I can't wait for Arrow to release this.
I've been an avid fan of this film since I saw the second one back when I was 8. Might seem odd to see the second one first, but the store didn't have the first and quite frankly, I was naive and thought it was a sequel to NIGHT OF THE DEMONS - since when I was a kid, I thought NIGHT OF THE DEMONS was called just plain DEMONS, so I wasn't expecting a zombie-esque film with demons running amok in an apartment building.
I was however pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it and once I found out it was a sequel to another film - duh DEMONS - I immediately went out to seek the first film out of obscurity with surprisingly no luck. No store in my area had it to rent or to buy. I was a little disheartened, then one day my mom and I passed a mom n' pop store I hadn't checked; and viola, there it was, staring me in the face with that grotesque image of a horned demon and the title blaring out in bright pink letters.
Well immediately I ran to the counter to open an account with my mom and rent the flick, and since the store was right down the street from our house - mom had no issues opening up another video store account, we had three at the time at two Blockbusters and another store across town - so off I went.
When I saw the first DEMONS it scared the ever loving life out of me, when Rosemary spins around and spews up the bile, scratching her friend, I actually screamed. My father watched most of the horror films I liked as youngster with me and I remember him laughing at my reactions. I had never been freaked out visibly like that from a film - so he was just as surprised as I was.
Expecting me to get nightmares, he of course stayed up all night waiting to hear me yelling from my room, but to his surprise - I didn't. It may have something to do with the fact I didn't sleep, but that wasn't because I was scared, oh no, it's because I was devising a plan to escape the demon onslaught when it happened.
Actually what I was really doing was watching the film again on my 12" TV screen in my bedroom with the volume really low. Whenever I was scared or freaked out by a movie as a kid, it was like a dare, I had to watch it over and over until it stopped being scary. Thankfully DEMONS became one of those films that became more fun the second time around and I found myself digging the heavy metal soundtrack as well as the score.
A few years later, DEMONS was re-released by Anchor Bay featuring an uncut, international print, which to my surprise had different audio cues, different dubbing, and a few extra clips of a coke can being passed around.
While I was glad to finally own the film, I did not like the international version for the version I had been renting religiously from the little store down the road was the version I was used to. This version was alien, felt incomplete to me.
Eventually the store closed, I bought DEMONS from the owner along with a slue of rare films - now most have been released on DVD - and while the copy I had from the video store didn't last me very long; it was in rough shape to begin with, once I owned it, it became a constant source of annoyance for my parents being played over and over again, I eventually tracked down several more copies in the following years and that still is the version I prefer.
I eventually had a friend painstakingly sync up the audio from the original US laserdisc, with the new Anchor Bay transfer, which lead to six weeks of work and "anchor words", but eventually, he got it down and now the is the copy I pop into my DVD player - retiring the VHS indefinitely - whenever I want to watch the film.
However, when the Arrow release comes out - I am going to find myself watching it yet again in the version I don't prefer, but I can cope. Especially with new extras being produced and the amazing comic book sequel that hopefully some day, gets made into a film.
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