-written by Dario Argento during his heavy metal craze, even featuring Goblin mainstay Claudio Simonetti on the score, this is an epic monster movie that bops to the beat of its pulse-pounding, fist-pumping soundtrack with a colorful aesthetic Bava likely picked up from his father, horror master Mario Bava. That the cast is largely comprised of teens aged from 15-20 only furthers the film’s high energy. But the thing that ties it all together is, of course, the demons.
Shot in a closed down movie theater, the somewhat Inception-like plot sees a group of strangers invited to a mysterious screening at a newly renovated theater, only to find themselves locked in with predatory demons. It’s a fun wink to the audience, in that the mysterious screening is of a horror movie that delivers all the exposition on the demon curse. Namely in that the shiny silver mask in the lobby holds the key to unleashing the ravenous demons.
Poor Rosemary (Geretta Geretta) connects the dots too late, having put it on before the screening started. She falls ill, the scratch on her face from the mask pulses before bursting into an obscene amount of green puss. Her mouth gushes blood as her new fanged teeth force out her own, her nails follow suit, black veins and red eyes take over, and she’s off to devour the unassuming audience. Those that survive the attack then turn themselves, causing an outbreak among the panicked theater attendees. Basically, it becomes full-fledged carnage that spreads fast.
Gruesome transformations, green pus and vomit, and violent gory deaths thanks to special effects and make-up artist Sergio Stivaletti, one of Europe’s make-up and special effects masters. He collaborated with most of Italy’s most important horror directors, working on films like Phenomena, Cemetery Man, The Church, Opera, and more. Demons was among his first, though.
Stivaletti and his team had a huge lion’s share of work with the creation of the demons. The mechanical work from the pulsing flesh, casting various teeth molds for various stages of transformation, demon puppets, and a ton of gore effects meant a lot to juggle during production. Throw in motorcycle stunts, a massive helicopter crash, and impaling by rebar, and Stivaletti and his team deserve just as much credit for Demons as director Bava and producer Argento.
Which is probably why they reunited for the sequel, Demons 2, where they took the concept to a whole new wacky level. It’s also why Stivaletti sparked rumors of reuniting once again with Bava and Argento for Demons 3D, a potential modern reboot. Though studios tried to capitalize on the success of Demons and Demons 2 numerous times by renaming horror films to appear as sequels in the franchise, Bava’s are the only official Demoni films.
Between the heavy metal, punk rock soundtrack, the sense of fun, and the bloodbath of the demons’ feeding frenzy, Stivaletti, Bava, and Argento delivered an all-timer. It’s quintessential ‘80s horror, and I’d love for them to bring the gang back together for one more film. If they could invoke the killer tag-lines from the ‘80s too, that’d be great.
Having grown up in a religious family, Christian movie night was something that happened a lot more often than I care to admit. However, back when I was a teenager, my parents showed up one night with an unusually cool-looking DVD of a movie that had been recommended to them by a church leader. Curious to see what new kind of evangelical propaganda my parents had rented this time, I proceeded to watch the film with them expecting a heavy-handed snoozefest.
To my surprise, I was a few minutes in when Denzel Washington proceeded to dismember a band of cannibal raiders when I realized that this was in fact a real movie. My mom was horrified by the flick’s extreme violence and dark subject matter, but I instantly became a fan of the Hughes Brothers’ faith-based 2010 thriller, The Book of Eli. And with the film’s atomic apocalypse having apparently taken place in 2024, I think this is the perfect time to dive into why this grim parable might also be entertaining for horror fans.
Originally penned by gaming journalist and The Walking Dead: The Game co-writer Gary Whitta, the spec script for The Book of Eli was already making waves back in 2007 when it appeared on the coveted Blacklist. It wasn’t long before Columbia and Warner Bros. snatched up the rights to the project, hiring From Hell directors Albert and Allen Hughes while also garnering attention from industry heavyweights like Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman.
After a series of revisions by Anthony Peckham meant to make the story more consumer-friendly, the picture was finally released in January of 2010, with the finished film following Denzel as a mysterious wanderer making his way across a post-apocalyptic America while protecting a sacred book. Along the way, he encounters a run-down settlement controlled by Bill Carnegie (Gary Oldman), a man desperate to get his hands on Eli’s book so he can motivate his underlings to expand his empire. Unwilling to let this power fall into the wrong hands, Eli embarks on a dangerous journey that will test the limits of his faith.
SO WHY IS IT WORTH WATCHING?
Judging by the film’s box-office success, mainstream audiences appear to have enjoyed the Hughes’ bleak vision of a future where everything went wrong, but critics were left divided by the flick’s trope-heavy narrative and unapologetic religious elements. And while I’ll be the first to admit that The Book of Eli isn’t particularly subtle or original, I appreciate the film’s earnest execution of familiar ideas.
For starters, I’d like to address the religious elephant in the room, as I understand the hesitation that some folks (myself included) might have about watching something that sounds like Christian propaganda. Faith does indeed play a huge part in the narrative here, but I’d argue that the film is more about the power of stories than a specific religion. The entire point of Oldman’s character is that he needs a unifying narrative that he can take advantage of in order to manipulate others, while Eli ultimately chooses to deliver his gift to a community of scholars. In fact, the movie even makes a point of placing the Bible in between equally culturally important books like the Torah and Quran, which I think is pretty poignant for a flick inspired by exploitation cinema.
Sure, the film has its fair share of logical inconsistencies (ranging from the extent of Eli’s Daredevil superpowers to his impossibly small Braille Bible), but I think the film more than makes up for these nitpicks with a genuine passion for classic post-apocalyptic cinema. Several critics accused the film of being a knockoff of superior productions, but I’d argue that both Whitta and the Hughes knowingly crafted a loving pastiche of genre influences like Mad Max and A Boy and His Dog.
Lastly, it’s no surprise that the cast here absolutely kicks ass. Denzel plays the title role of a stoic badass perfectly (going so far as to train with Bruce Lee’s protégée in order to perform his own stunts) while Oldman effortlessly assumes a surprisingly subdued yet incredibly intimidating persona. Even Mila Kunis is remarkably charming here, though I wish the script had taken the time to develop these secondary characters a little further. And hey, did I mention that Tom Waits is in this?
AND WHAT MAKES IT HORROR ADJACENT?
Denzel’s very first interaction with another human being in this movie results in a gory fight scene culminating in a face-off against a masked brute wielding a chainsaw (which he presumably uses to butcher travelers before eating them), so I think it’s safe to say that this dog-eat-dog vision of America will likely appeal to horror fans.
From diseased cannibals to hyper-violent motorcycle gangs roaming the wasteland, there’s plenty of disturbing R-rated material here – which is even more impressive when you remember that this story revolves around the bible. And while there are a few too many references to sexual assault for my taste, even if it does make sense in-universe, the flick does a great job of immersing you in this post-nuclear nightmare.
The excessively depressing color palette and obvious green screen effects may take some viewers out of the experience, but the beat-up and lived-in sets and costume design do their best to bring this dead world to life – which might just be the scariest part of the experience.
Ultimately, I believe your enjoyment of The Book of Eli will largely depend on how willing you are to overlook some ham-fisted biblical references in order to enjoy some brutal post-apocalyptic shenanigans. And while I can’t really blame folks who’d rather not deal with that, I think it would be a shame to miss out on a genuinely engaging thrill-ride because of one minor detail.
With that in mind, I’m incredibly curious to see what Whitta and the Hughes Brothers have planned for the upcoming prequel series starring John Boyega…
There’s no understating the importance of a balanced media diet, and since bloody and disgusting entertainment isn’t exclusive to the horror genre, we’ve come up with Horror Adjacent – a recurring column where we recommend non-horror movies that horror fans might enjoy.
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