Demonwarp is set in the ominously named Demonwoods where Bill Crafton (George Kennedy) has rented a cabin, while enjoying a game of trivial pursuit with his daughter Julie (Jill Marin) a huge Bigfoot type creature breaks in knocking Bill unconscious & killing Julie. A few weeks later & Jack Bergman (David Micael O'Neill) along with four of his friends arrive at the cabin, the cabin belongs to Jack's uncle Clem (Joe Praml) & he has gone missing & Jack intends to find him, warning his friends about the infamous Demonwoods which has a long history of people reporting sightings of monsters, murders & even UFO's they all agree to help find Clem. However the first night they are there the cabin is attacked by the Bigfoot creature which leaves two dead & takes a toaster. Jack is determined to get to the bottom of the terrifying events & eventually discovers an alien spaceship nearby in which the owner has been using zombified humans to repair his craft as well as eating naked young girls...
Directed by Emmett Alston this crazy mix of horror & sci-fi is actually quite entertaining in a bad sort of way although I don't think I would go as far as to describe it as good it is fun, an oddball mix of gore, horror, sci-fi, monster film with a fair amount of nudity too at lest Demonwarp is rarely dull. Having said that Demonwarp is also rarely amazing, at about an hour & a half in length it moves along at a fair pace even though there's a slightly dull middle third which spends far too much showing people wander around Demonwood Forest. The character's are very thin, Jack gets a little back-story but otherwise the other character's are pretty empty cardboard cutouts. Where Demonwarp shines is it's various clichés & plot ideas that come together at the end in an ending that feels like it belongs to a different film than the hour or so that preceded it. There's Bigfoot creatures, zombies, aliens, human sacrifice, sex, nudity, gore, big George Kennedy & not one but three 'it was all a dream' twist endings which is maybe some sort of record. The script builds-up & with various strange aspects being thrown into the story there's just about enough here to make you want to know the answers to the questions posed & keep you watching.
There's an interesting interview the writer of Demonwarp on the internet in which he says several things were changed like Crafton was apparently to had set up spike pit traps but they couldn't afford to dig the pits & used bear traps while the two girls were meant to go nude swimming but they couldn't afford the plastic to line the pond & that too was changed while the hiker was added after they discovered the film under-ran (75 minutes instead of 90) & needed to pad the time out a bit. The obvious low budget doesn't help matters but the main Bigfoot monster suit isn't too bad & is used sparingly with quick cuts, the alien at the end isn't that great while the gore is alright with a cut out heart, a ripped-off head, someone has a stick stuck in his stomach & there are some surprisingly good looking zombie make-up effects as well.
With a supposed budget of about $225,000 this is still competently made & looks alright considering the impoverished production, filmed at the Brosnon Canyon & Topanga Canyon both in Los Angeles. The acting isn't great, it's not terrible but it's not great. George Kennedy looks a little disinterested although his daughter Shannon Kennedy turns up as one of the sunbathing babes & gets her head ripped-off.
Demonwarp is a mad late 80's gore horror monster sci-fi film that is quite fun & entertaining if you just go with it, Demonwarp isn't a masterpiece but it's perfectly watchable & the final oddball twenty minutes is worth watching.
Directed by Emmett Alston this crazy mix of horror & sci-fi is actually quite entertaining in a bad sort of way although I don't think I would go as far as to describe it as good it is fun, an oddball mix of gore, horror, sci-fi, monster film with a fair amount of nudity too at lest Demonwarp is rarely dull. Having said that Demonwarp is also rarely amazing, at about an hour & a half in length it moves along at a fair pace even though there's a slightly dull middle third which spends far too much showing people wander around Demonwood Forest. The character's are very thin, Jack gets a little back-story but otherwise the other character's are pretty empty cardboard cutouts. Where Demonwarp shines is it's various clichés & plot ideas that come together at the end in an ending that feels like it belongs to a different film than the hour or so that preceded it. There's Bigfoot creatures, zombies, aliens, human sacrifice, sex, nudity, gore, big George Kennedy & not one but three 'it was all a dream' twist endings which is maybe some sort of record. The script builds-up & with various strange aspects being thrown into the story there's just about enough here to make you want to know the answers to the questions posed & keep you watching.
There's an interesting interview the writer of Demonwarp on the internet in which he says several things were changed like Crafton was apparently to had set up spike pit traps but they couldn't afford to dig the pits & used bear traps while the two girls were meant to go nude swimming but they couldn't afford the plastic to line the pond & that too was changed while the hiker was added after they discovered the film under-ran (75 minutes instead of 90) & needed to pad the time out a bit. The obvious low budget doesn't help matters but the main Bigfoot monster suit isn't too bad & is used sparingly with quick cuts, the alien at the end isn't that great while the gore is alright with a cut out heart, a ripped-off head, someone has a stick stuck in his stomach & there are some surprisingly good looking zombie make-up effects as well.
With a supposed budget of about $225,000 this is still competently made & looks alright considering the impoverished production, filmed at the Brosnon Canyon & Topanga Canyon both in Los Angeles. The acting isn't great, it's not terrible but it's not great. George Kennedy looks a little disinterested although his daughter Shannon Kennedy turns up as one of the sunbathing babes & gets her head ripped-off.
Demonwarp is a mad late 80's gore horror monster sci-fi film that is quite fun & entertaining if you just go with it, Demonwarp isn't a masterpiece but it's perfectly watchable & the final oddball twenty minutes is worth watching.