Eight years after their previous limited steelbook editions, Synapse revisits DEMONS I & II with new 4K masters on UHD and Blu-ray.

When Berlin music student Cheryl (Natasha Hovey) receives free passes to an unspecified movie, she and classmate Kathy (Paola Cozzo, Fulci's CAT IN THE BRAIN) ditch class to attend a premiere at the recently re-opened Metropol theater. Also in attendance are bickering couple Frank (Stelio Candeli, NUDE FOR SATAN) and Ruth (Nicole Tessier, GIANTS OF ROME), teenage couple Hannah (Fiore Argento, Argento's PHENOMENA) and Tommy (Guido Baldi), blind Werner (Alex Serra, Bava's THE OGRE) and his daughter Liz (Sally Day), pimp Tony (Bobby Rhodes, Aldo Lado's CIRCLE OF FEAR) and his hookers Carmen (Fabiola Toledo, Bava's A BLADE IN THE DARK) and Rosemary (Geretta Giancarlo, Fulci's MURDEROCK). Cheryl and Kathy meet cute over a vending machine and pair off with George (Urbano Barberini, Argento's OPERA) and Ken (Karl Zinny, Bava's DELIRIUM) and settle in for the movie in which a quartet of kids – including Michele Soavi (who also pops up in the film proper as the masked man giving out movie passes), Marcello Modugno (Deodato's DIAL: HELP), and Jasmine Maimone (Cozzi's PAGANINI HORROR) – make a nighttime visit to the tomb of Nostradamus.

The kids discover a silver demon mask that one of the guys jokingly tries on and cuts himself just has Rosemary had done before the film with the display mask in the lobby. Rosemary's cut begins to bleed again so she goes to the restroom where she undergoes a messy transformation into a demon "an instrument of evil" that starts slaughtering moviegoers in parallel to the massacre in the film. When a clawed Carmen crashes through the screen and undergoes a transformation right in front of the audience, the feeling moviegoers discover that they are trapped in the theater. As the survivors endeavor to escape, they endure more demon attacks that thin out their own ranks while multiplying those of the monsters who are just as eager to escape into the outside world.

Originally planned as a story in an unfilmed anthology project, DEMONS – co-scripted by producer Dario Argento and director Lamberto Bava along with Bava and Fulci regular Dardanno Sacchetti (THE BEYOND) and Argento regular Franco Ferrini (SLEEPLESS) – proved to be a crowd-pleaser worldwide with its splattery unrated gore and charged metal soundtrack. The demons are truly vicious here in an effects showcase for Sergio Stivaletti (WAX MASK) – who got his start as an uncredited effects technician on Riccardo Freda's MURDER OBSESSION and had contributed animatronic and make-up effects to Argento's PHENOMENA and would branch into digital visual effects on Argento's THE STENDHAL SYNDROME – although the more seasoned Rosario Prestopino (BURIAL GROUND) was responsible for the clawed faces, torn-off scalps, ripped throats, gouged out eyes, and the large chunks bitten out of their victims (all bathed harshly in neon and red and blue gels by Bava's regular cinematographer Gianlorenzo Battaglia).

The claustrophobia of the theater setting is disrupted by cutaways to a quartet of joyriding coke-addled punks – Lino Salemme (who would also appear in DEMONS 2), Peter Pitsch (the diva's companion in OPERA), Giuseppe Maria Curciano (THE MONSTER OF FLORENCE), and Bettina Ciampolini (DISTANT LIGHTS, a sci-fi drama produced by Claudio Argento) – who stumble into the theater while fleeing the cops to provide more demon-fodder; but the energy has already flagged considerably by this point, at which Bava and Argento pick things up with an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink third act that includes a back-bursting demon birth, Barberini playing white knight (well, he does come from one of Italy's royal families) astride a motorcycle slashing away at demons with a sword from the lobby display, and a helicopter dropped through the theater ceiling.

An early example of the compilation soundtrack, DEMONS' employment of heavy metal and new wave is more often hit-than-miss. Motley Crue's "Save Our Souls" scores the intro to the film-within-a-film, Pretty Maids' "Night Danger" accompanies the theater-goers mass exodus and Saxon's "Everybody Up" as George and Cheryl take to the streets, while Accept's "Fast as a Shark" amps up the level of badassery during George's motorcycle takedown of the demons. Go West's "We Close Our Eyes" and The Adventures' "Send My Heart" seem like strange listening for the punks but Billy Idol's "White Wedding" is an inspired choice when they indulge in some coke-snorting. In spite of this line-up, Claudio Simonetti's synth score has no trouble maintaining prominence from the main title sequence throughout the suspense sequences (the parallel stalking of Carmen behind the theater screen and the comely camper in the film-within-a-film being a prime example). Besides Soavi, the supporting cast includes some other Italian horror cinema history fixtures like Nicoletta Elmi – the red-headed tyke of Dario Argento's DEEP RED, Mario Bava's BARON BLOOD and BAY OF BLOOD, Massimo Dallamano's NIGHT CHILD, and ANDY WARHOL'S FRANKENSTEIN – all grown up here as the striking usherette Ingrid, Geoffredo Unger (the masked assassin stunt double of Mario Bava's BLOOD AND BLACK LACE), and HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY's Giovanni Frezza (who also figured into the prologue of Bava's A BLADE IN THE DARK).

DEMONS 2 is set primarily in a hi-tech high-rise apartment building buzzing with activity on a cool evening. Hannah (Nancy Brilli, Deodato's BODY COUNT) sends her husband George (David Knight) out to satisfy her pregnancy cravings, high-class prostitute Mary (Virginia Bryant, Bava's THE OGRE) is visiting a resident, gym trainer Hank (DEMONS' Bobby Rhodes) mercilessly rides his customers, Sally (OPERA's Coralina Cataldi Tassoni) is on the road to spoiling her own sweet sixteen birthday party when she learns her ex Jacob (Bruno Bilota, Lenzi's HANDS OF STEEL) is on the way with his new squeeze, her guests are driving the building's security guard (DEMONS' Lino Salemme) up the wall, while latchkey tykes Ingrid (Asia Argento in her first role) and Tommy (Marco Vivio, Bava's UNTIL DEATH) settle in to watch a TV documentary in which a group of kids break into the now "forbidden zone" of West Berlin in search of demon artifacts from the outbreak. When one of them cuts herself on a demon claw, a dead demon is resurrected and comes through TV into sulking Sally's bedroom to make her birthday an unforgettable party. Sally's demon blood melts through the floors ALIEN-style, infecting other residents and cutting off power to the security system sealing everyone in. As the infection spreads, George and Mary tries to escape a stalled elevator in order to get back to Hannah while other survivors barricade the parking garage as demons converge.

Although it can be occasionally brutal, and kills off reasonably sympathetic characters left and right (including two children), DEMONS 2 feels lightweight and even more comic bookish. Stivaletti's demon effects are more accomplished but also more cartoonish (particularly Sally's bladder-inflating transformation and another baby demon birthing that is more cute than creepy) and the even more stilted dubbing is even more unintentionally comical than usual (with the exception of Tassoni who seems to be dubbing herself). Gianlorenzo Battaglia's cinematography is slicker (although the Luciano Vittori color processing is cheaper), emphasizing cool blues until the red gel-drenched television studio finale.

Simon Boswell's synth score includes a driving main title theme "Demonica" as well as variations on the suspense cues he would rework for Soavi's STAGEFRIGHT and Bava's DELIRIUM while the compilation soundtrack favors New Wave bands with tracks like The Smith's "Panic" and Gene Loves Jezebel's "Heartache" accompanying Sally's party. Fields of the Nephalim's "Power", Love & Rocket's "Kundalini Express", and The Art of Noise's "Backbeat" – along with Boswell's "Demons Groove" cue – also suggest mischief rather than menace. Dead Can Dance's "De Profundis", on the other hand, is effectively employed as George and Mary witness the procession of demons emerging from Sally's apartment and The Cult's "Rain" accompanies Sally's full transformation and the end credits crawl.

The demon version of Tommy was doubled by dwarf Davide Marotta who had also donned Stivaletti make-up as the monster child of Argento's PHENOMENA. Like DEMONS, the supporting cast is also shot-through with Italian horror history regulars. THE BEYOND's tarantula victim Michele Mirabella is Mary's client, BARON BLOOD's Antonio Cantafora plays Ingrid's father (and would later appear in Argento's THE CARD PLAYER), the demon that comes through the television is played by Stefano Molinari (the castrated, possessed zombie of EVIL CLUTCH as well as one of the victims of LA MASCHERA DEL DEMONIO, Lamberto Bava's TV take on "The Vij" which also formed the basis of his father's BLACK SUNDAY), and Lorenzo Flaherty (Fulci's VOICES FROM BEYOND) is one of the party guests while ZOMBI 3's Marina Loi is one of Hank's students. PAGANINI HORROR's Pascal Persiano and Eliana Hoppe (DEMONS' camping victim) appear in the demons documentary, while Bava himself plays young Tommy's father (Bava's son Fabrizio served as the film's second assistant director).

The goofy film is still highly entertaining, especially when taken in as a double bill with the first. Bava. Reportedly, Argento was developing DEMONS 3 with the creatures unleashed on an airplane, but that fell through and ideas were recycled into what would become Michele Soavi's THE CHURCH, which is known as DEMONS 3 in Japan while Umberto Lenzi's unrelated BLACK DEMONS was released in Italy as DEMONI 3 (Shriek Show also captioned their US DVD of Lamberto Bava's THE OGRE as DEMONS 3). In Japan, Soavi's THE SECT would be known as DEMONS 4, Lamberto Bava's television film LA MASCHERA DEL DEMONIO was christened DEMONS 5, and Luigi Cozzi's THE BLACK CAT became DEMONS 6.

DEMONS was distributed unrated theatrically in the United States by the short-lived Ascot Entertainment Group. When they acquired the film, they made some changes to the dubbing as well as adding some additional music stings and sound effects (particularly the claw slash and growl under the title card), and some trims to the Coca-Cola product placement shots. The dubbing is restricted to the bickering couple and the punks, but it is good enough to make one wish they had redubbed the entire film (although the export track features some of the usual Italian dubbing regulars including Nick Alexander). Unfortunately, they went the cheap route and made these changes in mono, sacrificing the Dolby Stereo track (which is both referenced in the dialogue and the logo still appears in the end credits). Although the opening and end credits were in English, the supporting cast list had the "Altri Interpreti" heading (even though other export prints had the "Supporting Cast" heading). When New World distributed the film on videocassette (and Image on laserdisc), it was in this altered mono version in a serviceable fullscreen transfer. At this point, the only quality source for the original stereo surround track was the letterboxed Columbia VHS and laserdisc in Japan. The mono track is okay, but the Dolby Stereo track is aggressive and directional from the sound effects to the scoring and songs.

In the case of DEMONS 2, the short-lived Artists Entertainment mounted a theatrical release of a cut R-rated version with mono audio (with no alterations) which apparently only screened in limited venues on the east coast and the southern United States before being dumped onto VHS by Imperial Entertainment and laserdisc by Image Entertainment in the same fullscreen, R-rated, mono transfer (despite having a Dolby Stereo logo on the front cover). Once again, the Columbia tape and disc release were the only way to appreciate the film in widescreen and stereo surround.

In 1998, The Roan Group made a step in the right direction with laserdiscs of both films (along with Argento's TENEBRAE and PHENOMENA) featuring letterboxed 1.66:1 transfers with Chace Surround remixes in stereo surround and AC3 5.1 as well as audio commentary tracks by Lamberto Bava and Sergio Stivaletti (moderated by journalist Loris Curci). These same transfers were released by Anchor Bay on VHS and non-anamorphic DVD the following year (the latter with Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 surround tracks). Anamorphic reissues of all four films were issued by Anchor Bay in 2007. While TENEBRAE and PHENOMENA turned out to be upscales rather than new transfers, DEMONS and DEMONS 2 were new, more colorful transfers.

HD remasters from camera negative scans performed by the Cineteca di Bologna hit the UK first from Arrow Video on Blu-ray in 2012, although their bountiful packages were compromised by a number of factors, among them compression artifacts from squeezing each of the films and their respective extras (including new commentaries and interviews) onto BD25 discs and the use of mono-only tracks in both English and Italian reportedly due to an inability to fit the stereo tracks to the new scans. While the Anchor Bay 16:9 masters might have had their colors boosted – losing some detail in the saturated neons – the Arrow transfers looked a tad muted. Synapse took the same scans, performed new color correction, and released both films onto stacked website exclusive-limited edition Blu-ray/DVD steelbook combos in 2013, restoring the original English and Italian stereo tracks as well as fitting the U.S. mono track the first film as an option. They followed up those this year with barebones, English-language only Blu-ray and DVD releases in 2014.

Fast forward to 2021 where Arrow drops Dolby Vision UHD and Blu-ray sets from new L'Immagine Ritrovata scans of the original camera negatives with the extras from the 2012 release and two new commentary tracks and a pair of new visual essays. While some Synapse projects are long in gestation, Synapse's Don May dropped a teaser about possible a UHD upgrade for both films from the 4K masters and separate 6000-copy limited edition UHD and Blu-ray sets were announced and released in the space of a few months. The menu screens have the layout of Arrow Video Blu-rays rather than the banner arrangement of Synapse discs, and the production info supplied with the disc suggest that these are not only the same 4K masters as the Arrow but also the same Michael McKenzie encodes and Dolby Vision grading on the UHDs and SDR grades on the Blu-rays. The optional English SDH subtitles for the English tracks and the English subtitles for the Italian tracks also look like Arrow's style.

While the transfers may be a port of the UK editions, Synapse has done more than add and subtract some extras. While Synapse re-edited the US theatrical mono track to fit the international version of DEMONS for their 2013 Blu-ray, Arrow recreated the US cut from the 4K master of the international version for their 2021 edition. Rather than using Arrow's audio laserdisc-sourced track for that version, Synapse has elected to remaster the US theatrical dub . While Arrow was able to do new 5.1 remixes of the Italian and English mixes for both films and Synapse has carried them over – along with the stereo English and Italian mixes of DEMONS and the Italian stereo mix of DEMONS 2 – Arrow left the English track for DEMONS 2 in mono. Synapse, on the other hand, managed to fit the English stereo track to their original release of DEMONS 2, and they have restored the track to this disc in place of Arrow's mono downgrade. Synapse notes that this is indeed the real mix rather than a downmix of the 5.1 track, and the effort is appreciated for those of us who bothered to upgrade from Imperial's mono cassette to the Japanese Dolby Surround release back in the day. In addition to the differences in the dubbing and sound effects between the stereo and mono tracks of DEMONS, also noticeable is the use of Scorpions' "Dynamite" on the Italian track in place of "Night Danger" on the English track. While "Dynamite" is the superior choice, it is surprising just how well both songs suit the same editing.

Synapse has dispensed with the 1997 laserdisc track with Bava, his son Roy, and Stivaletti moderated by Loris Curci in favor of the 2012 track by Bava, Stivaletti, Simonetti, and actress Giancarlo moderated by Mike Baronas, Art Ettinger, and Mark Murray featured on both the Arrow 2012 and Synapse 2013 steelbook editions. Baronas, Ettinger, and Murray introduce the track and presumably quietly prompt Giancarlo who commentates in both English and Italian, and serves as moderator asking questions of Bava, Stivaletti, and Simonetti. Bava notes that he had been developing the story with Dardano Sacchetti (CAT O'NINE TAILS) and that they approached Argento later on in development, particulars on the cast – noting Barberini turned down the sequel and had a difficult choice about going back to acting after becoming a Knight of Malta – and that Giancarlo was in New York when the call came for the sequel. Stivaletti discusses the demon mask and make-ups including three phases of demons ending with the backburster as well as the all of the prosthetic wounds which were the work of late colleague Rosario Prestopino. Simonetti discusses his score and seems less pleased with the imposition of songs from other artists.

New to both the Arrow and Synapse 2021 releases is a track by critics Kat Ellinger and Heather Drain, co-hosts of the Hell's Belles podcast, who discuss the place of Italian horror in the mid-to-late eighties, the influence of German expressionism on horror in general and on the film with Bava's choice of Berlin, the film's borrowings parallels with THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO and its influences on self-aware horrors like WES CRAVEN'S NEW NIGHTMARE and SCREAM, and the film's combination of metal and horror at a time of the Video Nasties in the UK and Satanic panic in the US.

Carried over from the Arrow 2021 edition is "Produced by Dario Argento" (27:13), a visual essay by author and critic Michael Mackenzie focusing on Argento's output as a producer independent of his father Salvatore and brother Claudio, starting with the four film TV series DOOR INTO DARKNESS – the beginnings of his self-styled image as celebrity director with onscreen introductions and TV appearances – followed by DAWN OF THE DEAD, the DEMONS films, his Michele Soavi duo THE CHURCH and THE SECT, his giallo-based TV game show, and his later films in which he served as both producer and director (sometimes partnered with brother Claudio). Mackenzie interestingly notes how the weaknesses of the more personal and self-referential nature of his eighties works as director carried over to his works as producer in which he exerted an influence despite his claims elsewhere that he was hands off.

While the Arrow 2021 disc's archival extras were restricted to their 2012 edition, Synapse's archival extras are a combination of Arrow and Synapse 2013 extras. From the Arrow comes "Dario’s Demon Days" (10:30) in which Argento notes how much easier it was to write DEMONS 2 compared to reworking the Sacchetti/Bava script for the first film, Bava's choice of the Berlin setting, and the use of heavy metal on the soundtrack. Also from Arrow is "Defining an Era in Music" (9:34) in which Simonetti discusses the score versus the song choices, the soundtrack's popularity, the music video clip for the main theme, and the soundtrack's rerelease. From Synapse comes "Dario and His Demons: Producing Monster Mayhem" (15:51) in which Argento emphasizes the freedom he gives his directors as producer, and notes the thematic similarities in choosing Berlin for DEMONS and Switzerland for PHENOMENA. Also from Synapse is "Splatter Stunt Rock" (9:12), an interview with stuntman Ottaviano Dell’Acqua – wormface of Fulci's ZOMBIE – in which he discusses his stunt work as a teenager, and his collaborations with DEMONS stunt coordinator Freddy Unger (the masked killer double of BLOOD AND BLACK LACE), as well as his opinions of Argento and Bava. The disc closes out with the film's Italian theatrical trailer (2:09), the international trailer (2:09), and the film's US theatrical trailer (1:32).

Synapse dispenses with the audio commentary by Bava, Stivaletti, and Roy Bava, moderated by Loris Curci for the 1998 laserdisc and carried over to the Anchor Bay DVDs and the Arrow Blu-rays in favor of the newer commentary by film historian Travis Crawford recorded for the Arrow 2021 disc in which he notes the ways in which similar thematic concerns to DEMONS have been reconfigured for the apartment building setting and the medium of television – including an almost TV look and feel – noting borrowings as far flung as SHIVERS and VIDEODROME to more closer references to FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET, BLACK SABBATH, and KILL BABY KILL. He also notes the decision to pursue a lower rating to attract a younger audience and the resulting box office returns, as well as the shift from metal to New Wave song choices.

Also ported from the Arrow 2021 edition is "Together and Apart" (26:36), a visual essay by author/critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas who notes the blurring of private and communal spaces in both films even before the demons emerge – from the groupings of viewers in the theater engaging in their own conversations and intrigues to the contrast between the gym class and Sally's party and the more isolated existences of other residents all watching the same TV documentary – the two films within films, and the rupturing of the theater and TV screens, as well as the act of viewing in both films as a ritual experience.

Ported over from the Arrow edition is "Creating Creature Carnage" (20:29) in which special makeup effects artist Stivaletti discusses the designs of the demons and delineates his work from that of Prestopino on both films, as well as noting that featured demon Rosemary was actually an easier design than the transformation of Carmen in the first film, and his preference for the transformations in the second film. From the original Synapse release comes "The Demons Generation: Roy Bava Discusses a Legacy in Lacerations" (34:49) in which director's son Roy Bava recalls being in high school while working as trainee assistant director on DEMONS, the speed with which his father likes to work, and his memories of his grandfather Mario bringing him onto film sets including INFERNO where he and his sister were tasked with cutting out the holes for lights in the maquette of the New York skyline for the reverse angle exteriors shot in Rome.

In "Screaming for a Sequel: The Delirious Legacy of DEMONS 2" (15:58), director Bava recalls putting together the sequel quickly after the first film, but more interesting are his remarks about THE CHURCH which he says he developed but ultimately had to turn down because he had TV contracts while Argento was trying to raise funds. Most intriguing is his claim that his script closely resembles the final film rather than Soavi reworking the material, and his annoyance that he is not listed in the credits. In "A Soundtrack for Splatter" (27:08), composer Boswell recalls meeting Argento and working on PHENOMENA and then not only being asked to score DEMONS 2 but also to put together the songs which he did through a deal with Beggars Banquet music, also recalling his need to personally contact Morrissey and make the case for use of his song "Panic" in that the film is not just a splatter film but has deeper things to say about the media. The disc also includes the film's Italian theatrical trailer (2:56) and a near-identical international English trailer (2:55).