The Revenging Manta was wrapping up his interrogation of the mysterious assassin we had chased down through downtown Orlando. The Goose Lord and his gang were expecting a delivery at the Monroe Harbour Marina in Sanford, FL. The delivery was to take place at 3 AM under the cover of night. The delivery would be a super weapon, but that was all the information the guy knew. We couldn’t let the guy go and we couldn’t call the authorities so we took him with us. The Revenging Manta promised to slit his throat if he was lying.

— To be continued. 

Spooky Season is here and your Curator of Schlock will now transform into the Curator of Shock for your amusement. Since I didn’t do a Giallo Month in August, I’ll just have to exchange Italian thrillers for Italian horror. And we’ve got a true classic this week, 1985’s Demons from Lamberto Bava. Think kind of like an Irwin Allen disaster movie mixed with David Cronenberg’s Rabid.

Our movie begins with a pretty, young woman named Cheryl (Natasha Hovey) riding a train in Berlin while being followed by a creeper wearing a metal mask. She just about cries for help when the masked stranger gives her a movie ticket. He then starts handing out free movie tickets to random people in the train station. Cheryl grabs another ticket for her friend, Kathy (Paola Cozzo), and later convinces her to cut class for a free movie premiere. Kathy hopes it isn’t one of those awful horror movies!

When they arrive at the theater, they meet two preppy guys who take a shine to them and a double date ensues. We’re also introduced to the other theater goers: an old married couple who are celebrating their anniversary, a teenage couple in the bloom of young love, and a blind man and his caretaker. My favorite is a pimp named Tony (Bobby Rhodes) who brought two of his prostitutes with him, Rosemary (Geretta Giancarlo) and Gina. Rosemary plays around with a prop demon mask on display, cutting her cheek in the process.

This movie begins and we’re introduced to four young people exploring some ancient ruins. They discover an ancient book of Nostradamus who predicted the coming of the demons. One of them sticks a demon mask on his face for kicks and cuts his face in the process. The wound festers and the young man transforms into a demon, with bug eyes and sharp teeth, and long fingernails. He begins to massacre his friends. 

Meanwhile, back in the movie theater, Rosemary isn’t having such a good time. Seems that her cut is exploding plus and before we know it, Rosemary turns demonic. Her first victim is Gina, whose throat she claws. Gina ran away screaming, falling through the movie screen. She seemingly dies in front of the theater crowd, but she becomes a demon in no time and attacks the old, married couple. 

Everyone runs for their lives.

When they get to the entrance, the doors are locked. They break them down only to reveal a solid brick wall where the entrance one stood. I found that rather funny.

It won’t be long before everyone becomes a demon unless they can find a way out. By the way, if you ever wanted to see someone ride a motorcycle across the tops of theater seats, then this is the movie for you. 

Jeff Shuster (episode 47, episode 102, episode 124, episode 131, episode 284, episode 441, episode 442, episode 443, episode 444, episode 450, episode 477, episode 491, episode 492, episode 493, episode 495, episode 496, episode 545, episode 546, episode 547, episode 548, episode 549, episode 575, episode 596, episode 597, episode 598, episode 599, episode 642, episode 643, episode 644, episode 645, and episode 670) is an MFA graduate from the University of Central Florida.