Demonwarp

The creators of this film really broke the goofy meter with this one. The movie begins routinely for the horror genre - five twenty somethings alone in a cabin in the woods (Demon Woods no less) with a murderous bigfoot type monster on the loose. Typically, the twenty somethings are slowly killed off and from this point on the flick gets incredibly asinine. Turns out that bigfoot and people in zombie masks are being controlled by a master alien in a Bronson Canyon cave. The zombies bring victims to the slaughter for the alien so it can partake of various body parts (one scene in particular shows one of the topless females on a slab getting her heart torn out and fed to the master alien). And how the hell did George Kennedy get involved with this mess? It always amazes AND saddens me to see fading veteran actors take embarrassing roles like this. Prepare to be astounded and puzzled if you watch this debacle.

Demonwarp is low-budget horror/sci-fi fare, that despite its flaws does end up being a pretty memorable entry into the genre and fairly entertaining. Some of the enthusiastic reviews here, however, sound almost like the VHS box marketing hype... be aware that most of the madcap stuff doesn't happen until the final 15 minutes, and the bulk of the film is a trudging, predictable bore.

The premise for the first 70 minutes is well-worn: a group of teenagers visit an isolated cabin the in woods where a bigfoot-like beast runs amok. Poor old George Kennedy appears as a man whose daughter was taken by the beast and has avowed to seek revenge. It feels sad seeing him reduced to such roles, but whenever he appears onscreen he does bring a touch of class and elevate proceedings. The teenagers are mostly typical 80s fodder, save for Billy Jacoby who brings some pep and personality for the short time he's around. The lead protagonist is very poorly written and woodenly acted, coming across as deeply unlikable, which does sap the spirit of the action. Michelle Bauer turns up to add some scream queen appeal, being chased around the woods topless. Other meaningless characters cycle in and out as prey for the beast and things become fairly rote and dull. At this point I was complaining, "I've not seen one demon, nor anything approaching what could be considered a 'warp'". Well, my criticisms were answered...

In the last 20 minutes the director makes amends by chucking as much weird freaky sci-fi and horror stuff at the audience as he can muster, and all of this was really good fun. Transmutation, zombies, space ships, demented priests practising human sacrifice and a bizarre Davros-like space demon that genuinely looked really good. If you've been paying attention to earlier scenes a few plot points come together in a way that's quite satisfying.

This could have been a lot better with a tighter script and better editing to ensure some pace and urgency. There's a really cool and bizarre story in here that just needed some refinement to really translate to the viewer in an exciting manner; as it is, it's kind of muddled and confusing, but hey - it doesn't all need to make sense and you can just sit back and enjoy this for what it is - silly b-movie fun!

A group of teens in a cabin in a woods are attacked by a creepy-ass Bigfoot monster, which kills a couple of them. The monster disappears into the night and the next morning they go on a search into the woods to find and destroy it. The name of the forest the carnage takes place in is Demonwood, and it seems many strange events have occurred there over the years, according to some supporting characters. The teens meet up with George Kennedy who's daughter was carried off by the same monster. He's also looking for revenge. A few extras wandering around the woods get slaughtered by the Bigfoot. Some of the murders are gross. Some of the gorier special effects are good. The last 20 minutes comes out of left field and adds another spin on the story, a spin that involves aliens, zombies, and a cultish looking maniac. Not a bad horror movie, it should prove to be a good view by any un-demanding horror fan. The twists at the end are kinda fun, and there are some good grisly moments strewn through out the story. Gratuitous nudity helps keep things interesting and the cast is not all that bad. George Kennedy is fun to watch hamming it up as the vengeance-minded father. Worth a look. Two And A Half Stars.

It is everything you would expect from a low budget 1980s movie about aliens that look like Bigfoot. Ridiculous fun, cheap effects and costumes, terrible writing, screaming. It's fun though! A real cheese fest.

This film, while no film great (or even genre giant), is oddly entertaining. The acting and direction are pure mid-to-late-80's B-movie cheese, but somehow the ridiculously convoluted plot and hysterical performance by George Kennedy make this film a good time waster-especially if you've got a few friends who appreciate this sort of crap.