I wanted to love this movie. Really, I went into the theater hoping to be wowed. Unfortunately, a big disappointment.
The film starts out promisingly -- a woman strips nude, takes a nice dip in a lake where she is chomped by an alligator. Nice start, although in retrospect it seems added on since an alligator is not the titular creature.
We then go to a group of 6 twenty-somethings who are driving to New Orleans and, as is typical, are taking a "shortcut." There are two sets of brothers and sisters, and one of the brother/sister combos has brought along their boyfriend and girlfriend. The guys are supposedly Marines just back from overseas, which makes no sense considering later plot revelations. And as you might expect, these kids are obnoxious so we begin anxiously waiting for their demises.
And waiting is the key. For 45-50 minutes we are treated to watching these six talk and lame attempts to make us care about the relationships between the two couples (which only results in making us hate them more and start to look at our watches hoping the creature eats them soon). Of course, they stop at a gas station/local store where they meet some locals and discover a legend of a swamp creature, and they decide to go visit the house where the creature was supposedly "born." And off they go, to inevitably meet up with the Creature...
The film misfires on so many points, it's hard to detail. First, the good (and there IS some good). All the female cast members are hot and, except for Serinda Swan, show their breasts, and there is a nice plot twist in the middle that makes us think this is going to be something special. But the bad... wow.
First of all, after the opening scene, there is a total lack of graphic gore. The film is rated R, can't imagine why they were so reticent to show anything.
Next, the plot is incomprehensible. And WAY too much of it. At the end of the film, things just don't make sense. And this is a monster movie -- anything more than "Monster stalks and kills victims until only the final girl is left" had better be simple and clear.
Finally, the decision to make one of the obnoxious guys the hero was a huge miscalculation. And it's like the director has a man-crush on this guy -- first, they have a female character comment on how good looking he is. Then he becomes Rambo/Jack Bauer/Superman all rolled up into one. He is able to go somehow divine where his girlfriend is being held and go there instantly, even though he's never been in this swamp in his life. He is shot, then 5 seconds later it's like it never happened. He is stomped, crushed, pounded, and then 5 seconds later it's like it never happened. His battle with a supernatural creature that has been stalking the swamp for decades involves just punching out the creature. And then he develops some truly superhuman skills in the final battle... which happens OFF CAMERA!!!
It was especially depressing since one of the hot women was there, too, and would have made a great "final girl."
The film starts out promisingly -- a woman strips nude, takes a nice dip in a lake where she is chomped by an alligator. Nice start, although in retrospect it seems added on since an alligator is not the titular creature.
We then go to a group of 6 twenty-somethings who are driving to New Orleans and, as is typical, are taking a "shortcut." There are two sets of brothers and sisters, and one of the brother/sister combos has brought along their boyfriend and girlfriend. The guys are supposedly Marines just back from overseas, which makes no sense considering later plot revelations. And as you might expect, these kids are obnoxious so we begin anxiously waiting for their demises.
And waiting is the key. For 45-50 minutes we are treated to watching these six talk and lame attempts to make us care about the relationships between the two couples (which only results in making us hate them more and start to look at our watches hoping the creature eats them soon). Of course, they stop at a gas station/local store where they meet some locals and discover a legend of a swamp creature, and they decide to go visit the house where the creature was supposedly "born." And off they go, to inevitably meet up with the Creature...
The film misfires on so many points, it's hard to detail. First, the good (and there IS some good). All the female cast members are hot and, except for Serinda Swan, show their breasts, and there is a nice plot twist in the middle that makes us think this is going to be something special. But the bad... wow.
First of all, after the opening scene, there is a total lack of graphic gore. The film is rated R, can't imagine why they were so reticent to show anything.
Next, the plot is incomprehensible. And WAY too much of it. At the end of the film, things just don't make sense. And this is a monster movie -- anything more than "Monster stalks and kills victims until only the final girl is left" had better be simple and clear.
Finally, the decision to make one of the obnoxious guys the hero was a huge miscalculation. And it's like the director has a man-crush on this guy -- first, they have a female character comment on how good looking he is. Then he becomes Rambo/Jack Bauer/Superman all rolled up into one. He is able to go somehow divine where his girlfriend is being held and go there instantly, even though he's never been in this swamp in his life. He is shot, then 5 seconds later it's like it never happened. He is stomped, crushed, pounded, and then 5 seconds later it's like it never happened. His battle with a supernatural creature that has been stalking the swamp for decades involves just punching out the creature. And then he develops some truly superhuman skills in the final battle... which happens OFF CAMERA!!!
It was especially depressing since one of the hot women was there, too, and would have made a great "final girl."