A new round of Horror film quick-hits, this time in preparation of Shark Week we'll be doing sharks, killer fish and other sea creatures for this little round-up.
Blood Surf-
A strangely fun entry, as there are very few solid points about this one that should make it as good as it really is. The fact that the attacks in here are among the film's best qualities is no surprise, as that's the main point in such a film, but by making them high-quality as they are it's a surprising quality, with all the dismembered limbs, superb crocodile animatronics and vicious deaths being dished out. On top of that, it's pretty creepy at points where it's still just a shadow stalking the group, and then it ramps up the action in the second half with several notable chase scenes that actually manage to get a jump every now and then from the action on-screen. That said, there's still some flaws here as the film is quite confusing with its story, since little is mentioned about the sport or what's so popular about it, or why it decides to throw in the pirates to the story when it never mentioned them beforehand and dispatches them shortly thereafter, creating a rather frantic story. Sure, the movie's cheesy beyond belief as well, but otherwise that's all that's wrong with it.
Deep Shock-
Overall, this one was an unbelievably weak creature feature. The main problem is the film's overall setup, as there's not a whole lot of attacks at all and what we get are rather bloodless in that the creatures tend to utilize a discharge of electricity to kill their prey, so it tends to just utterly drag for the majority of the time. As well, we also have an incredibly ham-fisted plot about attempting to psychically link with the creatures as a form of understanding their motivation that just really drives this one down before it even gets into the atrocious CGI present in so many of these Sci-Fi Channel creature features. Basically, all that works here is just the action in the finale during the final escape where the creatures get far more active and intent about trying to kill off the group which brings about some fine confrontations for what's trying to be, but that's about it.
Octopus-
Overall this was quite a surprisingly decent if flawed creature feature. One of the things it does quite well is the actual amount of time and spent here on the subs' descent into the depths of the sea-floor, where this gets a lot right. The scenes of the rather impressive attacks on the crew are quite fun as it culminates in the mad dash through the submerged corridors towards the escape pods which gets quite suspenseful at times. Likewise, this is nicely balanced by the rather fun spy-action that features some nice stunt-work as well as explosions, while the finale goes for the big spectacle of the octopus attacking the cruise-ship that is a lot of fun seeing it attack the passengers. Beyond these factors, there are a few small flaws with this one in its pretty lousy set-up here. The need for the crew to transport him is so flimsy it makes little sense to happen in the real world and worse off doesn't even have any motivation here as surely a real-world force would come with extra guards and assurances against the actual escape rather than the one lone agent as happens here. Likewise, the film's pace is really off in by doing the brief spy-action at the beginning, dragging out the crew's mission and getting acclimated before going over to shots of the terrorists on-board the ship, and that really leads to a confusing, disjointed pace. Other than the decent-but-obvious CGI, it's all that really hurts this one.
Octopus 2: River of Fear-
This was quite a decent creature feature that has a few things going for it. One of its good parts is the really impressive action scenes here which showcase the creature' rampage across the city which makes for quite an enjoyable time here that kicks off immediately in the opening attack on the tourists by the dock and the rather chilling subway encounter that all come off nice off nicely. There's also quite a nice finale as well, which includes the underwater action as well as the subway antics with the stranded commuters and flooding water making for a fun way to end this with a touch of suspense in getting the kids to safety, which all make this enough to hold off the flaws in this one. The biggest issue is the fact that the creature looks pretty bad throughout here that never really gives it a realistic feel, as the methods do give themselves off rather easily. The flapping tentacles aren't so bad when they're in motion but look incredibly bad when done through CGI which is flat and lifeless, not including the stock-shots of the original that are distracting visually as well as content-wise for there's very little coherence from the stock-shot to the new footage. That's even before the use of the full- size puppet which looks completely ridiculous and is so completely obvious there's never any reason to believe it's a real being. Otherwise, the only other flaw here comes from the rather cliché series of plot-lines that run throughout here, from the doubting authorities and the about-to-retire officer being killed to the tepid romance from the two leads simple because they're around which is quite old and rather hard to get through seriously. These are what hold this one down.
Ragin' Cajun Redneck Gators-
This here turned out to be one of the more enjoyable and entertaining efforts put out by the Sci-Fi Channel recently and has a lot going for it. One of the better efforts is the fact that there's a strong sense of cheese throughout that's not played for laughs and is kept totally straight, the comedy coming from the incredulous-ness of it all being depicted in the real world. From the concept of how the gators are turned to a realization of the title on their physical bodies that gives them a distinct advantage in the area, as well as the physical qualities of their original personas, are played up to maximum effect here, which all makes for some cheesy fun when they're placed into action here. Using the swamp-land location is a great move to give the film a pretty decent location to set it all, and there's plenty of action with several nice chases through the water and surrounding wet-lands to give off a pretty tense vibe from time-to-time. The multitude of bodies piled up allows for some pretty decent gore-shots, which do get ruined by the fact that they're all CGI which happens to be the only real fault here. The gators look a lot better than expected and anatomically don't look that far off but the glint off their bodies that is the tell-tale sign of CGI ruins the illusion somewhat. Still, the story's pretty fast-paced and the homages to the other story shoehorned into this make for a pretty enjoyable time, so overall it's just the CGI that really lowers this one.
Robocroc-
This here turns out to be quite an entertaining and enjoyably cheesy offering. While the general plot device of allowing a normal crocodile to be infected and infused with cybernetic robotics to turn it into a killing machine is flat-out ludicrous, the manner in which it goes about dealing with this is quite nice with the overall deception played throughout the film against the zoo personnel, and in return, the viewer so we don't know any more than what's told. This makes for a potentially-frustrating time since there are little nuggets placed that aren't quite as forthcoming in revealing what's going on as it should be, and the final twist that enables the whole conflict to continue on is quite irritating for its decision to incorporate such a clichéd option to keep this one going after the appropriate finale that was given here. That said, there's plenty to love in the film's outright cheesiness, which is just pure fun with the film getting a lot of play out of the initial concept of a robotic crocodile going on a rampage with the as-per-usual lame CGI keeping the sections of robotics coming through the normal crocodilian skin looking rather cheesy, there are some nice action scenes of both the crocodile in the adjacent water-park chomping on tourists to the military's battles with the creature in the open and utterly failing. It's actually quite fun and enjoyable for what it is.
Sand Sharks-
This was a pretty cheesy Sci-Fi Channel entry, pretty much filled with the normal prerequisites for the style in grand fashion. The concept of the shark's habitat for hunting and how they are shown to be acclimated to that environment, the obvious amount of time with the CGI for the creatures and the second-half concert where it all takes place is just glorious cheesy fun all around. That is certainly helped along by the film's rather nice-looking design for the sharks when they're seen from a distance or only fleetingly, since they look less so in close-up, and the continued use of a cliche with the discovery of more creatures here becomes routine and not so much a surprise anymore as this one's main flaws. Still, the large body count and a rather impressive amount of action filled with that implausible and somewhat ludicrous concept for these scenes featured here all make this one rather worthwhile and watchable overall.
Shark Zone-
This one could've been much better than it is because the opportunities to be that good were easily apparent, but is overall too flawed to really move up the list more. The main problem is the plotline, which is essentially two films in one, the jewel-recovery and then the rampaging sharks, and only the rampaging sharks one works because it provides lots of creature attacks and plenty of gore with the live-action, real-sea footage intercut with the prosthetic shark head, whereas the jewel-recovery is just boring and feels tacked on for no reason, especially when that's the finale of the film and everything else is about forcing him into action to do so, which is really boring and not the wrong feeling you want in a killer shark film and dragging this one down accordingly.
Spring Break Shark Attack-
This one actually wasn't all that bad at all. Sure, the first half of the film was a typical teen drama that centers on a dull, completely pointless love triangle and a totally watered-down, PG-13 feel for spring break, capped off by a wholly unnecessary rape attempt in a shark movie that merely manages to keep the sharks out of the movie so it has time for its stars to get acting experience under their belts, when it finally manages to get going it's actually enjoyable. We get two big attacks here, one out in the ocean and the other is perhaps one of the greatest scenes in shark movie history as over a dozen sharks literally attack a floating platform on the beach at once, resulting in well over a couple dozen deaths, tons of blood-splatter, and even some cheesy death scenes as well. It's also worth noting the sharks aren't CGI at all, which gives it another point. Would've been much better had it dropped most of the beginning.
Blood Surf-
A strangely fun entry, as there are very few solid points about this one that should make it as good as it really is. The fact that the attacks in here are among the film's best qualities is no surprise, as that's the main point in such a film, but by making them high-quality as they are it's a surprising quality, with all the dismembered limbs, superb crocodile animatronics and vicious deaths being dished out. On top of that, it's pretty creepy at points where it's still just a shadow stalking the group, and then it ramps up the action in the second half with several notable chase scenes that actually manage to get a jump every now and then from the action on-screen. That said, there's still some flaws here as the film is quite confusing with its story, since little is mentioned about the sport or what's so popular about it, or why it decides to throw in the pirates to the story when it never mentioned them beforehand and dispatches them shortly thereafter, creating a rather frantic story. Sure, the movie's cheesy beyond belief as well, but otherwise that's all that's wrong with it.
Overall, this one was an unbelievably weak creature feature. The main problem is the film's overall setup, as there's not a whole lot of attacks at all and what we get are rather bloodless in that the creatures tend to utilize a discharge of electricity to kill their prey, so it tends to just utterly drag for the majority of the time. As well, we also have an incredibly ham-fisted plot about attempting to psychically link with the creatures as a form of understanding their motivation that just really drives this one down before it even gets into the atrocious CGI present in so many of these Sci-Fi Channel creature features. Basically, all that works here is just the action in the finale during the final escape where the creatures get far more active and intent about trying to kill off the group which brings about some fine confrontations for what's trying to be, but that's about it.
Octopus-
Overall this was quite a surprisingly decent if flawed creature feature. One of the things it does quite well is the actual amount of time and spent here on the subs' descent into the depths of the sea-floor, where this gets a lot right. The scenes of the rather impressive attacks on the crew are quite fun as it culminates in the mad dash through the submerged corridors towards the escape pods which gets quite suspenseful at times. Likewise, this is nicely balanced by the rather fun spy-action that features some nice stunt-work as well as explosions, while the finale goes for the big spectacle of the octopus attacking the cruise-ship that is a lot of fun seeing it attack the passengers. Beyond these factors, there are a few small flaws with this one in its pretty lousy set-up here. The need for the crew to transport him is so flimsy it makes little sense to happen in the real world and worse off doesn't even have any motivation here as surely a real-world force would come with extra guards and assurances against the actual escape rather than the one lone agent as happens here. Likewise, the film's pace is really off in by doing the brief spy-action at the beginning, dragging out the crew's mission and getting acclimated before going over to shots of the terrorists on-board the ship, and that really leads to a confusing, disjointed pace. Other than the decent-but-obvious CGI, it's all that really hurts this one.
Octopus 2: River of Fear-
This was quite a decent creature feature that has a few things going for it. One of its good parts is the really impressive action scenes here which showcase the creature' rampage across the city which makes for quite an enjoyable time here that kicks off immediately in the opening attack on the tourists by the dock and the rather chilling subway encounter that all come off nice off nicely. There's also quite a nice finale as well, which includes the underwater action as well as the subway antics with the stranded commuters and flooding water making for a fun way to end this with a touch of suspense in getting the kids to safety, which all make this enough to hold off the flaws in this one. The biggest issue is the fact that the creature looks pretty bad throughout here that never really gives it a realistic feel, as the methods do give themselves off rather easily. The flapping tentacles aren't so bad when they're in motion but look incredibly bad when done through CGI which is flat and lifeless, not including the stock-shots of the original that are distracting visually as well as content-wise for there's very little coherence from the stock-shot to the new footage. That's even before the use of the full- size puppet which looks completely ridiculous and is so completely obvious there's never any reason to believe it's a real being. Otherwise, the only other flaw here comes from the rather cliché series of plot-lines that run throughout here, from the doubting authorities and the about-to-retire officer being killed to the tepid romance from the two leads simple because they're around which is quite old and rather hard to get through seriously. These are what hold this one down.
Ragin' Cajun Redneck Gators-
This here turned out to be one of the more enjoyable and entertaining efforts put out by the Sci-Fi Channel recently and has a lot going for it. One of the better efforts is the fact that there's a strong sense of cheese throughout that's not played for laughs and is kept totally straight, the comedy coming from the incredulous-ness of it all being depicted in the real world. From the concept of how the gators are turned to a realization of the title on their physical bodies that gives them a distinct advantage in the area, as well as the physical qualities of their original personas, are played up to maximum effect here, which all makes for some cheesy fun when they're placed into action here. Using the swamp-land location is a great move to give the film a pretty decent location to set it all, and there's plenty of action with several nice chases through the water and surrounding wet-lands to give off a pretty tense vibe from time-to-time. The multitude of bodies piled up allows for some pretty decent gore-shots, which do get ruined by the fact that they're all CGI which happens to be the only real fault here. The gators look a lot better than expected and anatomically don't look that far off but the glint off their bodies that is the tell-tale sign of CGI ruins the illusion somewhat. Still, the story's pretty fast-paced and the homages to the other story shoehorned into this make for a pretty enjoyable time, so overall it's just the CGI that really lowers this one.
Robocroc-
This here turns out to be quite an entertaining and enjoyably cheesy offering. While the general plot device of allowing a normal crocodile to be infected and infused with cybernetic robotics to turn it into a killing machine is flat-out ludicrous, the manner in which it goes about dealing with this is quite nice with the overall deception played throughout the film against the zoo personnel, and in return, the viewer so we don't know any more than what's told. This makes for a potentially-frustrating time since there are little nuggets placed that aren't quite as forthcoming in revealing what's going on as it should be, and the final twist that enables the whole conflict to continue on is quite irritating for its decision to incorporate such a clichéd option to keep this one going after the appropriate finale that was given here. That said, there's plenty to love in the film's outright cheesiness, which is just pure fun with the film getting a lot of play out of the initial concept of a robotic crocodile going on a rampage with the as-per-usual lame CGI keeping the sections of robotics coming through the normal crocodilian skin looking rather cheesy, there are some nice action scenes of both the crocodile in the adjacent water-park chomping on tourists to the military's battles with the creature in the open and utterly failing. It's actually quite fun and enjoyable for what it is.
Sand Sharks-
This was a pretty cheesy Sci-Fi Channel entry, pretty much filled with the normal prerequisites for the style in grand fashion. The concept of the shark's habitat for hunting and how they are shown to be acclimated to that environment, the obvious amount of time with the CGI for the creatures and the second-half concert where it all takes place is just glorious cheesy fun all around. That is certainly helped along by the film's rather nice-looking design for the sharks when they're seen from a distance or only fleetingly, since they look less so in close-up, and the continued use of a cliche with the discovery of more creatures here becomes routine and not so much a surprise anymore as this one's main flaws. Still, the large body count and a rather impressive amount of action filled with that implausible and somewhat ludicrous concept for these scenes featured here all make this one rather worthwhile and watchable overall.
Shark Zone-
This one could've been much better than it is because the opportunities to be that good were easily apparent, but is overall too flawed to really move up the list more. The main problem is the plotline, which is essentially two films in one, the jewel-recovery and then the rampaging sharks, and only the rampaging sharks one works because it provides lots of creature attacks and plenty of gore with the live-action, real-sea footage intercut with the prosthetic shark head, whereas the jewel-recovery is just boring and feels tacked on for no reason, especially when that's the finale of the film and everything else is about forcing him into action to do so, which is really boring and not the wrong feeling you want in a killer shark film and dragging this one down accordingly.
Spring Break Shark Attack-
This one actually wasn't all that bad at all. Sure, the first half of the film was a typical teen drama that centers on a dull, completely pointless love triangle and a totally watered-down, PG-13 feel for spring break, capped off by a wholly unnecessary rape attempt in a shark movie that merely manages to keep the sharks out of the movie so it has time for its stars to get acting experience under their belts, when it finally manages to get going it's actually enjoyable. We get two big attacks here, one out in the ocean and the other is perhaps one of the greatest scenes in shark movie history as over a dozen sharks literally attack a floating platform on the beach at once, resulting in well over a couple dozen deaths, tons of blood-splatter, and even some cheesy death scenes as well. It's also worth noting the sharks aren't CGI at all, which gives it another point. Would've been much better had it dropped most of the beginning.
Comments
Post a Comment