Aaron1375 I got this film in a pack of two films, the other being a film called, "Up From the Depths". Neither film is particularly good as neither takes the course of action that would of made both films cheesy fun which is good graphic kills and lots of nudity. Sure, there is blood featured in both and sure there is a topless scene in each, but both films would have benefited by taking the Italian horror movie approach which is excess! The two films feature aquatic monsters and the other thing they have in common is that they both take place in Hawaii and another thing they share is that neither film was actually shot in Hawaii. "Up From the Depths" did an okay job of recreating Hawaii; however, this film did not. In fact, it did quite a bad job of it as they did not even bother filming in a location with the ocean, instead electing to say that the resort featured in this film was on a Hawaiian lake which did not resemble a lake in Hawaii as it was rather dirty. I thought the people looked like they were from the Philippines and I was correct as that is where this one is shot. As I said, you just did not get a Hawaii vibe from this film at all.The story has some dudes selling illegal dynamite and it is an explosion from one of this sticks that we have to deduce freed the monster. The boat setting off charges explodes and get used to that as there are more explosions featured in this film than there are on screen monster kills. The sheriff is skeptical that there is a monster while a scientist thinks there is something and the dudes selling dynamite may be going into business with the mob. A reporter decides to not report the story and instead hook up with the owner of the most depressing looking resort ever to try and lure people into the place by advertising the monster. Occasionally, the monster shows up and oftentimes the poor thing does not get to kill anyone as there is an explosion that kills everyone. At the end, the monster goes on a full on assault because it is probably tired of not getting to kill anyone.The characters in this one are another weak point in said movie. They are all rather bad. You have sheriff with a secret past that is skeptical, but wants to stop the killings. You have the scientist who wants to take in the beast alive and who sees something in one of her underwater jaunts that is so upsetting, but I couldn't tell you what it was. You have irritating newspaper guy and resort owner who at least die, but not horrifically enough. Then, like in "Up From the Depths", there is supermodel who is staying at said resort who flashes her boobies. I guess it is not too surprising that this film is similar to, "Up From the Depths" as Roger Corman had a hand in both of them and he would literally remake a couple of his films nearly shot for shot.So, this film is bad. It is hard to believe that this one was not more awesome considering that Roger also made the similarly themed, "Humanoids From the Deep" which had lots of good kills and nudity. It is like he did not even try here and instead nearly made a remake of the equally bad, "Up From the Depths" only replacing the shark monster with a humanoid monster which didn't look all that bad. Too bad they were too busy showing us illegal dynamite sellers and other pointless plot points when they could have shown more monster on the rampage scenes. Also, the ending line where the scientist says, "You ever cut the tail off a lizard" is rather lame because the monster was blown the up in this one. A lizard can grow its tail back, but said tail cannot grow a lizard and a lizard's body cannot regenerate at head!

Coventry One of my many personal defaults is that, for some incomprehensible reason, I desperately desire to see all the cheesy mutant sea/swamp monster movies ever made. Knowing that approximately 95% of those are incompetent and amateurish Z-grade trash productions, my obsession is actually the equivalent of cinematic self-torture! "Demon of Paradise" is another piece of rock-bottom, pretty much on par with notorious titles such as "Zaat", "Octaman", "Spawn of the Slithis", "Hydra", "Rana: Legend of Shadow Lake", "Monstroid" and "Up from the Depths". If none of these titles rings a bell, that means there still hope for you! Stay away from them as far as possible! "Demon of Paradise" takes place in a small Hawaiian fishing community, where the obnoxious villagers have been using so much illegal dynamite in their profession that it has awakened an ancient and very upset lizard monster. What follows is an incredibly boring and clichéd film with immeasurably long sequences where nothing happens and pseudo-intellectual dialogs that are irrelevant and senseless. The monster itself is reasonably good-looking, although it's another umpteenth attempt to imitate the appearance of the "Creature of the Black Lagoon", but it nearly doesn't receive enough screen time. Cirio H. Santiago produced and directed approximately 80 exploitation films in his life, all of them shamelessly cashing in on some trend that was popular and money-earning at some point. I've only seen a handful of his titles, but more than enough to declare him to be one of the worst directors who ever lived.

slayrrr666 "Demon of Paradise" isn't all that bad, and is just simply decent.**SPOILERS**After a spate of strange fishing accidents, Annie, (Kathryn Witt) Ike, (Frederick Bailey) and Sheriff Keefer, (William Steis) urge the locals off the waters, despite their refusal to do so and insisting a legendary creature is behind it all. Due to this, Cahill, (Laura Banks) decides the time is right to start up a tourist business to the place and using the legend to tie-in with the idea, which angers them all and causes them to threaten her due to the increasing number of creature attacks in the area. When they continue and finally force her to close down her tourism business, she decides to help in hunting down the creature, which they find is a carnivorous lizard-like creature that lives in the lake and has been disturbed from it's rest by illegal hunting in the area, causing them all to band together to end the deadly rampage.The Good News: There was some good stuff at times to this one. One of the main good points is that there's some half-way decent action scenes to it. The opening, which is an assault on a fishing boat that blows up from dropped dynamite during the scuffling, to the first attack on the village and it's appearance during the festival all manage to be really enjoyable encounters that provide some decent thrills. The last half to this is really good, where the fight is taken to the creature and some really good action-scenes, including a rather fun idea where the creature is attacked from a helicopter dropping dynamite at it below, with the boats searching around for it and ending with a fun exploding helicopter sequence that ends the fun. That leads into the chaotic appearance at the military base, which is fun for the rain makes it a little more atmospheric than it should otherwise be, and there's a couple of fun encounters. The finale in the caves, where there's a super-fun confrontation within the darkened mines and there's gunfire, grenades and he sight of one victim literally blown to pieces, and these here are all pretty great. The fact that it has a lot right with the creature is a big plus, since they hardly ever show it which makes it's few appearances mean something as it's hidden off-camera for most of the early attacks, mainly signaled with just quick glimpses of it here and there. When it is shown, the sight of the demonic, lizard-like appearance that manages to look different and somewhat effective, being able to take a hail of bullets and more. The last plus in here is that there's a pretty nice body count, even if not a whole lot of it is shown. The fact that there's a lot that are killed off is pretty fun, and manages to be another good factor for the film.The Bad News: There wasn't a whole lot of bad things to this one. The main there here is that the majority of the time, nothing much happens. There's a couple of attacks here and there, but they're a separate flaw and mainly serve to break up the unending monotony of what takes up the most amount of time in here, the dull talking in here. These scenes go on forever and usually consist of the same topic, everyone warning the others about the dangers of the area and them not believing it in for the same reason that's always used, the impending tourist trade. This is used way too often and as the reason why they keep engaging in the same conversations over and over again, it gets tiresome even more than it already is. There's also the fact that the creature in here isn't that convincing, looking rather obviously like a rubber suit in it's few incarnations on-screen and it manages to ruin the mystique it creates really well in the early parts with keeping the creature off-screen or barely there, which is a big shame. The last flaw here is the obscenely bloodless kills on display. Just about all of them are done at an angle that prevents what's being seen clearly, done off-screen or just aren't exciting, such as being dragged underwater or blown up being near something that explodes. The fact that it's the most commonly used death is something of a mark against what kind of film this is, and is really the most telling flaw in the whole film. These here are what's really wrong with the film.The Final Verdict: While not being all that bad, there isn't a whole lot to it to really make it memorable, leaving it just decent. Really only give into this one if you can appreciate the lower end of the creature-feature spectrum of if it sounds interesting, otherwise then heed caution with this one.Rated R: Violence, Language and Brief Nudity

leo_crazydude Cirio H. Santiago's Demon of Paradise is a cold, gritty film which draws parallels with the then imminent cold war. At first glance this masterpiece may be seen as a simple monster flick, such as Jaws or Godzilla. However if studied closely the immersive story and fast pace make this film a modern classic.Set in the idealic Kihono, Hawaii which gives a great locale for the gripping story. Along with the great location a great cast appear. One shining example of this is from the late William Steins who gives a chilling earthy realism to his acting. The special effects bring the carnivorous lizard-man to life, you can truly see the rage within him. Of course the carnivorous lizard-man connotes the soviet rule. Where communism is here to wreak havoc with capitalism. Not only is this film a monster flick, it is a political point of view.Edward Achacoso's musical score adds to the suspense of the film with its synthesised instruments which give the film a sense of un-easiness. The score is up there with others such as Blade Runner and 2001: A Space Odyssey.Cirio H. Santiago's Direction gives this film a fast pace with an intelligent storyline, which makes great viewing.I give this film 9 stars.