Die Todesinsel

Hunters become the hunted when illegal dynamite disturbs the age-old slumber of a carnivorous lizard-man. Resort owner Angela, joins forces with Sheriff Keefer to save tourists from the beast's path of death. This doesn't sound to bad, right? wrong. I am guilty of a crime many science fiction fans are guilty of. I call it "cool-box-syndrom". It's a common thing that happens, renting a movie because of a cool cover art. In this case, the cover showed a fanged reptile dragging a bathing beauty into the water.I was fooled. The monster looked nothing like the one on the cover. The plot was bad. The acting was ho-hum. The creature suit was mediocre. Some nice photography & locations, but that's not enough to make this sinker worth a renting. I now know to check with the Internet movie data base before I rent a film with good cover art.

Mmm… the poster artwork looked alright; too bad the feature didn't draw out the same excitement. 'Demon of Paradise' isn't the complete pits, but for most part is quite an flatfooted cheapjack co-American/Philippines monster feature, which treads water for too long and then amusingly erupts in the unimaginative final quarter. Philippine exploitation director/producer Cirio H. Santiago ('Cover Girl Models', 'T.N.T. Jackson' and 'Naked Vengeance') manages to keep you fascinated, but I don't know how. Maybe it's those cheap looking explosions. Yeah it could be. Caused by no other than the creature? No really it's plain stupidity. I don't know why they want to destroy it. I could've sworn when it's bobbing out of the water it likes to wave (not clawing), asking to jump in so it can hug you to death. But wherever it is about, for some reason there's dynamite and then explosions seem to follow. Maybe the director was adding those bangs to wake-up the viewer from the miserable dialogue exchanges and mainly limp acting. One scene involving a helicopter and the creature efforts to get up close for a ride is embarrassingly shonky. No wonder why he went all out in the final twenty minutes, but this creature could've been mistaken for a machine since all of the punishment it encounters and still it doesn't bleed. Where's Arnold Schwarzenegger when you need him. But more than one grenade thrown at the same time will get you a result. BOOM!

Really there wasn't enough buzz. Everything here is a cut and paste job with the story lazily mixing 'Jaws (1975)' and 'Creature from the Black lagoon (1954)' together. The prehistoric underwater monster (formed by some superstitious groundwork) is a lousy looking rubber suit, and the rest of the make-up FX is quite tatty. Performances come across rather drab, but Laura Banks, Frederick Bailey and especially Leslie Scarborough kick up plenty of spruce. The music score was painful.

Pointless trite, but watchable.

Demon of Paradise (1987)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

A bunch of mean guys using dynamite to fish end up disrupting a lizard-like creature who soon goes on a killing spree where no one in the Hawaiian locations are safe.

DEMON OF PARADISE comes from the Philippines and is pretty much a wannabe CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON. How much entertainment you get out of it will depend on your feelings towards ultra low-budget movies with bad acting, bad dialogue and just an all around "bad" movie feel. If you're looking for a good movie then go check out the Universal title. If you're just wanting to kick back, turn your brain off and have some cheap fun then you might want to check this out.

I will admit that I enjoy watching bad movies but this one here had a few too many boring spots to keep it at an entertaining level throughout. With that said, there are certainly some moments of hilarity that make it worth watching for fans of bad movies. For starters, the lizardman costume is so funny looking that you can't help but think the creature in THE GIANT CLAW had a baby with some sort of lizard. Another great moment happens when a helicopter is flying a tad bit too low. I won't spoil what happens but laughs will certainly follow.

It's really too bad that DEMON OF PARADISE didn't have more scenes with the monster because he's certainly the funnest part of the film. As it is, there are too many slow and boring scenes with talky dialogue that isn't entertaining.

Doyen of Philippine exploitation Cirio Santiago does a version of 'Creature from the Black Lagoon' (though closer in quality to 'Octaman' and the lead character is introduced as Dr Essex which seems too obvious to be coincidence) with this quaint action /horror where local folklore meets scaly reality when a swamp creature emerges from the depths to cause chaos on a small Hawaiian resort village.

The acting is variable, but the rubber lizard suit is really something to behold. Steis and Witt ('Tropic of Cancer') are decent in lead roles (local Sheriff and visiting herpetologist respectively) and along with Banks playing the selfish resort manager, the trio does a pretty good impersonation of 'Jaws' (there's also a 'Jaws 2' moment which you don't want to miss for pure ham value). Supporting actress Huntly is a minor highlight playing a busty model with a massive ego and a nose full of candy who dreams of making it in the movies.

As for the uncredited stuntman who gets to inhabit the Gillman suit, it's a thankless role which was never going to end well despite good intentions.

Not great, not awful, just mediocre with very mild gore, brief topless nudity, a couple of gunfights and a tonne of explosions shot on the grassy banks of an overcast Philippine river-bend.

When I was a teenager I used to watch a lot of Cirio Santiago's war/action flicks like "Equalizer 2000","Nam Angels" or "Last Stand at Lang Mei".His cheaply made but highly energetic movies were popular during VHS revolution in Poland."Demon of Paradise" tells the story of Hawaiian fishing community terrorized by a man sized amphibious monster.I consider myself very tolerant when it comes to rating and reviewing Z-grade trash,unfortunately "Demon of Paradise" is simply dull.There is no gore and the bloodless killings are mostly off-screen.Admittedly Hawaiian landscapes are beautiful and the music is fine,but "Demon of Paradise" is a misfire.4 out of 10 for this low-budget monster dud.