Thursday , March 28 2024
Makes about as much sense as driving with your buttocks.

DVD Review: Demon Warriors

While it is certainly nowhere near as memorable as the ultra-wacky Thai masterpiece Ginseng King, Demon Warriors (aka Opapatika) will undoubtedly be of great interest to any gorehound or Asian film fanatic. To call this story “wacky” would only be putting it mildly. To call it “comprehensible” would be an outright lie. And yet, it’s just about what you’d expect all the same.

Apparently, our world runs parallel with another one — the world of the Opapatikas (go ahead, say “Opapatikas” five times fast — I dare you). Opapatikas are these shadowy figures who have gained seemingly invincible supernatural powers from taking their own lives in our world. An old wise man named Sadok recruits a detective (via suicide) to help him hunt down and eliminate the Opapatika. Or something like that.

To be frank, Demon Warriors makes about as much sense as driving with your buttocks. The movie is quite bloody, with some decent martial arts skills throughout. But, the poor special effects and lack of any remotely logical goings on will have you either scratching your head throughout or just ejecting the disc and throwing it into the street altogether.

The DVD presentation is slightly better than the movie itself, but not by much. Magnolia Home Entertainment’s anamorphic 1.78:1 presentation is rather grainy and has a number of flaws. The colors are subdued, but that is probably intentional in going with the film’s tone (whatever that may be). Several audio options are present, with a 5.1 and 2.0 available in both an English dub and the original Thai language. English and Spanish subtitles are included, with there being an additional “English Narrative” track as well (which just serves to translate a few Thai characters onscreen). For once, the English dub doesn’t sound too terribly bad (hell, some of the voices actually fit). Alas, neither of the audio options will blow you away.

A few trailers for other Magnet/Magnolia releases are included at the beginning of the disc. Apart from them, the only other special feature to be found with this release of Demon Warriors is a making-of featurette. The featurette isn’t much, really — but then, neither is Demon Warriors itself.

About Luigi Bastardo

Luigi Bastardo is the alter-ego of a feller who loves an eclectic variety of classic (and sometimes not-so-classic) film and television. He currently lives in Northern California with four cats named Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Margaret. Seriously.

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