It's a good movie...but a couple things really hold it back. It's rare that I say good things about a Syfy Channel film. Let's be honest- most of them are awful. The thing is that some of them are really funny, usually in an unintentional way. For every surprisingly-decent film like Mongolian Death Worm, there's a dozen films like Android Apocalypse and Ice Spiders. So, it should come as a surprise to you that I don't have a lot of bad things to say about the plot of this movie. One aspect, however, is fair game to me. Before I reveal that, let's discuss the plot a bit. This story comes right out of the Syfy Channel playbook- Natives create a monster to kill invaders, it goes crazy and then they have to stop it. It's basically the same plot as Aztec Rex or Manticore, although the story goes back to that of the original Golem. Unlike Lady Terminator, this movie is about a magical knife, but it is not the key to killing the creature per se. To find out what is and just what hurts the movie, read on...
It all begins with a woman running in the Woods. This is the typical Syfy Opening...but there's no monster. She's also not dead, but more on that in a Poor Bastards of Cinema induction later.
A group of people go out into the Woods to find a dagger. The problem- the villagers go all Phantom on them and don't play nice. The other problem- the trees are alive and trying to kill people. See the problem I have with this movie yet?
This movie has some interesting characters- not all, but a few- and a decent structure. Hell, the CG effects are generally handled well. It's just stuff like this...
Focus, focus. Things take a turn when the conflict escalates. The man behind the expedition goes in himself- see above- and goes a bit crazy. You're out there for two hours and you go nuts? Pansy. Bye, lady.
As you probably guessed, the day is saved thanks to, well, murder. Seriously, just stab a guy to death and everything will be alright. That's a good lesson, right? The worse thing- ending on a shitty-ass green screen effect. The End.
I think I can get down to the root of the problem. This movie has a lot of good points. The acting is generally-good, the characters feel real and they make great use of a limited, jungle locale. I like the effects too, as they usually seem pretty realistic. This is not Avatar or anything, but it's good. While the plot is pretty basic and run-of-the-mill, it is functional and plays a bit differently than you might expect. Plot twists come the hell out of nowhere, including the Natives just kind of accepting the people they were trying to sacrifice mere hours earlier! Here's the bad stuff: the green screen effects are awful. I mean, wow! Did they finish the movie and then hire a different company to do those effects? I can't believe that the same people did both. While the movie is nothing great or unique, it's a generally-good and entertaining Syfy film. On that standard, it's great. On any other standard, it's a 'eh, you can do worse.' Sorry for the split-decision...
Up next, a killer who will wrap your knuckles quite fierce! Brian Yuzna is on-board, so look for this to be weird and confusing though. Stay tuned...
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