The Demolitionist

An atrocious, total rip-off of ROBOCOP, from start to finish, mean-spirited and excessively violent. This film has a recycled plot, a lead actress from BAYWATCH, and not much else - just senseless action, shooting and a couple of linking plot scenes. The poor production values mean that it looks cheap throughout, and there isn't much in the way of good action choreography to recommend either.

All it does have going for it is some excess violence (just what I like to see) and a parade of cameo appearances from numerous '80s horror movie stars! These include Bruce Abbott (RE-ANIMATOR) as a stuffy doctor, Heather Langenkamp (A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET), Dan Hicks (Joe from EVIL DEAD 2), Reggie Bannister (the PHANTASM series) Joseph Pilato (Rhodes from DAY OF THE DEAD), Tom Savini (FROM DUSK TILL DAWN) and finally everyone's favourite shemp, Bruce Campbell (THE EVIL DEAD). Phew! In this case, the film is worth watching just to see if you can spot all of them. If you're looking for solid entertainment, however, then I would advise you to look elsewhere...

Granted, as I sat down in 2022 to watch the 1995 action sci-fi movie "The Demolitionist", I wasn't harboring much of any expectations to the movie. I remember watching it back in 1995 on VHS even, because my brother had purchased it, as he was a fan of the ladies from the "Baywatch" series. However, I have to admit that I couldn't remember anything from this movie, aside from it existing.

At first glance, then I feel that "The Demolitionist" from writers Brian DiMuccio, Anne Kurtzman, Robert Kurtzman and Dino Vindeni felt somewhat akin to the 1996 movie "Barb Wire", which also starred a former "Baywatch" star. But putting that aside, then I will say that "The Demolitionist" was watchable, albeit a rather cheesy and campy action sci-fi movie.

Perhaps the storyline was good back in 1995, but in 2022 it felt cheesy and campy, and not really a very well-thought through storyline and plot really. But hey, it makes for some brainless entertainment, and that counts for something.

While the storyline was mediocre, then I have to say that I found the cast list to be rather impressive. There were some very memorable 1990s performers popping up in this movie, with the likes of Nicole Eggert, Bruce Abbott, Peter Jason, Sarah Douglas, Heather Langenkamp, Richard Grieco, Jack Nance, Tom Savini, Nils Allen Stewart, Derek Mears, Greg Nicotero and Bruce Campbell himself.

The effects in the movie were actually fair enough. Not effects that have aged all that well, but they still are passable today.

"The Demolitionist" is probably a guilty pleasure for a great many viewers out there, probably former fans of "Baywatch".

Ultimately, then I am rating "The Demolitionist" a four out of ten stars.

I recently watched The Demolitionist (1995) on Tubi. The storyline follows a city overrun by crime and desperate for a solution. When another cop is killed, a mad scientist creates a killing machine to uphold the law. The mayor reluctantly approves the project to clean up the streets.

Directed by Robert Kurtzman (Buried Alive), the film stars Nicole Eggert (Charles in Charge), Bruce Abbott (Re-Animator), Susan Tyrrell (Cry-Baby), Peter Jason (48 Hrs.), Richard Grieco (If Looks Could Kill), Sarah Douglas (Superman), and Tom Savini (From Dusk till Dawn).

This is one of those fun '90s movies that feels like an '80s Troma/Full Moon Features film. It does a great job of not taking itself too seriously, with a fun premise and an entertaining cast that delivers their performances perfectly for the genre. The attire, makeup, and sets pull you into the universe. The villain is phenomenal, and there are some great kills that brought a smile to my face. The last scene is hilarious and makes the fun journey worthwhile.

In conclusion, is The Demolitionist a great movie? Absolutely not. Is it worth a watch with the appropriate expectations? Absolutely. I would score this a 5/10 and recommend seeing it once.

Plot Synopsis: In the not-too-distant future, the mayor of Metro City introduces a law banning all guns in the city. Her mortal enemy, Mad Dog Burns, escapes from Death Row & stages an unsuccessful attempt to kill her. He then exposes an undercover police officer, Alyssa Lloyd, & kills her. A police scientist resurrects her as an invincible zombie warrior, gives her weapons & a motorcycle & sets her loose on Mad Dog & his gang.

Film Review: It is probably an unwritten rule that any genre film directed by someone who is better known for producing visual effects is going to be a dud. The Demolitionist comes from the mind of Robert Kurtzman, one of the founders of KNB EFX Group, a prominent makeup effects company. Following in the footsteps of Chris Walas (THE FLY II), Gary J. Tunnicliffe (WITHIN THE ROCK), Bob Keen (PROTEUS), the Brothers Strause (ALIENS VS. PREDATOR: REQUIEM), Tom Savini (the NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD remake) & the late great Stan Winston (PUMPKINHEAD), Kurtzman tries his hand at directing.

Of those films, only three actually stood out from the pack. Savini's remake of NOTLD was the best of the bunch, while not beating the original, it was still a good zombie film. Within the Rock was a passable monster film that had the indignity of having half its plot stolen by a certain Michael Bay flick the following year. And the most notorious of them all, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, despite all the crap poured on it by practically everybody, was slightly better than the first AVP, mainly by delivering on the action that the original failed to do (although its biggest mistake was not having a fully-fleshed out plot & having the monster attacks being shot in the dark).

Which brings us to the $62, 500 question: is The Demolitionist a good film or is it a bad one? Well, to be honest, the film is one of the shoddiest genre actioners ever to come out of the 1990s. I don't think it even had a theatrical release. Anyway, the film has a slightly interesting premise – female cop is killed by a wanted terrorist, resurrected from the dead as a cyborg zombie super-warrior, goes after the bad guys with a vengeance. But the poor script does it no favours.

The Demolitionist does have the occasional moment where it looks halfway promising – Richard Grieco conducts a business negotiation between his police mole & a guard dog – but the poor plotting, atrocious dialogue & under-cooked action scenes conspire to weaken it considerably. Not to mention the fact that the visual effects, despite being produced by a top-shelf EFX group, look very cheap.

On the acting front, the performances range from the okay to the very bad – Richard Grieco overacts wildly (though you can't fault him for not having any fun) but the real worst actor here is Susan Tyrell – her relentless mugging of the stage causes any scene with her in it to collapse to the ground in a heap of flames. Look out for Tom Savini as one of Grieco's fellow gang members & Joe Pilato (Captain Rhodes from the original DAY OF THE DEAD) as a drunken gangbanger.

Recently I noticed that for some reason I seem to be really into mid-90's action B-movies, or maybe I just got lucky with the ones I saw. A few days ago I watched 'The Demolitionist' which can easily be written off as a Robocop rip-off and while the basic idea certainly is taken from Robocop it is very much its own film.

The psychological main conflict is that the resurrected female cop (who still has full control over herself) isn't comfortable with the fact that she is dead yet functioning better than ever thanks to her new high-tech blood. It's the kind of film in which every single character is morally degenerated and capable of anything, they all just have different motivations and enemies.

It's totally over the top, which goes for the performances as well as for the visual style. Half the movie is shot with tilted camera angles and other crazy perspectives, the light often is extremely artificial looking (usually blue).

It's mindless and the moment is more important than the whole but it does have a story and a sense of progress which keeps the ball rolling until the end (where it eventually falls apart, unfortunately). One interesting touch is how bullet impacts are visualized. Instead of blood spurting a fine red dust comes out of the guy who gets hit, so that he goes down in a red cloud. Cheap? Well, it's expressionistic.

Most interestingly I found out that all those mid-90's action B-movies I like have a common staff member - supervising sound editor Patrick M. Griffith. If you liked 'The Demolitionist' I guess I can recommend other films I enjoyed as much and in which making this man happens to have been involved: Mean Guns, Retroactive, Omega Doom, and Death Machine, which are all much better enjoyed in their original aspect ratio but can be difficult to find this way on purchasable data storage devices.