Cirio H. Santiago is a prolific Filipino director who churned out a string of exploitation movies throughout the '70s, '80s and '90s and is still going strong today. I'm sure his films always make money, for the simple reason that it costs about ten bucks to make them! DEMON OF PARADISE is a case in point, a cheesy re-run of the classic CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON with the absence of anything approaching a decent storyline, any notable actors or acting, and, most unforgivably, a serious shortage of creature action. Sure, in the last ten minutes the monster goes wild and on the rampage, but even then we don't get to see any gore or serious bloodshed. Fans of '80s monster movies will, I'm sure, know to expect and love some carnage from their rampaging beasties, but here there's nothing. Nada.
I'll say this for Santiago: he always knows how to shoot a good-looking film on a low budget. Here, there are plenty of lush Filipino locations, from lakes to forests and beaches and more. Now, the film is supposed to be set in Hawaii, and an overcast, cloudy Philippines sure as hell doesn't look like Hawaii, but the locations are still the best part of the movie. Well, those and the music, which is of the cheap synthesiser variety but still pretty damn decent for a film of this ilk.
As for the storyline, as I said before there isn't one; instead, it's like the writer took a load of elements from the JAWS movies and PIRANHA and other associated films and threw together a cheap monster flick as a result. Santiago shows his predilection for action with a few shoot-outs and plenty of cool explosions, which break up the monotony of the movie but are still few and far between. The high point of the film is a reprise of the 'helicopter attack' from JAWS 2; if you thought the scene in that film where the shark pulls a helicopter into the water couldn't get any cheesier, check out this film (let's just say a toy helicopter features heavily).
Acting is rubbish from the entire cast, with Kathryn Witt as the female scientist being particularly bad. Wooden William Steis isn't much cop as the sheriff, either, and it's down to sometime scream-queen Leslie Scarborough to raise the male pulse with a nude swim that goes nowhere. The monster suit for the 'demon' is laughably bad as you'd expect and the ending is absolutely hilarious. Was there a sequel? Nope, but "have you ever pulled a lizard's tail off?".
I'll say this for Santiago: he always knows how to shoot a good-looking film on a low budget. Here, there are plenty of lush Filipino locations, from lakes to forests and beaches and more. Now, the film is supposed to be set in Hawaii, and an overcast, cloudy Philippines sure as hell doesn't look like Hawaii, but the locations are still the best part of the movie. Well, those and the music, which is of the cheap synthesiser variety but still pretty damn decent for a film of this ilk.
As for the storyline, as I said before there isn't one; instead, it's like the writer took a load of elements from the JAWS movies and PIRANHA and other associated films and threw together a cheap monster flick as a result. Santiago shows his predilection for action with a few shoot-outs and plenty of cool explosions, which break up the monotony of the movie but are still few and far between. The high point of the film is a reprise of the 'helicopter attack' from JAWS 2; if you thought the scene in that film where the shark pulls a helicopter into the water couldn't get any cheesier, check out this film (let's just say a toy helicopter features heavily).
Acting is rubbish from the entire cast, with Kathryn Witt as the female scientist being particularly bad. Wooden William Steis isn't much cop as the sheriff, either, and it's down to sometime scream-queen Leslie Scarborough to raise the male pulse with a nude swim that goes nowhere. The monster suit for the 'demon' is laughably bad as you'd expect and the ending is absolutely hilarious. Was there a sequel? Nope, but "have you ever pulled a lizard's tail off?".