"Whoever wears it becomes a demon, and an instrument of evil!"

Demons (1985)
Director: Lamberto Bava
Stars: Urbano Barberini, Natasha Hovey, Karl Zinny, Fiore Argento
Plot: A large group of people become trapped in a movie theater as demons prey on them.

This film is produced, presented, and partially written by Dario Argento. Therefore, I consider this to be a Dario Argento film (which is a good thing). Argento is more widely known for his witchy film Suspiria (1977), and more recently for The Mother of Tears (2007). He also did an episode in the first season of Masters of Horror entitled "Jenifer." I'm saying all of this because, if you like horror--and Italian things--then you should check out Dario Argento's films. I would start with either this one (more of a fun movie) or Suspiria (more serious).

Anyway. This basically being an Argento film, it is pretty good. A group of people go to a theater for a free horror movie showing. The movie they see features a mask that turns one of the kids in the movie into a demon. What the moviegoers are unaware of is that the demons in the movie are real; the same mask was on display in the theater lobby. As the movie plays, a woman who tried on the mask earlier and had been scratched by it becomes possessed and starts infecting the others through biting and scratching (kind of like a zombie). Of course panic and chaos ensue as the people try to escape the theater, which has been locked up by the movie attendants. It was a setup!

This clip is about seven minutes long and shows the part when the woman, Rosemary, becomes possessed. There's some ooze and puss involved so you might not want to be eating anything while watching this.

This is the second Italian horror movie I've talked about (the first was Cemetery Man). Do you think these movies sound better or worse than American horror movies?

"We all end up here sooner or later."

Cemetery Man, or Dellamorte Dellamore (1994)
Director: Michele Soavi
Stars: Rupert Everett, Francois Hadji-Lazaro, Anna Falchi
Plot: Francesco Dellamorte is the caretaker at a cemetery in Buffalora, Italy. Saving the town from zombies is just one of the perks of his job.

Based off of the Dylan Dog series of graphic novels by Tiziano Sclavia, Cemetery Man is a zombie movie that is more humorous and artsy than scary. Seven days after the dead are buried in the Buffalora Cemetery, they come back as zombies, or "returners," and Dellamorte has to shoot them in the head before they can attack the townspeople and cause him to lose his job.

There is also a romantic element in this movie. Dellamorte is lonely and lusts after a beautiful woman; his assistant Gnaghi is described as, "On his I. D. card it reads, 'Distinctive physical marks: All'" and ends up falling in love with a zombie head. It's kind of like the zombie movie The Return of the Living Dead meets Hitchcock's Vertigo. If this seems like a strange comparison, maybe you should watch Cemetery Man for yourself to see what I mean (I'm trying not to do spoilers here..). Though I suppose I should warn you that there is some intense nudity in this movie. Also, it does get a little darker towards the end.

This short clip captures the comedic The Return of the Living Dead feel that is in the majority of this movie, complete with some festive Italian music in the background.