I had never seen this film by Fulci until I got this DVD from Media Blasters - Shriek Show. I must say, it's taken me 3 days to get just 55 minutes through the movie --- that's how involving it is. Not to trash the maestro, but this has to be his most uninteresting film, even mores than "White Fang". I'll sit through anything and usually can be entertained somehow one way or another, but on this one so far - Nada. From the reviews I've read here and elsewhere, things pick up in the last half hour and there's supposedly some gore so I'm assuming the movie will at least have a bit of a payoff and I'm sure it won't be a total loss. But still, that first hour is grueling. The WORST part of this DVD, however, is the poor digital mastering --- it is absolutely one of the worst I've ever seen on a DVD with digital artifact going on constantly. Pictures on the wall move around, character's faces morph, hair bleeds (and I'm not talking gore!) and the image just won't stay still. Very poor mastering! It's a shame because the source material looks great --- but the mastering ruins it. You know it's bad when you're paying more attention to the shoddy mosaic artifact than the movie itself. Someone compared this to Anchor Bay quality --- there's absolutely no comparison (unless you mean their early stuff like the atrocious transfer on "Zombie"). I sure hope SHRIEK SHOW - MEDIA BLASTERS upgrade their mastering for their upcoming releases because they are acquiring some very cool titles like LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S SKIN. And if they don't, they will be known as the "Madacy" for euro-horror titles in my opinion. What a shame!

"Demonia" is one of the master horror director Lucio Fulci's final achievements and, though not exactly one of his finest ones, it remains a truly interesting film for his many avid fans to track down and enjoy. The first half hour is tame and slow and, generally speaking, the entire film isn't nearly as gory as Fulci's previous highlights (though there's one jaw-dropping scene that compensates for nearly everything), but the script is ambitiously compelling and the atmospheric Sicilian settings are quite wonderful. Fulci even managed to create suspense at some points here and successfully sustains an adequately mysterious ambiance. The depiction of the eerie nun's face on the cover looks appealing, but "Demonia" has really nothing in common with the so-called "Nunsploitation" movies that also primarily came out of Italy. The nuns in this film were barbarically crucified by angry villagers in the catacombs of their Sicilian monastery in the late 15th Century. More than 500 years later, an archaeological expedition intends to investigate the ruins, only the local population brutally objects and act as if they're all commonly sharing a morbid secret. Particularly the young archeology student Liza Harris becomes increasingly obsessed with the mysterious convent's past, as visions and nightmares lure her straight to the exact place where the nuns were executed. The cloister's background is sinister, to say the least, and especially the flashback sequence is unsettling. Death occurs in the film frequently and with pleasingly nasty effects, including implements, beheading and spontaneously attacking meat hooks. And, of course, since it's undeniably Lucio's pet peeve, you may also anticipate the repulsive removal of someone's eyeball. But the very best piece of gore, accomplished with stunningly realistic effects, shows a guy getting split in half – human wishbone style – clean down the middle. This scene alone is worthy of a top-recommendation! Unfortunately several sequences are extremely overlong and tedious, as if our good friend the directors thought it was necessary to endlessly stretch the plot to reach the running time of the film. Shame actually, because in case of a little less padding and pointlessness, "Demonia" could have been a modest classic listed directly underneath his best works "The Beyond", "City of the Living Dead", "House by the Cemetery", "Cat in the Brain" and "Zombi 2". Fulci granted himself a modest but entertaining role as the police inspector investing the series of grisly murders. To those who don't know him, he's the elderly man with enormous glasses big enough to cover half of his face.

It didn't stink, but it was nowhere near the brilliance of "Zombie." It was more like "Gates Of Hell," a so-so plot with some decent scenes to keep us interested.Italian nuns get crucified in medieval Italy for...wait for it...being a secret satanic coven. Years later (aka present day) they rise and attack a Canadian archaeology team digging under the ancient churches.Lucio re-did his zombie films with nuns. There's some good creepy atmosphere here. And the story itself isn't bad, it just doesn't really take off.Al Cliver gets a cameo role and the Maestro himself shows up as a (what else?) high-ranking cop. And Canadian Brett Halsey does a good job in the lead.The drawn and quarter scene, despite the shoddy effects, (DeRossi where were you?) will make a few of you cringe. It seemed to ape Deodato's "Cut And Run" scene stealer.It makes a good addition if you're a completist, but Lucio's done better.

I've seen most of Fulci's output (that's available in English anyway) and even I found this one in particular to be disappointing. It's dull, seems incredibly long (though isn't)and even the odd gore scene which aren't very frequent or impressive do little to relieve the boredom.This seems to be the work of someone running low on ideas and, I'm sorry to say, motivation. It's a similar situation with a few of his later works. I'd recommend House Of Clocks, Touch Of Death or Cat in the Brain for a taste of Fulci's later works.Go for one of his many other classics, ignore this unless you're a completist like me and have to have it all!