Demonia (1990)

Demonia is about as confusing and esoteric as anything Fulci's done, with the possible exception of Manhattan Baby. Any real narrative coherence is localized in the dull characters; but it is essentially a series of odd happenings that aren't odd enough to be interesting.

At the heart of the story is Liza (played by the very beautiful Meg Register). She's an archaeology student who goes to seances to gain knowledge the easy way: directly from the inhabitants of the past. Before going to a dig in Sicily she has a seance that affects her in profound ways. Although she's supposed to be investigating an Ancient Greek settlement, she now finds herself supernaturally drawn to an old Catholic monastery where a group of nuns had been crucified. The more interest she shows in this monastery, the more the surly Sicilian townsfolk become hostile. And then strange deaths begin to occur.

Demonia is Fulci's approach to the Battle of the Sexes. The head of the dig, Paul, keeps ordering Liza to forget the monastery and she keeps disobeying. The Sicilian townsfolk are all men, with one exception; they are all obsessed with keeping the secret of what happened in that monastery, except, of course, the one woman, who reveals all. The nuns, as it turns out, had turned to Satan. At least, that's what this woman says; inside the convent, 'Azathoth' is seen carved into a doorway, giving the story some Lovecraftian tones. The nuns have been conducting orgies and then murdering the men. So a group of men murder the nuns. Now a woman has brought back the spirit of the nuns, or the prioress anyway, and men are being murdered again--and the woman who blabbed. One murder is particularly shocking, involving a boy forced to witness his father torn in half like a wishbone. So it's really all about these tensions between men and women; not that it matters much.

The film's problems begin with the dull characters. All these events are happening, but the characters aren't very interesting, so who cares? The mystery of the convent is spelled out in the opening scene, so the story doesn't draw one in. The supernatural goings-on are themselves not particularly inspired, either, so there's not even the setpieces to recommend. The nunsploitation angle is covered in one flashback to nun-humping action. The few gore scenes are well-done, however, and the sets/locations are very nicely photographed, with some atmosphere, though not much.

Demonia, in my view, is Fulci's weakest film. It is a failure, albeit an interesting failure for those who like Fulci's nearly-plotless late works as I do. To sum up: the story just isn't good enough, the setting has a bland feel, Fulci's inspiration stylistically and visually is lacking, and the setpieces aren't very creative.

Bonus points:
Ghost boobies
Warning: cat puppets may result in injury to the eyes
Tongue-stab
Worst Irish accent ever