Carny (2009)

After watching Hypothermia last night, I decided to continue with the creature feature trend. Over the past few weeks, I have been doing a lot of research in governmental conspiracies and have stayed away from one of my first loves, mysterious cryptids. With that in mind, I decided to venture into the world of Sci-Fi Channel creature features, and the famed Jersey Devil, in the 2009 flick, Carny.

Plot/ A devilish creature escapes from a carnival to wreak havoc on a small town.

As someone who has investigated the existence of the Jersey Devil both in the field and in folklore, I always jump at a chance to watch movies that associate with these mysterious creatures. The one problem with these flicks is that usually they portray these creatures on an outlandish light. This one is no different. Sure, there are some good points, as there is decent action and pacing, some blood and gore, good character development, and the creature is one of the better CGI incarnations that the Sci-Fi Channel creature features have delivered. Yes, it is still flawed, as there are plot holes galore, scripting issues, zero back-story to develop the legend of this creature and the preacher character gets annoying after some time. In the end, this is not the best Sci-Fi Channel creature feature, but it is not the worst. If you love these movies, this one was rather entertaining and a flick that can be enjoyed.

Malibu Shark Attack (2009)

After taking a break last night to put out a sighting report for interesting creatures or UFOs, it was time to get back into the swing of things. Of course, with some of the daughters still feeling the buzz of the news from the Bigfoot hunt, I decided to continue with some creature feature. My selection, from the Maneater Collection is the SyFy Channel flick Malibu Shark Attack from 2009.

Plot/ When a tsunami floods Malibu, it brings with it a hunting pack of deep-water, prehistoric goblin sharks that go after the lifeguards in their half-submerged station on stilts and a team of construction workers stranded in a flooded house.

Let me start by saying that I am not the biggest fans of SyFy Channel creature features, and I mainly watch them with my daughters as a fun alternative. I will admit that sometimes they surprise me; unfortunately, this is not one of those cases. While the acting was not too bad, actually decent for this type of faire, it is too bad that it went downhill from there. The sharks may be the worst ever, the tsunami is not much better, and the storyline is a horrid mix of cliché, filler and utter ridiculousness. In the end, it was one of the worst creature flicks I have seen in sometime and was not worth the time I spent watching it.

Swamp Devil (2008)

 

 

With Documentary Week behind us, it was time to get back into the swing of movie watching. For me, I wanted to watch a good old-fashioned creature feature (yes, still have the adrenaline from the Bigfoot expedition). Unfortunately, there is little on Netflix ) that I have not seen) that fit into what I wanted. In the end, I decided on Swamp Devil from 2008.

 

 

Plot/ A young girl finds out some disturbing supernatural truths about her father, who has been a suspect to multiple murder cases.

 

 

While I knew from the title what I was getting into with this one, I was actually a bit more disappointed than usual. This flick has a lot to like with solid acting, some good production values, a decent score and some awesome locations / set design. Unfortunately, as good as some of those attributes were the utter horrendous attempt at special effects and make-up are laughable (at best) and the storyline is riddled with cliché and predictability. And, that does not include the overall lack of any type of atmosphere or creepiness. In the end, the movie definitely could have been worse, but it really offers very little in the way of entertainment value. Watch it if you must, but there are many other options that are better choices.

 

 

Maneater (2009)

One thing I always enjoy is movies about legends and lore, especially those from our Native American heritage. One of these tales can be found in the 2009 entry Maneater.

Plot/ A former FBI profiler, now a sheriff of a small town and a single parent of a high school aged daughter, begins to profile a series of unexplained murders only to learn that the monster he's profiling may be himself.

Call me a sucker, but I am all for movies that attempt to bring a modern spin on legends like the Wendigo. This shape shifter is one of my favorite parts of lore. This attempt is decent but in no way spectacular and is quite typical of the movies produced for the Sci Fi Channel. The plot is sound, but full of cliché (except a better ending than usual). The acting is average and there really is not a lot of gore, if fact, other than some early nudity, there is not much that is memorable. In the end, this is a respectable Creature Feature that is provides entertainment for 90 minutes. Is this one great, no way, but it is enjoyable none-the-less.

Yeti (2008)

As a person that truly believes that creatures like Bigfoot roam the planet searching for food; I was actually a bit excited when I saw that the Sci Fi channel was playing their original film Yeti (2008) last night (pictures with the Yeti is at the bottom of this blog). While I know that these made for TV movies are usually beyond terrible, occasionally, there is at least something entertaining in them.

Plot/ After their plane crashes into uncharted territory in the snowy Himalayan Mountains, the surviving members of a college football team set out to find help in a freezing cold blizzard. As days pass with no rescue in sight, food and morale run low for the survivors. The team eventually comes face to face with the Yeti, who begins to pick off the survivors one by one. In the meantime, two mountain rangers begin to scale the mountain to locate the survivors after receiving their distress signal.

As expected this movie was far from perfect, and may be one of the worst Snowbeast-type films I have seen. However, it is far from the worst Sci-fi original from their maneater series. In fact, some of the elements were enjoyable, the acting was respectable and at times it was rather graphic with dismemberments abound. That is about where the good parts end. As usual, the CGI is terrible and some of the effects are terrible (the rabbit that becomes a chicken when cooked. But, worst of all, they made the Yeti into some sort of super leaping monster that looked more like an overgrown tanned albinoesque Chaka, I almost thought Will and Holly would pop from the cave looking for their furry friend.