The movie is about people who get an invitation from a mysterious figure (Michele Soavi, which means you should take a shot, as per the rules of the "Spot Michele Soavi" drinking game) for an unidentified movie in a theater that no one has heard about until that evening. The central figures in the movie are two young girls who skip class to attend, and two guys who meet up with them at the theater. If you have seen The Church at all, then you will know where it borrows much of its story from, as Demons soon sees the people in the theater looking to not get infected and turn into a demon. The source: a mask that somehow causes a cut on the person's face who wears it, if only for a few seconds. As for the movie within a movie, it further illustrates this point, as the events of the movie soon get replicated within the theater. Survival and trying to stay uninfected are the ideas for the movie, and it works to a large degree. Demons borrows from Cat O'Nine Tails (blind man has his assistant tell him what is going on in the movie) and Suspiria (the use of color in the movie) to great effect, and it figures, since Dario Argento had a hand in this movie. The gore in this movie is great in quantity and quality, though there are instances of the "turning into one of them" where you wonder if they grow really bad boils. The main characters aren't too annoying, and the state of panic is done well, as the feeling of being unable to escape, with the exits concreted and bricked off, turn the movie into one LSD-induced nightmare (not that I recommend doing that kind of thing). Of particular interest is the usherette, who stands out just for sheer beauty.
The soundtrack is heavy metal laden, which sets a template for Opera, which was Argento's next movie, and fits in with some of the movie's best scenes. Demons takes the best parts of some of Italian horror's best movies and makes it equally, if not better.
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