Demoni 2... L'Incubo Ritorna (A.K.A. Demons 2) (1986)

After the succes of his Demoni (1985) Lamberto Bava quickly decided to cash in some more on the demons and a year later Demoni 2 was released. Mainly made by the same crew, and even some of the cast that played in the first movie, Demoni 2 kind of repeats the first movie in terms of the plot but not in terms of quality.

A documentary is shown on TV of group of teens who investigate the legendary forbidden zone, in which a Demon infestation once took place. When finding a lifeless corpse of a demon, one of the teens causes the resurrection of it, and the demon makes it's way into the nearby world by TV-broadcast... An unlucky girl, having her birthday-party at that time, gets possessed by the demon while watching the documentary and soon the entire building in which she lives turns into a living nightmare.... 

It takes about 40 minutes for the movie to find some pace. Not entirely coincidental that's also about the same point in the movie that Bobby Rhodes, who brilliantly portrayed a pimp in the first movie and is equally as good in this one as a gym instructor, starts getting more screentime. The rest of the cast consists of the, back then, good looking Nancy Brilli and an only 11-year old Asia Argento, debuting in a feature film. 

At pretty much every single thing Demoni 2 takes a step back in comparison with Demoni (1985). The demons look less spectaculair, the gore level is drastically reduced and the setting is less impressive. Especially the latter point is a disappointment. The movie theatre that the first movie took place in had a perfect vibe and was a great setting for a movie like Demons. The apartment building that Demons 2 takes place in lacks the fantastic vibe of the theatre and Bava doesn't get half as much out of the setting as he did in the first movie. One thing that did stay on the same good level as Demons (1985) is the soundtrack, this time provided by Simon Boswell. True, Boswell isn't Claudio Simonetti but he does produce an excellent score in this movie supported by some great rock songs.

Great scenes like the scene where 2 persons are locked in an elevator and pry open the door only to see dozens of crazy demons run past them are often followed up by just plain bad scenes like the one where a small gremlin-like creature attacks a pregnant lady. Not only is that a bad scene, it's also drawn out way to long while other scenes in this movie are often cut short which leaves a strange feeling you're watching a badly edited movie with unfinished scenes.

Demoni 2 certainly isn't an Italian horror treasure like Demoni (1985) was. The plot and the way it's elaborated just feels very lazy. On the other hand it's still cool to see some demons chase their victims while a typical 80's score is playing. Thereby comes that Bobby Rhodes is once again doing so well that he adds a lot of color to the movie. Demoni 2 is not great but it's just entertaining enough to earn 3,5* out of 5*.