Black Demons (1991)

Excellent cover art for the movie. Too bad the film doesn't live up to it.

Demons to some. Zombies to others.

Black Demons tells the story, or at least tries to, of an ancient curse which brings back six slaves from the dead to kill those pesky white folks we are stuck with throughout the movie. Black Demons is also known as Demons 3 just to cash in on the earlier films’ success. They don’t have anything to do with each other though. Whatever you want to call it this is still a movie about zombies and not demons. Interestingly it remains Umberto Lenzi’s only contribution to the proud tradition of Italian zombie films. Most people would argue that Nightmare City is a zombie film as well, but Lenzi has stated it’s about infected people. Some argue that this is a sub-genre of the zombie film. It’s a debate worth spending much time and energy on. Moving on…

There really isn’t anything particularly memorable about Black Demons. The zombies look pretty darn cool, chains and all. We are also treated to a couple of entertaining eye trauma scenes and a bloody stabbing to the throat. They are the highlights of the movie, which really is a shame since the story actually has a lot of potential. I mean black zombies coming back and killing white people just screams fun. It would have been great to see Lenzi option for a politically incorrect movie to shake the establishment. Perhaps the zombies could have utilized some of the oppressive tools used on them once upon a time? Unfortunately, he doesn’t and we’re left with a rather mediocre effort. That means a terrible film to non-horror aficionados. The most remarkable thing about Black Demons is that it’s from 1991, when the look all the way only suggests the 80s. I know remnants from previous decades always linger, but this one takes the prize. You could do worse, but wouldn’t you rather watch a better Italian zombie flick? Bruno Mattei’s excellent Hell of the Living Dead or even Zombie 4: After Death are both better choices.

The Shriek Show DVD provides us with a Lenzi interview where he mostly dismisses the movie and criticizes the actors. Good stuff.

4/10