Demons 2 came fast on the heels of the first, now iconic horror film, and while there are some interesting moments, I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first one. There are some solid kills, and some pretty sweet practical effects, but it just didn’t have the kick of the first film.

Set shortly after the events of the first film, this story finds itself set in a high-rise complex that seems to be mostly apartments. While some folks are gearing up for a birthday party for Sally (Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni) most everyone else in the building, including Sally, seems to be watching this documentary filmed by a group of kids sneaking into the Forbidden Zone that was established after the events of the first film.

Here’s where I start to have problems with the story. Is it a live broadcast? Why is everyone in the building watching it? And why, when things start to go very sideways for the investigating kids, does no one, not even the resurrected demon, go after the camera crew that have to be shooting everything?

We also get into the idea of the image of a demon becoming a demon when the demon from the documentary passes through the television set and infects Sally, setting off a series of events that threaten the inhabitants of the entire building!

Among the inhabitants is a very young Asia Argento, Dario’s daughter, making her first screen appearance.

Stuck in the midst of it all are the pregnant Hannah (Nancy Brilli) and her partner George (David Edwin Knight). Things get desperate for the pair, and Hannah has to face off against a little boy transformed into a demon who then gets torn apart and gives birth to a smaller little creature that looks just a little too goofy, and too puppet-like to be a believable threat.

The practical effects, once again, are very enjoyable, and it was really funny to see Bobby Rhodes show up in this film as well. He played a pimp in the first film, and suffered a horrific fate, and this time around he seems to be running a gym, and fares little better.

I think, once I clung to the whole camera crew thing it ruined by enjoyment of the rest of the film. I just couldn’t let it go, and consequently couldn’t throw myself into the story and have as much fun with this one as I did the first.

The kills are fun, the effects are solid, but a little bit more groundwork to build the narrative a little more strongly would have served this film nicely. Lets see what happens three years later, in 1989, when the formula and universe are visited again with the Church, though it’s not considered an official sequel.