Director: Tyler James
Year: 2023
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Creature Feature
Plot:
Following a series of unnatural meteorological incidents, a scientist realizes the time has come when the events have triggered an unnaturally-sized water spout to steer towards the city and bring with it an assortment of prehistoric creatures trapping him and other patrons inside a hotel they have to battle through to escape.
Review:
This was a pretty solid and enjoyable creature feature. One of the finer features here is the rather cheesy nature of the overall storyline which comes about unnaturally but attempts to make some kind of internal logic. The idea of the weather events happening through the magnetic waves from the Bermuda Triangle and radiating out into the massive water spouts filled with ancient sea creatures and other prehistoric beings that threaten the city is admittedly goofy but carries enough internal connections with the various ramblings about the area to be somewhat feasible. That it all builds into a city-wide invasion from the creatures and the escalating destruction it all causes serves the film nicely enough to be a wholly worthwhile starting point.
From here, this provides the launching pad for a slew of fun encounters with the various creatures. The multitude of creatures on display, from octopuses, sharks, crocodiles, and prehistoric insects, are utilized quite nicely here with each one having a solid attack sequence to get to knock someone off in a fun encounter throughout the hotel as the insects take out the lobby, the sharks and crocodiles are shown stalking the hallways inside and the dinosaurs are on the outside picking off stragglers who are standing near windows with their guard down. It’s all entertaining enough with the kind of solid non-stop pace that it stays enjoyable throughout. These factors provide the film with a lot to like about it.
There are some issues with this one that hold it back. Among the main issues here is the wholesale cheesy nature of the storyline that jumps around to disaster after disaster to the point of never feeling coherent or logical. The disbelieving nature everyone has to the calamities being faced, standing around watching water spouts filled with creatures swirling around, running away into the line of danger, and simply going along with whatever happens in such an unnatural manner that it draws attention to itself simply for how it all plays out. That so much of this comes about because of the CGI being ill-equipped for the backing plates they're inserted into does come across the wrong way as well and overall does the film a lot of damage.
That does lead into the other issue with the film where it has way too many subplots to carry itself along when it does. The series of exploits involving the government agents having to deal with the loose-cannon conspiracies and theories is fine enough, but to suddenly interject the idea of the liaison being a betrayer from years ago and doing so again has no purpose other than to make for a surprising twist. The hotel patrons each having their own sidestories is, again, quite natural and logical but it’s a case of the wrong time and place to suddenly start worrying about these factors when they’re being swarmed by vicious creatures as it mostly serves to set them up for an attack that didn’t need to happen. Overall, these are what bring this one down.
Overview: ***/5
A perfectly cheesy and goofy genre effort, this one comes across rather nicely for what it is even though some of the flaws here do manage to hold this one back from what it could’ve been. Give this a shot if you’re a fan of this style or are a fan of the creative crew, while most others turned off by these factors should heed caution with it.
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