1985’s Demons largely focused on the horrific events of one isolated setting. However, its ending gave a strong hint that calamitous terror besieges the entire world, and that leads toward the narrative’s continuation via 1986’s Demons 2.

Like the first film, this one takes place in Berlin, where we meet the residents of a high-rise apartment complex. A TV movie depicts a “demon outbreak” that took place in the city, and many of the building’s inhabitants watch it.

That includes Sally Day (Coralina Cataldi Tassoni), a girl upset that her ex-boyfriend Jacob (Bruno Bilotta) plans to come to her 16th birthday party. Upset with this information, she sulks and retreats to her bedroom.

There Sally views the documentary and this leads to her own “demon infection”. Sally’s new status soon spreads terror throughout the building.

That sounds an awful lot like the plot of the first movie, as both concentrate on mayhem among folks stuck in a building. Of course, a 10-story apartment complex offers a lot more room to move than did the first film’s movie theater, but both still come with limited space for the characters to roam.

The big question becomes what Demons 2 does to differentiate itself from its predecessor. Another isolated location, another demon outbreak – can the sequel find anything new to say?

Not really, as Demons 2 occasionally feels like a remake of the first film. It does get better as it goes, but the second film lacks much I’d call true inspiration.

Much of that comes from the ways in which Demons 2 rehashes its predecessor. Both use a similar “film within a film” framework and the sequel echoes the earlier movie in other ways. Though this never enters true remake territory, it comes closer than I’d prefer.

Demons 2 needs to spend more time with the characters than it does. While the first movie didn’t dilly-dally in that domain for too long, it managed to spell them out pretty efficiently, whereas Demons 2 leaves its participants as sketchier and less interesting.

Demons 2 also seems more contrived than its predecessor. It finds a bizarre way to infect Sally that bears no connection to the prior story, and it also brings us ridiculous methods intended to keep the apartment residents trapped in the building.

Despite the storytelling flaws, Demons 2 does kick into life pretty well during the third act. At that point, it leans toward the crazed action of 1984’s Gremlins and becomes more fun.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem like enough to wholly overcome the rest of the film’s flaws. Even with occasional bursts of excitement, Demons 2 feels like a disappointing sequel.

Demons 2 appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.66:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Expect a dated but generally good Dolby Vision image.

One prominent problem arose. At the 59:12 mark, the picture suddenly juddered up and down for about 30 seconds. This also briefly impacted the movie on other occasions – like at 28:06 – but it dissipated much more quickly. Though this didn’t last long, it became a perplexing aberration in an otherwise positive presentation.

Otherwise, I felt pleased. For the most part, sharpness satisfied. Some softness crept into the presentation at times, but the majority of the film brought fairly appealing delineation.

No signs of jagged edges or moiré effects appeared, and edge haloes remained absent. Grain felt natural and I witnessed no print flaws.

Demons 2 went with a largely natural palette, though it leaned blue at times. Colors never stood out as memorable but they appeared mostly well-rendered, and HDR gave them some added punch.

Blacks came across fairly deep and dense, while shadows showed generally solid clarity. HDR brought extra oomph to whites and contrast. Outside of that weird juddering issue, the image held up nicely.

As for the movie’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack, it proved more erratic, though at least it worked a bit better than the mix for the first film. Like that one, Demons 2 favored music, as score/songs spread across the front and surrounds.

Some of this felt a bit heavy-handed, as the music tended to dominate a bit too much, but this didn’t seem like a badly unbalanced mix. Effects also became more involving.

For the first flick, those elements tended to feel largely monaural, but they spread out more in the sequel. The effects didn’t become tremendously engulfing, but at least they added some movement and immersion to the flick.

Unfortunately, audio quality fared less well, as the track showed issues there. Speech tended to sound a bit reedy and dull, while effects could be rough and without much range.

The same went for music, as neither songs nor scores offered much positive impact. Audio quality didn’t seem poor, but it felt blah for its era. This became a pretty mediocre soundtrack.

The Blu-ray also included the film’s original DTS-HD MA 2.0 soundtrack. Whereas that turned into my preferred mix for the first flick, it seemed like more of a toss-up here. Neither appeared clearly superior to the other.

Also as with the first movie, despite the fact Demons 2 featured mainly Italian cast/crew, it appeared to have been shot with English dialogue. Mouth movements matched better for the English version than for the Italian one, though the dubbed nature of both meant inevitable synch problems for both.

I felt this left the English presentation as the better one, especially because Demons 2’s voice acting improved on the bad work for the prior flick. While no one offered Oscar-caliber material here, the English Demons 2 showed voice acting on a par with its Italian cousin.

How did the 4K UHD compare to the Blu-ray from 2021? Both came with identical audio.

On the other hand, the 4K’s Dolby Vision image offered superior delineation and colors. Because it still suffered from the same odd juddering that impacted the Blu-ray – and that might come as an unavoidable artifact of the source – I didn’t boost my rating massively, but I still felt more pleased with the generally solid 4K.

As we move to extras, we open with an audio commentary from film journalist Travis Crawford. He provides a running, screen-specific discussion of the first movie and its push toward a sequel, cast and crew, the Demons series, story/characters, music, sets/locations and related domains.

Though occasionally screen-specific, most of Crawford’s chat seems more like an “audio essay”. That works fine with me, as Crawford gives us a good view of various subjects. Though he occasionally makes this an annotated filmography, Crawford still delivers a worthwhile take on the movie and those behind it.

With Together and Apart, we find a 26-minute, 36-second visual essay from author/critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. She discusses various aspects of both Demons movies. Given the program’s presence on the Demons 2 disc, it seems a little odd that she spends so much time on the first flick, but Heller-Nicholas nonetheless adds some useful insights.

Four elements appear under “Archival Special Features”, and Creating Creature Carnage goes for 20 minutes, 29 seconds. Special makeup effects artist Sergio Stivaletti chats about his work on the film. Stivaletti covers the subject matter in an efficient manner.

The Demons Generation spans 34 minutes, 50 seconds and brings info from Roy Bava, trainee/assistant director on the films and director Lamberto’s son. This gives him an unusual and intriguing perspective on the films and his role in the family business.

Next comes Screaming for a Sequel, a 15-minute, 59-second program with Lamberto Bava, as he discusses aspects of his family’s films, his own work, and the creation of Demons 2. Though a little brief for the scope of the subject matter, this nonetheless turns into a fairly informative chat.

In addition to two trailers, we get A Soundtrack for Splatter. It lasts 27 minutes, eight seconds and involves composer Simon Boswell.

As expected, he looks at his career and his work on Demons 2. Expect an enjoyable discussion from the musician.

To my surprise, “Archival Special Features” brings a few components absent from the 2021 Blu-ray. Bava to Bava goes for 16 minutes, 43 seconds and involves “long-time Argento collaborator” Luigi Cozzi.

He presents a look at Italian horror and gialli as well as aspects of the Demons films. Though the reel includes too many film clips, Cozzi covers the subjects in a concise manner.

Demonic Influences spans 10 minutes, 22 seconds. It delivers comments from filmmaker Federico Zampaglione.

He talks about his view of the Demons movies, the filmmakers’ impact on his own work and the current state of Italian horror. Expect a decent chat but not anything especially memorable.

Finally, The New Blood for Italian Horror occupies 16 minutes, 15 seconds. It features special makeup effects artist Sergio Stivaletti.

He discusses his collaborations with filmmaker and Demons actor Michele Soavi, with some emphasis on 1989’s The Cemetery, which essentially was Demons 3. Stivaletti brings a few solid notes but this seems like an odd featurette for Demons 2 since it has little to do with the movie in question.

Although the first film became a pretty enjoyable slice of horror, Demons 2 feels less focused and less satisfying. It fails to build off the prior flick and turns into a spotty adventure. The 4K UHD brings acceptable picture and audio along with a good roster of bonus features. This doesn’t turn into a bad movie, but it disappoints.

To rate this film, visit the prior review of DEMONS 2