Thanks to overkill on the part of filmmakers using CGI, the old “man in a rubber suit” monster flicks are few are far between.  All is not lost however: welcome to "Creature," a 2011 low budget production that boasts a near cameo role for Sig Haig in one of his day shoots as Chopper, a weird shop keeper who... whoa, hang on, getting ahead of myself here.

First things first, have you ever heard the legend of Lockjaw?  Nope, not the dumb CGI snake which mainstream rapper DMX hunted back in 2008, Lockjaw is a creepy legend told around the swamps of Louisiana in this movie.

The legend tells of Grimley Boutine, a greasy haired skinny bloke (Daniel Bernhardt - also Silo in the "Mortal Combat: Conquest" series) who lived in a swamp shack with his sister Caroline.  Their family was a tree of incest and loneliness, so because they were the last of their bloodline, naturally she was carrying his child.  One day however right in front of his eyes, Caroline was dragged off by a huge alligator.  Grimley took to the swamps and hunted for her, seeking her in caves under the water until he arrived too late.  In rage he tore into the alligator and killed it.

Driven insane he spent days and nights in the cave eating the flesh of the corpses stored there and also the dead alligator.  Legend has it he became half man half 'gator and hunts in the swamps for more flesh -- and also a female to carry on his family line.

Is it all a simple tourist trap?  Or do the stories hold some truth?  The beginning scene has a full frontal nude woman bathing only to be dragged under the surface by something or someone.

Time to meet the disposable teens in a car who are out for some fun.  We have a joker, a princess, a virginal girl, a jock (well, he's an ex Navy Seal) and a black guy.  Why can't these films have two or three black characters?  Why one?  At least Wrong Turn 4's black character was a lesbian which added a little originality.  Weirdly enough none of these teens smoke weed.  I thought that was a modern staple in teen horrors nowadays.

Oscar (Dillon Casey) is the irritating joker and even after being humbled by spider bites (he's called Spider Baby by one of his friends -- ho ho ho) and scared by birds as the film goes on, he's still a rash under your skin type of character.  He's the one who wants to find the house that Grimley built after they've visited a store and met the locals.  The store is a shrine to Lockjaw, with posters, etcetera, all tourist trap bits and pieces.  Chopper and his friends are a kind of edgy friendly sort of folk just like all swamp folk are portrayed in horror flicks.  Off the teens go, Chopper says, “I think we're gonna be okay, boys.”

The way Sid Haig and his friends act maybe make you think it's going to be a Scooby Doo climax and a rubber head is to be pulled off by meddling kids.  Well, it's not a spoiler if I say that Lockjaw is real enough, and another thing you cannot predict who will die out of the teens in this one, so that's pretty cool.

What happens from then on is that Randy, Emily, Niles, Oscar, Karen and Beth camp down.  There's sex, there's a few curious plot twists here and there, there's a local drunk called Grover (played by Pruitt Taylor Vince who appeared in two episodes of "The Walking Dead" series two as Otis) who has his hand taken clean off then falls down dead.  It's not clear whether anything else happens in this scene to him, so a severed hand can cause a fatality if applied by a hybrid of man and alligator, or maybe the editing was screwed up somewhere, or perhaps more likely we weren't watching properly because the film was dragging by then.

The film was reported as a big failure.  It was apparently shown across 1500 theatres and bombed, but as history has shown with horrors, a lot of works which are now highly regarded masterpieces in the genre bombed upon their original runs.  Unfortunately for the creators, "Creature" probably won't end up in that category.  Don't get me wrong, as truly ridiculous as the rubber suited monster is, it's refreshing to see it.  The effects are okay for the budget since the effects man has also worked on huge blockbusters such as "The Amazing Spiderman," "Avengers Assemble," "Battleship," "Total Recall" (the original one) "Robocop 2" & "3" and "Hansel & Gretel: Witchhunters" in various roles, and the acting isn't bad -- everyone plays their parts well enough.  So what's wrong?  It's boring in so many parts and tries way too hard with its silly twists and turns.  The teens are raw uncut pains in the necks made flesh with legs, no one is in the least bit interesting in the group.  Well, the same can be said for a zillion teens in peril clones, but if that's the case, most of the other films try to be inventive in their delivery of murders.  Lockjaw is just a stupid looking bloke who kills fast and does nothing else.

Sid Haig is sleepwalking through this one; he is Professor Curien from "House of the Dead 2," he is Gerald Tovar in "NOTLD 3D."  He certainly isn't Captain Spaulding.  Mehcad Brooks ("True Blood") who plays the one black man in the film, Niles, is the only personality in the group which, as stated before, isn't saying much.  Level headed and sensible.  However, even he can't salvage the script which incidentally is written by first time director and writer Fred Andrews, along with Tracy Morse who has no excuse since he's written and directed a good few underground movies.

"Creature" does its duty as a filler horror.  Don't expect much, and sit back and expect a couple of giggles.  It is a modern day grindhouse that isn't trying to be grindhouse, if that makes sense?  It is a damn shame because there was once an art to monster-on-the-loose films and as much as we appreciated the effort put into making an old school venture, we can only wonder what may have happened with a good writer.  Either way, regardless of the script and the dull feel to the direction, it gets points from me (but not my Horror Soulmate who loathed its existence) for having some heart somewhere.

The special features on the UK DVD courtesy of Revolver are simply three behind the scene featurettes, the best being “Making The Monster” of course.

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 DVD SPECS:
 Aspect Ratio: 1.71:1 16:9
 Region: PAL R2
 Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1

 SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL:
 - Behind-the-scenes featurettes: Making The Monster, On The Bayou, The Filmmakers