In 1486, in Sicily, five nuns are crucified in their nunnery by the superstitious locals that believe they are evil and worship devil. In 1990, in Toronto, the skeptical archaeologist Professor Paul Evans (Brett Halsey) and his superstitious colleague Liza Harris (Meg Register) explore with their team the medieval dig where the nuns were killed. Liza has dreadful nightmares with the nuns while members of the expedition mysteriously die and the locals are against the research in the archaeological site.

"Demonia" is a deceptive Lucio Fulci's gore movie. The terrible story is never scary or intriguing; actually it is boring, with the low pace of the first half, and ridiculous with an awful conclusion associated to an annoying soundtrack. It is funny to see, for example, the blonde archaeologist that is superstitious, participates in séances and is scared after finding coffins with bones in a crypt. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

"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.

Sicily. 1486. A bunch of villages descend on five nuns — suspected of being witches — and drop the witch hammer on them. Each is crucified and then nails are driven into their chests. Blood sprays everywhere. Fulci is pleased.

Toronto. 1990. Liza is at a seance where she sees the crucified nuns and collapses, screaming on the floor. Perhaps you may recognize that this is kind of how Fulci began City of the Living Dead.

Liza then joins an archaeology team led by Professor Evans (Brett Halsey, The Devil's Honey) as they visit Greek ruins near Sicily. Locals like Turi (Lino Salemme, Ripper from Demons!) and Porter (Al Cliver, 2020 Texas Gladiators, Zombi 2) warn them of the local legends that surround the monastery. And even after Professor Evans warns Liza to stay away from the unknown after the way she reacted to the seance, she enters the crypt within the ruins.

Using a pickaxe, she breaks into the wall and finds the remains of the nuns, angering the Professor and setting off a series of murders, like Porter being killed by a nun with a harpoon gun and two members of the team being killed by metal spikes.

Ignoring Turi's angry rebuke, Liza enters the monastery crypt. Convinced that there is another chamber behind a wall, she uses a pick-axe to break into the cavern containing the charred remains of the five nuns. But when Liza tells Professor Evans what she has found, he angrily tells her to forget she saw anything.

Liza meets with a medium named Lilla, who tells her all about the witches. They'd invite young people to partake in orgies and kill them at the moment of orgasm, drinking their blood and going insane. If they ever got pregnant, they'd have the baby and throw it into a fire. Suffice to say, these are very evil nuns we're dealing with. The kind of evil nuns that make Lille's cats eat her the moment Fulci leaves. If you're wondering, do they eat her eyeballs, then the answer is yes. Obviously, you know Fulci like I know Fulci.

Everyone suspects Turi, but he dies, too. A nun comes into the butcher shop and impales him on a hook, then stabs him in the neck, then nails his tongue to a block, then freezes him. Fulci, you scamp!

Inspector Carter (Fulci) starts to suspect the Professor, who decides to get out of town. Liza is going crazy and she refuses to leave, even when the townsfolk attack the ruins. Robby, a young boy, gets kidnapped by a white nun with no face, but he escapes just in time to watch his father get torn in half. Fulci strikes again!

Liza then stabs the Professor and disappears. The townsfolk charge into her chamber, where she foams at the mouth as she hangs on a cross. They set the crosses on fire again and everyone is destroyed, leaving the Professor to stagger in, bloodied, where he sees Liza's dead body.

There are some great shots in the open here, with the camera wildly swinging through the seance and the nuns being executed. And the film looks so much better than Touch of Death. The city feels like Lizard in a Woman's Skin. It starts like City of the Living Dead. And Fulci has done possession before with Manhattan Baby. But this isn't a greatest hits collection — we still need to watch A Cat in the Brain.

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