The Ogre

For the sake of convenience and, of course, to reach wider audiences, this modest made-for-TV horror flick got released as a second sequel to the hugely popular "Demons"-franchise. Apart from the fact that Lamberto Bava directed them all, there aren't any similarity between "the Ogre" and the previous two "Demons" films. "Demons" (as well as its dull sequel) is a gross and outrageous splatter flick, whereas "The Ogre" is an attempt at an atmospheric spook-tale.

The amount of bloodshed and hideous make-up effects in this film is very limited (also because it's a TV-production), and bad-boy Bava even attempts to insert some style & subtlety. The plot isn't very convincing and contains a few holes, but still the premise is interesting enough to hold your attention for a good 90 minutes. We're introduced to a female horror writer who keeps having the same nightmare ever since she was a little girl. 22 years later, she and her family are spending a vacation in an ancient Italian mansion and this setting strangely resembles the one in her dream; - especially the ominous cellar. Events identical to the ones in her nightmare start to come true and it seems like there really is a monster living in the cellar.

This creature is an "Ogre", but he has nothing in common with Shrek! The film offers a little bit of suspense, but could have used a lot more action! There are too many overlong and pointless scenes in which the heroine just walks though the mansion, but even though the ominous music gets louder, nothing happens! The acting is fair, and Virginia Bryant definitely is a fine looking lady (there's a bath-sequence to confirm this statement).

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")

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."

This movie did take a while to get going, there are far to many subs plots in this movie, they focused on to many other things in the first 20 mins of the movie.

That where the thing start to really happen, it maybe little over the top and silly at times, which I wish they explained that scene.

I did enjoyed second part of the movie, a bit more then first half, I enjoyed the transformations was decent but not as good as the first.

I didn't really find this movie that gory, no were near as gory as the first and some of effects looks a bit off however there were some decent effects here and there.

The acting was not that great, I just found that fighting scenes with demons just silly not even funny.

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.