DEMONI 3 - AKA 'Black Demons'. I really like director Umberto Lennzi's twilight phase - 'Nightmare Beach', 'Ghosthouse', 'House Of Witchcraft' etc. No-one would call those films his best, but for me they partly define the look and feel of Italian horror back then. 'Demoni 3' has typical late eighties keyboards, a sunny location and a script as throwaway as the carboard acting. Bother, sister and sis's bf are in Brazil doing some unmemorable, possibly fashion related stuff, when brother tangles with Macumba and basically kicks up a big supernatural shitstorm. Trapped in an isolated house, surrounded by zombies - we've seen that one before. It's really all that happens here, only with murdered slaves seeking vengeance via black magic. You don't always look to B-movie knock-offs for a nuanced and sensitive dissection of sociopolitical barbarism, and Lenzi, ever the opportunist, keeps it crass and doesn't offer up his riveting post-colonial analysis. To be frank though, beyond a few candlelit moments with the shuffling undead, he doesn't offer all that much horror either - eyeballs are skewered and a head is axed, but it's all lightweight and does little to lift the slightly ponderous midsection. Despite its catalogue of flaws, 'Demoni 3' held my attention and kept me happy with its quirks. I like what he does with his camera. Basically, whenever there's a horror bit he'll just throw in a zoom, and very often that zoom will shove in our faces a skull with a single prolapsing eyeball. Love it, so blunt and on the nose.
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