In Demons, Lamberto Bava and Dario Argento created a puss-fuelled, post modern possession movie as fun and horror filled as it was brilliantly directed. So the question, is how do you make a sequel to such a self aware and sensational horror movie?

The answer is that you make the same movie all over again and that is both the brilliance and downfall of Demons 2.

Set many years after the outbreak of the first film, the world has somehow moved on from the horror, relegating the terrible demon drama that unfolded in the Metropol cinema to nothing more than fodder for a late night TV movie.

This late night TV movie just happens to be being broadcast this very night to the inhabitants of a tower block, who watch while going about their lives either home alone, snuggling up on the sofa or in the case of Sally (Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni – also seen in Argento’s Opera) while partying with her teenage friends.

On the television set, a group of kids enter the forbidden zone where the demonic rampage took place. Finding a dead demon, one of the group accidentally cuts themselves, dripping blood into the decrepit remains and mystically bringing the beast back to life.

Sally watches on as the kids are torn apart, enjoying the carnage on screen but then the demon seemingly catches her eye, walking towards her until it is pressed up against the inside of the TV screen. Shock turns to terror for Sally as the demon pushes through, entering her world and attacking her and transforming her into a blood thirsty hell beast.

After massacring her friends, Sally’s hell horde grows and it is up to the residence of the apartment block to fight for survival in an attempt to escape their demonic doom.

A regular skin care regime was no longer necessary…

So far, so similar, but Demons 2 doesn’t stop there. It continues to replicate the first film’s plot-line as the similarities continue in story, structure, scenes and even actors. The brilliant Bobby Rhodes who played Tony the Pimp in Demons even returns as a gym instructor-turned-leader of the rebellion when the plague takes over the tower.

The repetition is fine if you enjoyed the first film (and if you didn’t, what the hell is wrong with you!) however sadly Demons 2 just doesn’t pack the punch of the first film in terms of its gore, horror, action or ideas.

That’s not to say there isn’t some innovation in the horror of Demons 2, with a hellish hound eating its master and a Gremlin-esque demon spawn that attacks a pregnant woman both being fun diversions, if slightly silly, special effects.

Using the TV as a tool for transmitting evil, literally in one scene, is an interesting idea. However it is under-used and doesn’t function as fantastically as the film and cinema combination of Demons.

Entertaining and fun, Demons 2 offers up a good blend of gore and action that will definitely make you worry about whether your TV is safe to watch.
However if you loved the first film, it’s a slight disappointment as a sequel, especially given the set up at the end of the first film for a post apocalyptic road movie follow up.

Movie Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

Trailer:

I don’t know about you, but all I ever hear about horror is the negative stuff. “It made a man pass out”, “It made a woman go crazy”, “It made a teenager massacre his family” etc.
But we thought it would be refreshing to look at the benefits of horror and specifically, we wanted to know ‘in what ways could horror be good for you?’ We did some investigating and here’s what we found.

6 Reasons Why Horror is Good for You

Education

You can learn a lot about the world by watching a horror film.

Randy teaches us the horror rules…

More specifically, you can learn by the mistakes that the characters make in these movies.
From the very beginnings of horror, characters became victims because of bad judgement calls, from Dr Frankenstein trying to resurrect the dead to Arthur Kipps insisting on staying in a haunted mansion in The Woman in Black.
Generally, it’s the stupid, ignorant, arrogant, careless ones that meet an untimely end, leaving the more innocent individuals with a better chance of survival. It’s a lesson in life, and horror regularly enforces morals, even though many anti-horror people believe that it is in fact immoral. Weird huh?
It probably also holds some added educational value for psychologists and surgeons – especially the Saw films…

It encourages physical contact

Whether you’re on the sofa or in the cinema, it’s widely acknowledged that horror is the best genre of film to watch if you want to snuggle up to someone.
Have you ever taken a date to watch a scary movie? And did the night end with some physical contact? I bet you’re nodding.
If the film doesn’t encourage your love interest to leap onto your lap in the theatre, they’re likely to want company back at their place for the night – just in case the ‘big, bad serial killer’ comes for them. Though they might not actually want to admit that.

And so horror people brings people together. Couples share terrifying experiences together so that they can talk through how terrified they were afterwards, whilst cuddling and (if you’re lucky) caressing.

A form of escapism

No matter how bad your life is, you’re still better off than that guy who just got eaten by zombies.
Horror is great for taking your mind off your daily troubles. Once a film emerses you in terror your mind will quickly switch to survival mode and your financial worries will fade. They’ll be replaced by ponderings such as ‘how would I kill a horde of vampires?’
In a majority of cases, as the film ends you’ll feel a sense of relief, both that the ordeal is over and that werewolves aren’t actually real. And after triple checking that your doors and windows are locked you’ll eventually realise that you haven’t thought about your financial troubles for ages. Of course, this will lead you to think about them again, which is an ideal time to put on another horror DVD.

Catharsis

You’ve had a bad day at work, and after a disagreement with your boss there’s nothing more that you’d like to do than to impale him on a spike. We’ve all been there, so why not relax in front of a brutal and disturbing film?
Because there are those that believe that watching a specific activity (like killing) on screen can appease your appetite to go out and do said activity in real life. So right now, horror films are preventing thousands of serial killers from going out and committing murder – in theory.

If you get urges to do horrible things, it could be that you just need to watch more horror films. There is of course another school of thought that blames horror movies for violent behaviour. Perhaps we’ll cover that in ‘x reasons why horror is bad for you’ (like we’ll ever write that – Ed)

"Watching food on TV stops me eating… Oh, wait."

It makes you laugh

A lot of horror is scary and may give you nightmares or even long term psychological issues.
However, there are still plenty of horror comedies, or more likely, old and/or cheap horror films that are so cheesy and bad that they’re hilarious.

We all have our favourites: The films where the monster is blatantly just a man in spandex. Or the one that blew the budget on special effects, leaving the producers with no option but to employ the most wooden actors ever known.

It’s important that horror maintains its element of fun, as ultimately, none of us wants to be left irreparably damaged by what we see – just like those people that watched A Serbian Film.

You can face your fears

If you have a phobia, it can be paralysing. And if your life is being adversely affected by a phobia that you have, it makes sense that you should tackle the problem.
There are lots of ways to do this from therapy to hypnotism, but one possible, cheaper approach is to let horror cleanse you of your fears.

Many studies have proved that extensive exposure to horror can desensitise you to it. So, someone who has seen the Saw series 100 times is likely to have a stronger stomach and be a lot harder to scare than a person who has never watched a horror movie.
It makes sense then, that if you’re afraid of clowns, there’s every chance that watching Stephen King’s It on a daily basis will eventually help you to face that fear and overcome it.
This may not work though if you have a phobia of actually watching horror films.

"If you're so harmless, why are you locked in the sewer?"

The Raid is out this Friday and we want you to go and see it so much in fact we are offering you up another clip to convince you ofnthe movies brillaince.

We know that action speaks louder than ords so check out and make sure to read our review coming soon:

Person A: RUN!!
Person B: Is it a giant monster?!
Person A: No, it’s another found footage movie!
Person B: Wait, actually, it’s a good one. So stop running and read…

The people behind Cloverfield did an excellent job at building hype before its release.
I remember seeing the trailer on Youtube and being stunned by how great it was. I was desperate to find out more.

Cloverfield is a found footage film. The initial purpose of the camera is to document the leaving part of Rob Hawkins (Michael Stahl-David). He’s moving to Japan and his friends are keen to record messages for him, recounting embarrassing stories and letting know how much he’ll be missed.
But it’s during this party that the city of New York is rocked by a series of explosions, and as the revellers move outside to discover the cause, things quickly fall apart – both the emotions of those present and the buildings that they’re standing in or near.

There’s a giant alien monster in the city and it’s destroying everything in its path.
It sounds silly and all too familiar (Godzilla anyone?) but in fact, the Cloverfield concept is surprisingly well executed.

One of the key strengths of the film is its pace. Things take off quickly and just don’t seem to let off. It’s as if you (the viewer) really are the one gripping the camera, and gripping tightly, like your life depended on it.

The dark city is filled with danger, and as our narrators – 4 kids from the party (including Rob) make their way across it to save someone, the chances of them surviving seem to diminish with every second.

There are all kinds of obstacles. Apart from the giant beast, there are small, spider-like creatures that are just as lethal. There’s also the risk of getting caught in the crossfire as the army attempt to take control of the situation.

In epic features such as this, it’s common for the producers to try to show as many different perspectives of the situation as possible, from different people. This hits home how big the disaster is, but also dilutes the film as the focus shifts too often (2012, Independence Day, Mars Attacks).
By sticking to one viewpoint, Cloverfield is far more successful at generating an atmosphere, and this atmosphere twinned with the unrelenting action is what makes the film so effective and enjoyable.

As with most, if not all, of these found footage films, you do have to wonder if anyone would continue to use a video camera when they’re fighting for their lives. When you only have one hand spare to defend yourself against alien spider monsters, it’s probably time to put the camera down.

But if you can suspend disbelief where that’s concerned, you’ll find that Cloverfield is an excellent example of a found footage film. And if you haven’t seen it already, you should make it a priority.

Movie Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Trailer:

To celebrate 14th May UK DVD release of The Divide (Momentum Pictures) we are offering one winner the chance to win an extremely limited edition money can’t buy exclusively designed t-shirt and a copy of The Divide on DVD. One runner-up will also win a limited edition The Divide t-shirt.

Strongly tipped as a filmmaker to watch on the strength of his astonishing debut feature “Frontier(s)” and hard-hitting follow up “Hitman”, director Xavier Gens fulfils all expectations with his latest offering, The Divide, an intense, post-apocalyptic shocker.

Starring Michael Biehn (The Abyss; Aliens; The Terminator), Lauren German (Hawaii Five-O; Hostel: Part II), Rosanna Arquette (Pulp Fiction), Milo Ventimiglia (Wolverine; Heroes), Courtney B. Vance (Final Destination 5; FlashForward) and Ashton Holmes (Nikita; The Pacific). The Divide is ‘terrifying from it’s opening sequence to its breathtaking and totally unexpected finale, it grips like a vice throughout and sees the ever-excellent Biehn delivering one of the most riveting performances of his career’.

For your chance to win, just answer the following question:

Question

Michael Biehn starred in which iconic film from the 1980′s?

a. Fumigator
b. Terminator
c. Exterminator

By entering this competition, you are agreeing to the Love Horror competition terms and conditions

The Divide (Momentum Pictures) is available to download and on DVD from 14th May 2012.

Check out The Divide Fanhub site – http://www.totalfanhub.com/the-divide/