Demon Wind (1990)

 I watched A LOT of crap this weekend. I mean, a lot. Perhaps I unnecessarily brought the pain, but a lot of the films had something that entertained me. If I didn't know any better the director's name of Charles Philip Moore was a pseudonym for one of the great Italian cheese filmmakers of the 70s and 80s. This felt from start to finish like a nutty demons-run-amok flick with lots of nonsensical religious warfare, ultimately ending with Eric Larson looking like an alien in Alien Nation opposite (I think) the Devil (a curveball is thrown at us when the old, grumpy Crazy Ralph of the film, played by Rufus Norris, turns out to be the leader of the demons). This film never ceases to get weirder and weirder as it continues such as an unlimited supply of friends accompanying Larson to his grandparents' old home ruins way out there in Thousand Oaks, California, eventually encounter an unlimited supply of demons, emerging seemingly out of the ether. So you have the ruins of grandma's home, barely any of the structure left, with mostly door. Larson realizes that through the door is a time portal where inside all of the home is intact...and it seems to have this temporary protective shield around it or something. For whatever reason, it isn't until the last fifteen minutes of the movie, grandma's home no longer has protection. There is a book of spells that assists Larson and his girlfriend (played by Francine Lapensée), while most of his friends (including Bobby Johnston, known for his many Cinemax After Dark films, the beefcake plenty of softcore ladies hooked up with) end up attacked, killed, and possessed by demons. Demons have like tumorous faces, with lots of ectoplasmic slime and purplish skin tone...they really seem to come right off the set of an Italian mid-80s horror romp. And their sharp finger nails and jagged teeth (like rotted remains on a window after the glass has been shattered) really give them that distinctive look I so often associate with Italian demons. When our human heroes fire off shotguns or handguns into the demons, there's plenty of yellow squirting blood and viscera. When the demons respond, plenty of eyes and face are gouged and shredded. Vehicles don't start and attempts to walk back to some place are interrupted by all consuming fog and demons. The ruins of a barn actually serves as a haven and makeshift church for the demons as the human survivors (up to that point) find out when investigating the location. Anyway, the finale has good vs. evil, of course, and Larson really must depend on the book of spells (and some demon-killing daggers grandma also left behind) to gain advantage. Why Larson changes in appearance...I have no idea. Why all the demons seem to converge into The Devil...I'm not sure. Why Bonnie (Sherry Leigh) turns into a doll by a little girl ghost and burns after telling her boyfriend he failed to protect her, later returning to human form by The Devil only for Old Scratch to drain her like a vampire to bloody skeleton...I couldn't tell you. This movie is sheer madness. Gotta love the 80s. 2/5