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Creature - 2011 - Revolver UK - DVD |
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Written by Jay Creepy
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Tuesday, 19 March 2013 |

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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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CLICK TO ENLARGE IMAGE














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DVD SPECS:
Aspect Ratio:
1.71:1 16:9
Region: PAL R2
Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1
SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL:
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Behind-the-scenes featurettes: Making The Monster, On The Bayou,
The Filmmakers
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 19 March 2013 )
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