To be honest from the generic title and SyFy's usual dubious reputation, I was not expecting much from Roadkill at all. However I was pleasantly surprised. Although it is less than perfect, it is one of SyFy's better efforts. After seeing many SyFy movies made on the cheap and in an amateurish way, Roadkill for me actually looked quite good. The locations are atmospheric and look great, and the photography is mostly slick, giving it a Jeepers Creepers vibe. The effects are above average too, some do have a rushed look to them, but the Simuroc reminded me of the effects of Ray Harryhousen, something I loved as I grew up on the movies featuring his effects.
What was surprising also was the story. From the title, you'd think it would be the usual monster-of-the-week movie, which I am starting to find unoriginal and dull in all honesty, but no. While the Simuroc is adequate enough, I found the gypsy clan, a big part of the story, even more menacing. On top of this, while some may take it as a not so good thing, Roadkill is darker than the usual campy feel I see from SyFy, which I found refreshing. Some parts of the movie don't hold that many surprises, but the change in pace was admirable, and I liked the intense scenes particularly in the earlier scenes with the friction between the characters mainly.
Speaking of the characters, they actually manage to be interesting especially the leader of the gypsy clan, the characters in a lot of SyFy movies are stereotypical and underdeveloped, but while there is nothing especially new about some of the characters they do at least engage and are on screen longer than two minutes. The acting is pretty decent, again nobody amazing, but nobody awful either. The best of the cast is Ned Dennehy, who is chillingly effective as the gypsy clan leader. Roadkill does, apart from a couple of bad effects, have some problematic areas. The screenplay is the main one, not groan-inducingly bad but rather generic with some hilariously lame sex jokes and there are still moments where you have to suspend disbelief, particularly one scene where one characters smears the blood of her friend to her face.
Plus the scene towards the end where they confess to cheating on the SATs and being inappropriately touched by a cousin was pretty cringe-worthy and had me reaching for the remote. The ending is somewhat routine, but I appreciated how tense some of it was. Overall, not a great movie by all means, but compared to what it could have, it is reasonably good and watchable. 6/10 Bethany Cox
What was surprising also was the story. From the title, you'd think it would be the usual monster-of-the-week movie, which I am starting to find unoriginal and dull in all honesty, but no. While the Simuroc is adequate enough, I found the gypsy clan, a big part of the story, even more menacing. On top of this, while some may take it as a not so good thing, Roadkill is darker than the usual campy feel I see from SyFy, which I found refreshing. Some parts of the movie don't hold that many surprises, but the change in pace was admirable, and I liked the intense scenes particularly in the earlier scenes with the friction between the characters mainly.
Speaking of the characters, they actually manage to be interesting especially the leader of the gypsy clan, the characters in a lot of SyFy movies are stereotypical and underdeveloped, but while there is nothing especially new about some of the characters they do at least engage and are on screen longer than two minutes. The acting is pretty decent, again nobody amazing, but nobody awful either. The best of the cast is Ned Dennehy, who is chillingly effective as the gypsy clan leader. Roadkill does, apart from a couple of bad effects, have some problematic areas. The screenplay is the main one, not groan-inducingly bad but rather generic with some hilariously lame sex jokes and there are still moments where you have to suspend disbelief, particularly one scene where one characters smears the blood of her friend to her face.
Plus the scene towards the end where they confess to cheating on the SATs and being inappropriately touched by a cousin was pretty cringe-worthy and had me reaching for the remote. The ending is somewhat routine, but I appreciated how tense some of it was. Overall, not a great movie by all means, but compared to what it could have, it is reasonably good and watchable. 6/10 Bethany Cox