"Hydra" is an incredibly fun and exciting Sci-Fi Channel original creature feature.
**SPOILERS**
Traveling through the ocean, Vincent Camden, (Alex McArthur) takes his friends Clarence Elkins, (William Gregory Lee) Alex Williams, (Paul Rae) and Sean Trotta, (Roark Critchlow) on a cruise to a deserted island. Eventually finding a small island, they bring out captives Tim Nolan, (George Stults) Gwen Russo, (Dawn Olivieri) Ronnie Kaplan, (Texas Battle) and Bob Crick, (James Wlcek) who have all been involved in inflicting personal tragedies with the gang in the past and are now using the island as a place to hunt them down as revenge for those crimes. While running from the hunters, they manage to stumble upon Dr. Valerie Cammon, (Polly Shannon) the lone survivor of an archaeological expedition surveying the island who claims a huge, multi-headed snake known as a Hydra is stalking the island and killing them one-by-one. Unsure of how to defeat the creature, they try to find a way to kill it before being taken out by the hunting party after them as well.
The Good News: This was a pleasantly surprising and quite enjoyable creature feature. One of the best features is that the creature's look here is absolutely great. This is an imposing force, as it's a multi-headed snake that has huge, ferocious-looking jaws that are lined with gigantic teeth in each head, which makes it deadly enough on it's own before the other factors are considered. With the head-chopping bringing in more good stuff, as it allows the creature to spawn more heads with each swiped one, there's a never-ending amount of heads that can come, each one with those features coming along, and along with it's size there's a lot to like about the creature. It also has one of the more unique stories for these kinds of films, with the captured people being used for a hunting party by those who have been burned by them in the past, and now have a chance at retribution being quite a novel idea and offering up plenty of good stuff. The first is that it's unique and hasn't been done before, as the motives are well-reasoned and logical, only just in that it's the villains which are given that opportunity to do this, which is new and not really done that often which makes it that way from the start, but that also allows for some fun to be had later on at the island during the actual hunting. From some nifty traps being set-up to a lot of action scenes coming from them being chased, this here is a fun start to the film and allows for a lot of fun to be had. The rest of the action scenes, which are mostly encounters with the creature, are a lot of fun. The first encounters, where the lone crew-members stumble upon it are a lot of fun, and the hunter's attacks are just as good. The ambush in the cave is also well-done here, offering enough fun to be concealed in a small, enclosed location that it's held in and comes off rather well. The finale, held on the ship, is just as good with the creature rampaging through the different corridors and using the surroundings well, making for a good time. Even the official conclusion to this one works well and it's a rather fun time overall. The last big plus is the film's blood and gore, which is quite nice. It's quite gory, as there's a multitude of bodies being bitten open with vicious abandon and letting the blood splatter everywhere, a couple limbs are torn off, bites to the chest, face and the head, being ripped in half at the waist, a wooden spear impaled through the leg and another is swallowed whole, among other kills. These here make this one quite bloody, and are overall the film's good points.
The Bad News: There wasn't a whole lot of flaws to this one. One of the film's only flaws is that the Hydra's origins aren't given at all. The creature is a complete mystery as to where it came from or even what it is, and nothing at all is explained about it. There's nothing about how it can regenerate it's heads or even why the sword is needed to kill it and how it works against the creature. All that's said about it comes from myths and that they worked then, but even that is just a couple of lines here and there about it and not much else, which is quite disappointing and not really all that useful. The only other big flaw here is the usual Sci-Fi Channel original standard, the atrocious and utterly unconvincing CGI used for the creature. Not only does the size change for the creature based on the shot required, but the pixilated nature of skin is given away quite constantly. It's not in the slightest bit good looking, makes the film look much cheaper than it should be and not all that much good stuff comes from it. That it's also used for the blood and gore does that no favors. These are what's wrong with the film.
The Final Verdict: An incredibly enjoyable and entertaining Sci-Fi Channel original, this one definitely manages to feature enough good stuff to be worthwhile. Recommended for those who have an appreciation of these films or find it interesting, though those who aren't big on the these films should heed caution.
Rated R: Graphic Violence and some Language
**SPOILERS**
Traveling through the ocean, Vincent Camden, (Alex McArthur) takes his friends Clarence Elkins, (William Gregory Lee) Alex Williams, (Paul Rae) and Sean Trotta, (Roark Critchlow) on a cruise to a deserted island. Eventually finding a small island, they bring out captives Tim Nolan, (George Stults) Gwen Russo, (Dawn Olivieri) Ronnie Kaplan, (Texas Battle) and Bob Crick, (James Wlcek) who have all been involved in inflicting personal tragedies with the gang in the past and are now using the island as a place to hunt them down as revenge for those crimes. While running from the hunters, they manage to stumble upon Dr. Valerie Cammon, (Polly Shannon) the lone survivor of an archaeological expedition surveying the island who claims a huge, multi-headed snake known as a Hydra is stalking the island and killing them one-by-one. Unsure of how to defeat the creature, they try to find a way to kill it before being taken out by the hunting party after them as well.
The Good News: This was a pleasantly surprising and quite enjoyable creature feature. One of the best features is that the creature's look here is absolutely great. This is an imposing force, as it's a multi-headed snake that has huge, ferocious-looking jaws that are lined with gigantic teeth in each head, which makes it deadly enough on it's own before the other factors are considered. With the head-chopping bringing in more good stuff, as it allows the creature to spawn more heads with each swiped one, there's a never-ending amount of heads that can come, each one with those features coming along, and along with it's size there's a lot to like about the creature. It also has one of the more unique stories for these kinds of films, with the captured people being used for a hunting party by those who have been burned by them in the past, and now have a chance at retribution being quite a novel idea and offering up plenty of good stuff. The first is that it's unique and hasn't been done before, as the motives are well-reasoned and logical, only just in that it's the villains which are given that opportunity to do this, which is new and not really done that often which makes it that way from the start, but that also allows for some fun to be had later on at the island during the actual hunting. From some nifty traps being set-up to a lot of action scenes coming from them being chased, this here is a fun start to the film and allows for a lot of fun to be had. The rest of the action scenes, which are mostly encounters with the creature, are a lot of fun. The first encounters, where the lone crew-members stumble upon it are a lot of fun, and the hunter's attacks are just as good. The ambush in the cave is also well-done here, offering enough fun to be concealed in a small, enclosed location that it's held in and comes off rather well. The finale, held on the ship, is just as good with the creature rampaging through the different corridors and using the surroundings well, making for a good time. Even the official conclusion to this one works well and it's a rather fun time overall. The last big plus is the film's blood and gore, which is quite nice. It's quite gory, as there's a multitude of bodies being bitten open with vicious abandon and letting the blood splatter everywhere, a couple limbs are torn off, bites to the chest, face and the head, being ripped in half at the waist, a wooden spear impaled through the leg and another is swallowed whole, among other kills. These here make this one quite bloody, and are overall the film's good points.
The Bad News: There wasn't a whole lot of flaws to this one. One of the film's only flaws is that the Hydra's origins aren't given at all. The creature is a complete mystery as to where it came from or even what it is, and nothing at all is explained about it. There's nothing about how it can regenerate it's heads or even why the sword is needed to kill it and how it works against the creature. All that's said about it comes from myths and that they worked then, but even that is just a couple of lines here and there about it and not much else, which is quite disappointing and not really all that useful. The only other big flaw here is the usual Sci-Fi Channel original standard, the atrocious and utterly unconvincing CGI used for the creature. Not only does the size change for the creature based on the shot required, but the pixilated nature of skin is given away quite constantly. It's not in the slightest bit good looking, makes the film look much cheaper than it should be and not all that much good stuff comes from it. That it's also used for the blood and gore does that no favors. These are what's wrong with the film.
The Final Verdict: An incredibly enjoyable and entertaining Sci-Fi Channel original, this one definitely manages to feature enough good stuff to be worthwhile. Recommended for those who have an appreciation of these films or find it interesting, though those who aren't big on the these films should heed caution.
Rated R: Graphic Violence and some Language