The Ogre

A family with mom Cheryl (Virginia Bryant) who is a horror writer, father Tom (Paolo Malco) and son Bobby (Patrizio Vinci) are off on a vacation and mom can write another horror epic. They visit an enormous, spooky mansion to stay. I could tell quite early she is making quite a bit of dough off her creepy tales. Anyways, her nightmares start becoming reality on this trip.

I personally do not quite get the low rating on this site. Sure, it is not one of the best horror movies of the 80s or 1989 for that matter or one of director Lamberto Bavas best work. But to me, it was a passable horror flick with an effective score from Simon Boswell.

For some reason (likely to cash in on Bavas previous work) they changed the title to Demons 3. They should not have done that. This has zilch to do with DEMONS 1 or 2. I knew this going in so I was not waiting for the connections to those movies or hoping one would come along. I watched it as a stand alone movie. No where near as gory as those films either. At times I was getting a HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY feel, but maybe that was because of Malco being in both pictures as the father in the new haunted house. Not to mention I did find the ending to be a little weak and almost TV-movie-ish. In the end though, just made the grade for me.

A pretty blond horror fiction author and her family rent a house in Italy as a getaway. I guess being a horror writer is really lucrative, because this is some vacation home--the mansion looks like it would have its own zip code! It's all good-times until she goes down to the basement and realizes that it's the same horrific place that haunted her nightmares as a child. This "entry" in the "Demons" series isn't just another variation of the first film, which is refreshing. Apparently this Lamberto Bava film originally aired on television, but it doesn't really have a tacky 80s made-for-TV feel. It's only a sequel in name, and instead of demons possessing humans, we have a big man in a hairy mask (The Ogre?) terrorizing the family and their friends. Not a bad movie, but it gets sillier as it progresses. Still, I enjoyed it more than "Black Demons" and maybe even "Demons 2."

I really wanted to like this film,especially after watching the beginning,which was creepy enough to keep me on the edge of my seat.Unfortunately "The Ogre" becomes quickly boring and unintentionally funny at times.There's absolutely no gore and the underwater sequence near the climax totally rips-off similar(and much better executed)scene in Dario Argento's brilliant "Inferno"(1980).The main actress is really annoying,but overall I liked the Gothic feeling of this film.The setting(an old Italian castle)is a nice touch.5 out of 10.

Lamberto Bava's Demons III: The Ogre has nothing in common with his earlier films in this series. In fact, this film should have just forgone the Demons title because, just like Michele Soavi's The Church, this is not on the same level as the Demons films. The whole time I was watching this movie I was thinking this would be an okay film if they had just called it The Ogre. But by the finale I can't say this is on par with Bava's other works. It starts off decent and builds a certain atmosphere but it gets boring real quick. On top of that, the titular Ogre looked like a p*ssed-off William Shakespeare. I wish I were kidding. The only thing that shines in this movie is the music. Simon Bosell's goth-induced synth sound is always amazing, and this is no exception. Too bad it's wasted in this snoozefest. Bava and co-writer Dardano Sacchetti (who seemingly had a hand in writing every Italian horror film in the 80's) have had better luck in the past.

The American writer of horror novels Cheryl (Virginia Bryant) is a woman that has been tormented by nightmares since she was a child. She rents the Trifiri Villa in Italy with her husband Tom (Paolo Malco) and they travel on vacation with their son Bobby (Patrizio Vinci).

On the arrival, Chery befriends the local Ann (Sabrina Ferilli ) that offers her younger sister Maria (Stefania Montorsi) to babysit Bobby in order to allow Cheryl and Tom to have dinner with her.

Cheryl is writing her latest novel about an ogre that horrifies her in nightmares since her childhood and soon she finds that all her fears are coming true. Further the house is surrounded by orchids that attract the ogre and his victims. Now Cheryl has to convince her skeptical husband that they are in danger and must leave the place.

"La Casa dell'Orco" a.k.a. "Demons 3 – The Ogre" is an average horror television movie by Lamberto Bava but never the sequel of "Demons 2". Tom is an unpleasant character that does not support his wife and even throws away in the garbage parts of her novel without any respect for her work. The music score is great but the plot has a silly conclusion. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Demons 3 – O Ogro" ("Demons 3 – The Ogre")