Demon Cop

Last week I watched the movie Future War (1997) and, while that movie is laughably bad and considered one of the worst movies on IMDB, it has a lower rating than this film, which by just about every measure is easily ten times worse than Future War in every regard. This flick is the lowest form of low budget SOV garbage and, while I tend to grade on a curve for these sorts of film, there is no curve steep enough to where I can say anything positive about Demon Cop.

The editing alone is such that it would embarrass Godfrey Ho, seemingly pasted together by someone half-asleep with a half-dozen or so scotch and sodas under their belt at 4:00 AM, without any regard to what someone actually trying to watch the movie and understand what the hell is going on might think. The film also relies heavily on narration to explain what is going on, which is rarely a good thing, inflicting the viewer with scenes where you hear dialogue explaining background information but you see no one talking and, instead, see a hand writing in a diary or a car driving down the road, which puts this mess where? A fusion of filming styles that merges a Godfrey Ho ninja flick with The Beast of Yucca Flats? With the exception of Cameron Mitchell, no one in this movie can act worth a damn and the sound and special effects are the bottom of the barrel, pretty much on the level of a student film, but I've seen student films better than this. The plot is nonsense and hard to follow for the reasons stated above, coupled with the addition of characters and scenes that seem to lend nothing to the film, leaving you that more confused (it took me three attempts just to sit through this thing). The film attempts to be a horror/ action flick, but the action is laughable, and the only scary thing is that Cameron Mitchell was hard up for cash to the point that he was willing to show his face in this piece of trash.

If you are a fan of grade Z-Minus cinema, then by all means you need to see this movie. It is truly epic awful, but this one qualifies as on of those flicks that never should have seen the light of day and it is almost insulting that something this lame was inflicted on the public. Demon Cop is a tough watch for even a veteran bad movie fan--you've been warned!

Where does one begin with a film so sublime, so subtle, so tender and so good-natured? Well, one would *not* begin, were the subject of one's meditation this film. One would be stuck. One would stumble right out of the gate when writing about this travesty, this weirdly unintentionally brilliant piece of garbage called "Demon Cop." This is doubtless an entertaining little piece of horror bombast, but it is highly suggested that you imbibe copious amounts of illegal drugs or cheap wine before viewing, so that something else can be attributed to the inevitable destruction of your precious brain cells. It might also make it even more enjoyable viewing. Or at least tolerable. Or else you will be able to forget it quickly. Would that I had planned ahead. Seeing it as I just have, in the stark raving mad light of day, without benefit of mood- or cinema altering substances, soberly I was unable to consider the glittering, decadently awful "Demon Cop" for the peculiar gem it perhaps might be. More rather, for the gigantic train wreck of a waste of celluloid (rather, video) it most certainly is.

For all eternity, I will never know the plot, nor will I understand the motivation behind wasting the money to commit this to eternity and to an eternity of late, late night cable runs (although, in my case, not nearly late enough). But it has something to do with a cop, who is a demon because his blood is bad, and an understanding girlfriend. There appears to be a script, but nothing stands out that I can point to. To the writer's credit, tasteless AIDS jokes abound. There is a savage murder rampage then, several savage murderous rampages and voice-overs later, there is a girl in a wheelchair; several cops who don't wear uniforms; strange, suburban Los Angeles ranch style housing; and a laughably awful demon latex costume that is topped by a Geri-curled wig stolen straight out of an early LaToya Jackson video. Spirit gum must have gone missing, because that darned demon latex costume keeps peeling off. All of the above combines to create a vivid impression. At least it would be vivid, if the video quality weren't so bad. The hyphenate behind this production, a madman named Rocco Karega, perhaps walks our streets even this very night. Be afraid. Be very, very afraid. But in that Ed Wood way, one does admire him. And by "admire," I mean stand very, very far away and observe from a distance, hopefully with bars between you, and a security detail. The earnest, "like me, please, oh, God, like me" quality that permeates the performances throughout are nowhere matched in their, well, permeability, than the stunning central, electrifying one of writer-director-producer-star-costumer-caterer Rocco Karega. There is nothing in film that this man thinks he cannot do. Alas, writing, directing, producing and starring are not any of them. To his credit, I am sure this film was catered adequately, as everybody seemed reasonably well fed, if not mostly pale. The costumes were provided by the cast, and it looks like everybody has washing machines. So there's that. Wherever you are tonight, Rocco Karega, rest well, knowing your 1991 masterpiece continues to enchant future generations, bringing joy and AIDS jokes to countless admirers. God bless you, Rocco Karega. God bless you richly.

Demon Cop is a film of preknown origin with great cover art, and after 80 straight minutes of exposition I still don't know what happened. Thankfully, there's an abundance of truly strange/hilarious moments in this movie. It's really in a league of its own. The whole thing is on YouTube, so you can at least watch the spooky intro and outro starring Cameron Mitchell.

As I was flipping through the channel I came to a channel 124. It is an urban channel. I saw this movie on and decided to give it a try. I almost became a mass murderer due to this film. I have done home movies and they are oscar quality compared to this huge mass of Dookie. The lighting was terrible and the acting was absolutely unrelentlessly bad. I would rather watch Star Crystal....... Holy cow maybe that is not a good example. The main question I have about this film is... Was it to be a morality film? the reason why I ask is because ther was one line where this lady in a wheelchair says " I would have been another gang statistic" Oh my head is starting to hurt. After hearing that line I went into the kitchen and pulled out a knife ready to stab anyone who dared watch this movie. But some sense kicked in and I just changed the channel to watch the man with the afro paint. Well that is all I have to say about this movie. If you want to endure this pain go ahead but not recommended for those with short fuses or a bad case of tourettes

I recently saw this movie on a local independent channel and it sparked my curiosity. It was very hard to follow and suffers from lack of production quality and actors. The film lists the late Cameron Mitchell as the main star of the movie (best known for tons of B flicks and 70's TV appearances like "Fantasy Island"). When I saw him at talking at the beginning of the movie, I figured I'd be watching a cheap B horror movie. Instead, what I found was something like what I would have made on my home movie video camera when I was a teenager.

First off, Cameron Mitchell only makes two appearances in the whole movie, about 3 minutes at the beginning and 3 minutes at the end. He is supposed to be some kind of Doctor or something and he's telling a story about what happened to one of his experimental patients or something. In both scenes, he's sitting at a desk in an office and at no time does he appear in any of the scenes of the movie or interact with any of the "actors". I heard a narrator at times throughout the movie that could possibly be Mitchell, but with the sound quality being so bad, I couldn't tell if it was him.

I can't really comment on the plot to much, due to the fact that I had a very hard time following it (partly due to the sound track). A couple of detectives are investigating a series of murders in a suburban / city area. A man (I guess its Mitchell's patient) has a disease that causes him to turn into a sort of werewolf - looking monster.

This movie seems to have been shot on video and fades to black after almost every scene. I did observe some film scratch lines from time to time which could have been added for effect. This movie also has an overwhelming 80's feeling to it - back ground music, clothing, set designs, etc. There seems to be a lot of voice sound - overs (dubbing) that is not very well done.

To point out just a very few positives, the make-up effects aren't too bad. This might have been O.K. as a 15 minute short, and shows some, if little, hope for the cast and crew involved.

Feeling generous today, I'll give this movie 1 out of 10 stars.