Its a dangerous business going into the woods in the US. First your got your standard slasher killers, be they scarred, deformed or just plain ticked off at people trespassing on their territory. Then you got hillbillies, inbred or otherwise, and they generally want to kill, eat or sexually violate you (sometimes all three and not necessarily in that order. Then there's Bigfoot. In the 70's Bigfoot movies by and large treated the beloved wood ape as a gentle creature who just wanted to get along. This is because said films were generally made by hippies, who identify with Bigfoot because like them he has long hair and smells foul. But by the 80's all the hippies had either died of too much hair or became investment bankers and Bigfoot started kicking some cinematic ass. Demonwarp is a good example and among the last breath of truly bonkers horror in the 80's, though certainly imperfect. For much of the first half it comes across a distant second to James Wasson's classic Night of the Demon (best film with that name?), there are a few tits and a couple of decent gruesome kills but its mostly set in daylight, sapping its atmosphere, and the pace is less relentless. Fortunately the writers seem to have hit the bong pretty hard before coming up with the final block as the whole thing goes mad. I won't say anything about what transpires because its best to approach with as little foreknowledge as possible. Lets just say its an everything and the kitchen sink approach , and if only the film were a bit less competent it could have been a full on classic of insane schlock cinema. Still, even in the slower first half there's stuff to appreciate. A rather dazed and confused looking George Kennedy does his best to muster up some gravitas as a dedicated hunter. The women are generally attractive and several go topless, including the always awesome Michelle Bauer. The Bigfoot suit is designed by John Carl Buechler and though a bit overexposed during the course of the film its a nicely shaggy and fierce looking creation, imposing enough to be a decent enemy. I wouldn't say any of the lead actors are terribly good but they give it a shot and their characters are just dumb enough to amuse but not dumb enough to infuriate, a happy medium. The general look of the thing is nice as well, not especially evocative like the true backwoods classics, but the locations come across nicely, and director Emmett Alston has a fairly sure hand when it comes to directing the exciting bits. And when the film really gets in gear you'll likely be forgetting most issues that have come up earlier. So all in all this is no great and inspiring work of art, but very much worthy of a watch if nutsoid trash is your kettle of piranhas. Strong 7/10 from me
