BOB'S BURN PIT #5

DEMONWARP – Dir: Emmett Alston 1988

Now this movie was on my list for a long time due to coming across the movie poster online.  This is what the art of a poster should be doing and it works tenfold for “Demonwarp”.  The poster features a forest setting with a reptilian alien holding a gun while some locals are armed with weapons ready for battle and an image of a bigfoot looks over head with UFO’s swooping down from above.  Now any person that loves good movies would see this and do anything in their power to watch it!  So after many years of looking for this it finally got released on 4K none the less by Vinegar Syndrome.  So does the movie live up to the poster hype?  Well, let’s see.

Without spoiling too much of the absurd plot of this movie I will give hints on what is to come. The movie begins with a family at home in their cabin out in the woods and the father is played by George Kennedy who you may know from the “Naked Gun” series, “Airport” series and almost every movie from the 70’s as well (Also the veteran of many 60’s/70’s TV shows–Dr. M).  Out of nowhere a Bigfoot attacks the cabin.  One of the great things about this movie is the special effects.  While the plot and budget is thin, all of the money is on screen with the creature effects and that is very important for movies like this.  After this shocking scene it flashes forward to a group of college types coming to the same cabin to stay for a while. 

We soon learn one of the group is there to track down the Bigfoot.  Now the pacing kind of falls into a slog at times but there is no shortage of odd things that begin happening with more Bigfoot sightings and attacks.  Then the film goes off into a very interesting and odd direction.  Suddenly our team is out exploring and hunting for the Bigfoot after they get attacked, when they soon come across some zombie like humans wandering around the woods all on some sort of gathering mission.  The group also meet up with the father from the start of the movie who has gone all Rambo out in the woods hunting Bigfoot and something else. The last of the group who is still alive go off into the caves to soon learn what is the cause of this whole bizarre mess.  Well ,not really a spoiler but it is an alien.  The poster art shows a really cool looking alien that seems like it will be the final boss, so to say.  But it seems the budget was tapped out when getting to this point so the alien is only seen from the waist up and it is sitting in this box thing so it does not really do too much.  It looks great but there isn’t much it can do just sitting there.

We soon learn what the zombies and the Bigfoots are.  And it is really sad and horrific to see what it is.  We never really learn what the whole point is with what is going on either but you can kind of put 2 and 2 together and figure out for yourself.   I think the budget restraints really held back this gem.  While not an action packed movie or even a well written one.  It does have all of the seeds of a great movie laying within.  There are a lot of great creature effects, blood, and a story so crazy, it is hard not to enjoy.  Did the movie live up to the poster hype…kind of.  I really wish there was more time to get deeper into things and really flush out why the alien was there and what it really wanted.  I thought the Bigfoot suit was top notch and even the alien creature looked great.  Overall it was a fun 80’s mixed genre movie worth hunting down to enjoy.  There is more in the movie that I didn’t want to reveal which makes some of the surprises even more fun.  So check it out and get warped!

THE GREAT CHASE – Dir: Norifumi Suzuki 1975

I came across this one due to Cauldron Films releasing it recently on Blu Ray and the plot description sold me 1,000 times over.  A famous race car driver who is also a martial arts master lends her skills to help the police bring down a drug cartel who also may be behind the death of her father.  While this seems like standard fare, well, you would be wrong.  This movie brings in so many odd characters and things that make no sense that you will be on the edge of your seat for a 90 minute ride that you will never forget.

Once the mission starts we learn that the star Etsuko Shihomi loves to wear very bad and cheap disguises which even a blind person could spot.  These range from dressing like a male mobster, a nun, an old gypsy house maid and more.  She dons these outfits to sneak into places where she will not be recognized since she is famous and everyone knows who she is. But like all of these types of movies, she is noticed and fights ensue. 

Each new scene offers many crazy characters she will face and fight.  The fighting scenes are top notch and she is a great fighter and stunt person.  The pacing is fast and we never linger and waste time.  The movie for a while is set ups for the next action scene.  Is this a bad thing?   Nope, we are watching this to be entertained and entertained we are for sure.

From the first casino fight scene where she ends up in a hallway fighting a bunch of people and a guy dressed in hippie Indian garb who uses a blow dart gun to kill his victims,it’s a wild ride.  Why is he dressed like this when trying to be secretive?  We never know but we accept this in the world the movie takes place in.  The main villain is always shown dressed up in a bear suit assaulting various women.  There is a sushi restaurant owner who has a Hitler moustache who has a pro wrestling daughter who ends up teaming up with the star to do battle with some of the bad guy’s thugs.  The cast of oddball characters never ends.  They just keep popping up and you want to see more of them.  It helps build this incredible odd world.

At times you wonder if this is like a Pink Panther movie where it is a comedy with touches of seriousness but then soon realize, nope, it is a full on serious movie with just odd characters.  There are some wild stunts in this.  Like one scene where the star is running across mountain terrain and huge explosives are going off behind her as she runs.  And not like far behind… like right behind here and you can tell this was all done with one take and one even goes off in front of her like she missed her timing.  The ending fight takes place high up on a cable car which will make you miss the days of real life stunts in movies and not having CGI ruin things.

While there isn’t much plot, there is plenty of wild action, crazy characters, great fights and a very charismatic main lead who is loads of fun to watch.  I highly recommend this oddity of a movie which goes from spy film to Shaw style Kung Fu to a Pink Panther type comedy then wrapped up in a Police Story type of movie.  There is a lot to love and enjoy in this great chase and I am glad I took the risk.

MARLEY’S REVENGE: THE MONSTER MOVIE – Dir: Jet Eller 1989

Here is another movie I never heard of and I love monster movies.  One of the partner labels of Vinegar Syndrome called VHShitfest released this lost gem last year.  From the description alone I knew I had to see this movie.  As a warning, this is a very low budget comedy horror but with kind of a mean theme throughout.  I honestly think it would have gained more recognition and staying power over the decades if it dropped the comedy aspect and went full on serious.

The plot revolves around two bumbling friends who are trying to smuggle one of their mothers illegally into the country.  At this time a group of vigilantes are in the area who hunt, capture and murder drug smugglers.  With a series of misunderstandings the two groups meet up and bad things unfold.  We learn that the sheriff who is the leader of the vigilante’s, family was murdered by drug dealers and this is his way of seeking revenge.  The two friends try to explain what they are doing and it is too late since they have learned all of the inner workings of this revenge group.  They are taken to an island to be killed and buried.

The mother is there with her friend who happens to be a voodoo priest waiting for her son to arrive with the boat.  Well, the mom gets killed in the cross fire leading her friend to enact his revenge by casting a voodoo spell that opens the gates of hell on the island.  Now don’t go expecting crazy special effects with this.  It is basically a fog bank that rolls in.  But now there are over 80 dead drug dealers buried there who are now reanimated and looking for revenge as well.  And then out of nowhere a giant creature appears also looking to kill and eat anyone who is alive.

One of the leads is obsessed with an Indiana Jones type comic character who is also the unfunny comedic relief in the film who keeps on messing stuff up for the two friends getting off the island.  This is where my issue with the movie comes into play.  The story is great but in almost every scene there is slapstick and even the zombies getting into comedy which brings down the tone of the movie.  There are even classic unfunny cartoonish bits where the guys fall from a tree and a hat flies up and spins like you see in the cartoons.  Comedy and horror are a tough mix to do right.  It fails hard here and I wish this movie just kept the serious tone and I think it would have become a cult gem.  While the movie is still fun and entertaining the comedy really brings it down since the sillier main character is just too dumb and not believable.   The creature effects for the giant monster are great for this super low budget movie though.

Overall this was a lot of fun and worth checking out if you like offbeat movies.  Just remember there are a lot of moments where they toss in comedy where it isn’t needed.  I wish they had more of a budget to work with because there are a lot of cool ideas here that would have been interesting to delve into more.  Overall I think a lot of people will enjoy this if they can also get past the low budget look of the movie as well.  Definitely worth the afternoon or late evening watch!