Review of Black Demons

Demons part three?!? How many parts three are there in this series? I thought "The Ogre" was supposed to be part three? Ah hell, who cares! And come to think of it, this one is a much more reminiscent successor for the series, as "The Ogre" revolved on … well … an ogre! The demons in "Demons 3" technically aren't demons, neither, but at least more demonic than ogres. Is anyone still following the logic here? No, didn't think so. "Demons", ladies and gentlemen, is the franchise infamous for NOT featuring anything even remotely resembling a storyline or tension-building, just buckets and buckets of gore! For this third venture into the universe of horribly nauseating demon-terror, Umberto Lenzi (taking over the director's seat from his pal Lamberto Bava) admirably attempted to come up with a slightly more ambitious screenplay. It's of little use, however, because the incoherence and senselessness begins to show within the first twenty minutes already. Five young persons (tourists? Scientists? Anthropology students?) become involved in South American voodoo practices, and without much further ado the mansion where they're staying is overrun by hideous black zombies craving for flesh and blood. You can say a lot about Italian horror directors, but not that they're discriminating anyone. The zombies in part three are resurrected black slaves with their minds set on vengeance, even if this means extracting it nearly a whole century overdue. Enough about the absent intellectual values and deeper morals of "Demons", let's just talk about what really matters: Gore! The make-up effects are awesome, plentiful and nauseating enough to make even the strongest stomachs churn. The first mentionable gory scene shows a girl (thankfully the worst actress of them all) who's eyeball is ripped out of the socket nice and not-so-clean! The image is so sickening that it would even make Lucio "The Eyeball Master" Fulci himself proud and emotional. The great gore also serves another purpose, namely to distract you from the painfully awful acting performances, the amateurish dialogs and the horrid cliché-sayings like "We're on the threshold of the 21st Century. Do you really expect us to believe in Voodoo". Yuck! The make-up on the zombies is particularly terrific. Please note how I keep talking about zombies instead of about demons, because that's what they are! Dead folks emerging from their graves and decomposing further as they slowly and aimlessly totter along. Actual demons, like the ones in Bava's previous two films, are hyperactive and unstoppable creatures from hell itself. Not intending to give a lecture here, just pointing out fairly important and relevant details. Now that we're splitting hairs anyway, the script repeatedly speaks of six cursed black slaves but the DVD cover depicts seven friendly fellas! And did you know you can only be 100% sure that a girl went missing if at least two pairs of shoes remained behind?