Awesome Movie

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

A carnivorous reptilian humanoid brute of local legend (played by some poor zhlub in a laughably hokey and obvious rubbery suit) terrorizes a tropical resort after fishermen using dynamite awaken it from its many decades of slumber. It's up to fetching herpetologist Annie (an appealing turn by the fetching Kathyrn Witt) and skeptical no-nonsense sheriff Keefer (a likable performance by William Steis) to kill the bloodthirsty beastie. With fumbling (non)direction by Cirio H. Santiago, a plethora of dippy dialogue, a meandering narrative, poky pacing, infrequent and flatly staged monster attack set pieces, mild cheesy gore, zero tension or spooky atmosphere, loads of exotic local color tossed in as complete filler, and a priceless rousing conclusion with a commando unit of army guys opening up a king-sized barrel of raw hurtin' on the creature, this amusingly silly and schlocky piece of pure celluloid flotsam sure ain't remotely good, but still manages to be pretty enjoyable and occasionally quite sidesplitting in its hopelessly blatant ineptitude. The cast struggle gamely with the incredibly inane material, with especially admirable work by Laura Banks as bitchy and greedy resort owner Cahill, Frederick Bailey as obnoxious and opportunistic journalist Ike (Bailey also came up with the extremely asinine story), and striking blonde hottie Leslie Scarborough as vacuous pin-up model Gabby (the luscious Leslie removes her shirt and bares her beautifully bountiful breasts for the flick's yummy obligatory gratuitous topless scene). Ricardo Remias' bright cinematography gives this picture a slicker and more attractive look than it deserves (the effectively moody fog-shrouded nocturnal scenes are quite impressive). Ding Achacoso's shivery and syncopated score does the funky trick. A real tacky hoot.

In Kihono, Hawaii, some scaly, clawed hands emerge from the waters and start shaking the boat of a bunch of dynamite fisherman, causing one of the guys to drop a stick of lit dynamite that blows up the boat. Those scaly hands naturally belong to a silly-looking man-in-a-rubber-suit creature that starts causing the usual problems in and around a tropical resort. Well, it's supposed to be a tropical resort, but they must have been filming during the off season because the scenery isn't even all that great in this one. Don't expect to see bikini-clad babes frolicking in the waves, long sandy beaches stretching for miles or sunlight glistening off of crystal blue water. Here, the clouds are dark, the sky is overcast and the water is murky and muddy. Now while the "filming locations" section here at IMDb claims this movie WAS actually shot in Hawaii, I have my doubts. Not only is it a Filipino/US co-production, but the director is from the Philippines and normally films his movies over there, so I wouldn't be a bit surprised if this one was filmed there, too. The native vegetation, the waterways, the buildings and much of the supporting cast certainly don't look Hawaiian to me, though I could be mistaken.Superstitious local villagers do a hilarious ceremonial hula/fire dance, chant and throw leis into the ocean to try to appease the beast, but it kills their tribal leader anyway, so they begin to flee the area. Not so easily scared off is herpetologist Annie Essex (Kathryn Witt), who is on the island researching "the legend of the Akua." She teams up with skeptical new-sheriff-in-town Keefer (William Steis) to investigate. There's a bare minimum of character development between these two; she's ambitious and wants to discover a new species, while he is a widower who has come to the area to escape "the psychotic bulls**t" he encountered at his previous job in Reno. There's also a half-baked romance that starts to develop between them, but it's not really followed through with. Also sticking around are pushy, bearded, unbelievably obnoxious news reporter Ike (played by screenwriter Frederick Bailey), drug-addicted skin mag model Gobby (Lesley Huntly), British photographer Ted (Paul Holmes) and a slew of criminals who specialize in making illegal explosives. Also there is Ms. Cahill (Laura Banks), bitchy owner of the Paradise Resort, who uses the legend of the sea beast to bring in more tourists, against the wishes of the sheriff and lady scientist. The actors (who are mediocre, but not too bad) get to hurl around lame insults such as "You incompetent slouch!" and "Take a hike spaz ass!" The rest of the dialogue, as well as the plot, characters and horror/action scenes, are hopelessly clichéd and fail to save this from becoming a complete bore.As far as the monster is concerned, it's a standard issue rubber suit with some seaweed glued on it, and we barely get to see much of until the very end. The doctor refers to it as a "carniverous lizard man of the Triassic age" and says it's a nocturnal eater and light sensitive, which doesn't really explain why the first two attacks take place in broad daylight. The creature does manage to cause around half a dozen explosions in the film, though. It even manages to make a little water front dynamite factory blow up. The National Guard are finally called in and show their professionalism by igniting sticks of dynamite with a lit cigarette to hurl down at the beast from a helicopter above. From a stationary position in the water, the beast manages to leap upward about fifteen feet, grabs the copter and pulls it down into the water. The almost entirely submerged aircraft then manages to explode. So much for realism...There's also a monster egg hunt at the resort (don't ask), a police shoot out, one topless scene (from Ms. Huntly during a topless photo shoot) and overuse of a fog machine during all of the night scenes. The violence is very mild, most of the kills take place off screen and the gore is minimal. Not much else to say about this one, other than you've probably seen it all before. There are both better and worse films out there with nearly the same exact plot line, which doesn't make this any less monotonous to sit through for anyone who has ever seen a monster movie before.

This is another boring low budget horror/monster movie. The video box art is quite cool (as usual) but the film itself is far too dull. The monster is a guy in a rubber suit, which usually would give you laughs due to the cheese factor, but sadly the monster isn't shown nearly enough to be entertaining. There's no gore nor suspense to be had either. The acting ranges from OK to terrible.Demon of Paradise reminds me of another horror flick in a similar vein called The Evil Below, which is equally as boring. All horror fans will want to avoid both of these films - all they're good for are the VHS covers.

Demon of Paradise is set on 'Kihono, Hawaii' where a group of four men are setting dynamite off in a local lake, I have no idea why but they're all villains & up to no good. Then, out of nowhere, a fish-lizard mutant thing turns up. A herpetologist named Dr. Annie Essex (Kathryn Witt) is doing some research in the hope of finding a new species, she becomes involved with Sheriff Keefer (William Steis) so when the dead, mutilated body of a fisherman (Ramon D'Salva) turns up she goes along, I have no idea why Keefer would involve her but what does that matter? After examining the corpse for all of 5 minutes Annie finds a claw & confidently announces to Keefer that there is a fish-lizard creature in the area killing people. At first Keefer is somewhat sceptical as is his right as the local law enforcement officer but soon has to change his doubting mind when the bodies continue to pile up & he sees the 'terrifying' creature with his own eyes, it's up to Keefer & Annie to save the local residents from becoming fish-lizard creature food!This Pilippines American co-production was co-produced & directed by Cirio H. Santiago &, quite frankly, is crap & stinks worse than a 2 week old kipper left in the sun to rot. The script by Frederick Bailey obviously steals it's best ideas, themes & situations from other, much better films such as Jaws (1975), Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954, 2006 remake if it ever happens) & Humaniods From the Deep (1980) for example. Nothing is explained with any degree of satisfaction, the plot is as thin as my plot synopsis makes it sound & it's incredibly slow & dull. I suppose it's a cliché but in the case of Demon of Paradise it's true, it would be more exciting watching grass grow. The character's are poor & unlikable, the dialogue had no effort put into it & the final nail in Demon of Paradise's coffin is that there are very few attacks, the monster sucks & there is no gore whatsoever, I have to ask the question what's the point? It has a snail's pace & takes itself far too seriously & provides little, if any, entertainment value. The ending hints at a sequel which thankfully has never been made, I shudder at the very thought.Economy conscious director Santiago does nothing to liven things up, the attack scenes are rubbish, there's no gore or violence at all & he seems more interested in cheap action with a few boats exploding & a lame shoot-out. The monster looks pretty bad, it's obviously a guy in a rubber suit with a mask that looks more like a Wolf than anything else. To save on special effects there's no blood, violence or gore either, sorry I've already mentioned that haven't I? I mean I'm not bitter or anything but I want the 90 odd minutes I spent watching this crap back. However, if you can stay awake long enough there is a scene when a fashion model takes a quick swim topless.The budget on Demon of Paradise must have been low, there is simply no other explanation as why the whole thing is so cheap & tacky. Actually shot in Hawaii the locations are the best thing about the film which just about says it all. The acting was brilliant & the whole cast deserve Oscars, only joking they were all awful.Demon of Paradise is a terrible film, it's dull, boring, badly made & just painful to sit through (I still have the emotional scars to prove it). Don't even consider it, there are much, much better water & fish life based horror out there. Picked up for distribution by Roger Corman.