Director: John DeCaux
Year: 2025
Country: USA/Australia
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Creature Feature
Plot:
Heading out into the Australian Outback, a group of tourists is taken on an expedition to watch animals in the area, but when they encounter a vicious, killer dropbear roaming the area, they must band together with the military team trying to hunt them to stop the creatures.
Review:
Overall, this was a solid enough genre effort. Among the better elements here come from the strong and generally cheesy setup where the group is brought together and set out on their trip. The central idea of them going into the outback for a chance at observing the wildlife and encountering the wild guide, whose enthusiasm outweighs the capabilities he possesses, leaving everyone to be disappointed at the series of lame jokes and pranks he sets up to provide a fun experience, starts this off on a solid note. While the local parts of the tour are fine with trying to go through the experience to the annoyance of the tourists who are there for something more thrilling than the underwhelming and underprepared narration that is given to us provides some fun times as it gives the guide a chance to go through the motions of his ordered tour while the civilians on the tour have a chance for the usual amounts of character-building that goes along here to make everyone sympathetic enough before the attacks start.
Those animal attacks are incredibly fun, offering up some of the best elements within this one as the creature is at the center of what makes everything so much fun. Using such an unusual and admittedly non-aggressive species as the basis for the attacks here is a clever move, giving this a cheesy tone while still keeping an air of suspense on display as the fiery eyes and unseen threat move within the trees chasing after the fleeing group, making for a likable enough time. The group being driven into the abandoned facility as a result where they can encounter the mutated, talking, humanoid king of the koalas where they learn not only the truth about what’s going on regarding how the koalas were able to become dangerous but also generate a series of solid action scenes of the rescue tram trying to wipe out the creatures to get the survivors out which has the fun series of action meant to stop it as well as the goofy gore and effects to give this one a lot to like.
There are some drawbacks to be had here that hold this one down. The main detrimental issue here is the rather obnoxious first half, where everyone tries to make the case for a series of wild pranks to pull on the tourists, which comes off with a sense of ridiculousness to the point of wearing out rather quickly. By the time the third or fourth one is pulled, trying to make up for the experience, it all comes together to wear out its welcome and turn into an aggravating bit of attempted comedy following these irritating characters trying to make something fun, only to turn into a trying time getting on board with this one. As well, there’s also the other big issue in the finale, where it tries to be way too cute with what it wants to be by including a section involving the survivors trying to find help, and it keeps getting laughed off with no one wanting to entertain the story that just keeps going long past the joke wearing out its welcome. This is overlong and not that interesting, and the goofy effects and over-the-top CGI featured here are what hold this down overall.
Overview: ****/5
An incredibly likable and fun cheesy creature feature, this one makes for a really enjoyable time without much in the way of drawbacks to hold it back, leaving this one quite a lot of fun. Those with an appreciation for this style of genre fare, who are curious about it, or enjoy this kind of cheesy genre entries, will have a lot to like here, as most others out there should heed caution.
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