War Wolves (2009)

Hip and hairless werewolf soldiers

A group of soldiers bonded by camaraderie get cornered with heavy fire when, instead of getting killed by bullets, they get attacked by Middle Eastern werewolves. Six months later and Jake--under the assumed name of Lawrence Talbot--came back with more than the usual post-traumatic stress disorder. He's suppressing something growing inside with alcohol and living the simple life working in a grocery store and attending AA meetings for his supposed addiction. His former love interest Erika and her two feisty female companions, who were there the day of the attack, are letting the growing beast take hold by giving into impulse. Meanwhile two old timers for the military are tracking Jake but instead of taking him out before the evil gets hold they find he has something good in him and let him be for the time being. The three women and another sidekick guy named Clay, who was once Jake's friend and fellow soldier, want to recruit him. You're either a naughty wolf or a nice one and Jake has to choose which side he's on by either fighting his inner demons or easily giving in to the primal urges.

"War Wolves" starts with one too many story arcs going on at once and on top of that one too many conflicting tones. It wasn't until 40 minutes or so in that you actually know what's going on and even then it's a little shaky. It ends up being a truly simple story but begins a jumbled mess with gratuitous amounts of style, a share of characters that come and go and a back and forth of a quirky type of humor and also a dramatic seriousness all at once. There's nothing wrong with a little mystery, subtlety, personable characters or some diverting fun, but this moves so far ahead of the audience as to leave a smoke trail behind. It tends to jump between scenes and situations that are completely different from the last every five to ten minutes. Some are constructed and built up for a specific segment but between them it feels all over the place. For instance, Jake gets confronted by a loosely mentioned assassin at an out of reach hotel only for the three were-babes to pop out of nowhere and take him with them--next scene has Jake in an alleyway in the city and a fight breaks out between him and the other male werewolf. Care for some continuity? It feels like a series that was edited down for a long preview and on top of that written backwards, so by the time it's coming to its close it will only start to make sense but be a headache before that.

This has a share of personality but it also had the focus and temperament of an ADHD child who was cooped up prior only to be unleashed on a sugar rush that Willy Wonka would be astonished at. The music feels like a public juke box the way a new song will come right after a completely different sounding one prior. If this is a horror movie, then the genre feels dead last to the other genres. The tone is more hip and trendy and intentionally comical than scary. They have tendency to make up their own rules of the werewolf--albeit it's mostly show while little is explained. Such as why there were werewolves in the Middle East and why they didn't just kill the soldiers with their superpowers? No full moon is needed, they can transform at whim and during the day--not to mention they don't grow any additional hair. Half the time they're using guns and mixed martial arts than fighting like beasts. What was the point of growing nails or large teeth? At one point, the creature "make-up" looks like the lion from "The Wizard of Oz" with a painted nose except without trying to be funny about it.

What makes this film a disappointment is there's some potential from the filmmakers. Some of the specific segments momentarily worked but not always in the grand scheme of things. They probably should have made a straight comedy as some of the timing and one liners were on point between the two old soldiers--John Saxon and Tim Thomerson (not believable as fighters though)--and also the odd people at the AA meeting who might have more issues than their past addiction. This has a lot of crafty dialogue that intertwines its words, with some of the characters being able to pull that off while others feel like they're reading something far too prewritten than coming out naturally. Especially when someone doesn't even get a word in while someone else goes on and on...

Rating: 3.5/10

Director: Michael Worth (Killing Cupid, God's Ears)
Stars: Michael Worth, John Saxon, Tim Thomerson, Natasha Alam, Adrienne Barbeau
Link: IMDB

Sand Serpents (2009)

More monstrosities unleashed from man's ambitions

A group of soldiers in a remote area of Afghanistan are checking the viability of a mine when they get ambushed and captured by the Taliban who want to either ransom or execute them. The soldiers are blindfolded inside when suddenly screams and a roar are heard outside and their captors vanish without a trace. They scramble up supplies and head back to their pick up spot to wait it out, when their rescue helicopter gets taken out by a large worm-like monstrosity from beneath the sand. They team up with a friendly local and his daughter to figure out a way to either get to the nearest village or make a call for help, all the while dodging the Taliban, not to mention avoiding getting eaten alive by the huge "Sand Serpents" that got awakened from man tampering below to excavate resources.


This is a basic movie that doesn't feel like anything new to go out of one's way to check out. There aren't enough stand out moments to make this exceptional. If seen in passing as a time killer on TV, you can still depend on it as it moves along painlessly with a recognizable formula with the usual opposing human sides vs something monstrous in the middle. The humorless experience isn't exactly enlightening or impactful, nor is it incredibly charging to make up for that. Why the sand worms all of sudden arrived is mentioned but how they've survived this long is a puzzle better left unsolved since it will show another of its limitations. They show up when they hear vibrations like in "Tremors" and then pop out of the sand to consume someone whole. The first few times it's a sight to behold due to their looming size and ferocity but after a while you can count on them to do the same routine. Not to mention the monsters seem to come and go at their leisure: some points right on top, then at others giving a breather, which so happens to coincide with a dialogue scene. Despite not having eyes, they also know who is a leading star and who isn't the way they'll go right for someone insignificant but then give pause just after heatedly chasing a main character by conveniently leaving themselves wide open for a counter attack. The film reveals too many areas of its blue prints only to end up losing its sense of awe and wonderment.


Instead of the music making this more energetic, it seems somewhat low in volume and on top of that comes with some generic library tunes. The CGI effects are passable for a made for TV Syfy feature in quicker and longer shots with some smooth motion and added detail to their structure, even if they still can't shake that video game-like look. To its credit "Sand Serpents" had a steady pacing that doesn't stall or look back. It's an easy no brainer of a film that's somewhat dialogue heavy by doing a share of the thinking between action scenes about what to do next. There are far too many epileptic-like shaky camera shots that make it disorienting. A share of the shoot outs are of the stand still and fire kind, than moving about to make themselves less easy of targets. The acting feels like a means to an end. It's fair if not exceptional or commanding. The most memorable character, Private Andrews, happens to be the most annoying one with a negative opinion on every little movement and subject. There are moments that make them out to be soldiers whether it be dreaming about back home, complaining about headquarters or actually protecting and serving, though they still carry that glimmer of being comfortable actors on a set.

There's a small amount of subtext with trust and distrust of different sides: Afghans trusting Americans in their country, Americans trusting that some of the Afghans aren't terrorists. But for the meantime, both sides have something else on their hands that's larger than human turf wars. Fortunately the film mainly keeps it on an action movie level than a neck deep political one.

Rating: 4/10

Director: Jeff Renfroe (One Point O, Civic Duty)
Link: IMDB

High Plains Invaders (2009)

A group of unlikely citizens fight aliens in the west

It's 1892 in a little mining town called Avaranth in Colorado. Sam Danville is going to be hanged for various crimes ranging from train robbery to murder when suddenly a spider looking alien attacks the town. It's up to Sam, the shopkeeper, a female bounty hunter, a nurse, an outlaw, a scientist and the Sheriff to fend them off till they can get away, die trying or save the day.

This begins like a "Night of the Living Dead" setup where they get holed up in the Sheriff's headquarters, only to periodically come out when finding a different way to kill one. The situation is looking hopeless as every time a bug is taken out another pops right back in its place like a weed. To make matters worse, a woman is injured inside and the loud mouthed bounty hunter named Rose postures and all the while threatens Sam that she's going to collect on his reward dead or alive. The nurse and Sam are attempting to rekindle their relationship that went sour from something that happened with his criminal history. With the exception of the bounty hunter and the opportunist outlaw that was formerly Sam's friend, the rest attempt to use the situation for redemption and turn into self-sacrificing heroes no matter the cost to save humanity from space invaders who are drawn there for a specific reason.



This is derivative but to its benefit "High Plains Invaders" is short and also painless in that the main characters don't make very many stupid moves, in part to how simple it's kept instead of going well beyond its means like many Sci Fi Channel/Syfy made-for-TV movies have done in the past. The majority of the film is a pretty straightforward from-one-thing-to-the-next type with a little down time to somewhat personalize the characters in between random attacks. The performances are passable, nothing that you haven't seen before with people trying to survive from something attacking them, albeit kept a little more realistic than over-the-top cinematic. The tone at points rides a fine line between trying to be humorous and serious, but usually more of the latter. Their western accents come and go per scene and occasionally come off as a caricature but the simplistic dialogue is still said with some meaning.


"High Plains Invaders" is catered to the neck deep genre addicts who are given a little taste of a gimmick when two genres are combined. If you separated both portions, then this would be left standing with two below average movies, with the final result itself hitting around middle road. The look of the western times comes with some harsher color templates such as grays and browns to make it feel more authentic than characters standing around on a pristine movie set. Science fiction fans have seen what invasions can do in the modern day with countless movies on the subject. But if anything, how the west is utilized here seems to limit the level of intensity and big action scenes as the resources were less than spectacular compared to modern weaponry such as tanks and aircraft. It makes the events seem somewhat basic: run, hide, shoot, plan, fight over what to do. Sure it's not going to be "Wild Wild West" or even "Independence Day" due to restrained budget reasons, but they don't always take advantage of what they have and get as innovative as one would like to make up for the fact. Even their shoot outs are fairly uneventful the way bullets bounce off the large bug creatures' hard backs like it was nothing. Though the projectiles the creatures themselves shoot come with some gaping wounds from being quicker on the draw than their western counterparts. Comparing then and now, it goes to show that humans haven't changed all that much even when aliens enter the picture. Some are good, some look bad but are really good, and some are just plain ugly despite looking good.

Rating: 4.5/10

Director: Kristoffer Tabori (Pursued, The Accidental Witness, Fireball)
Stars: James Marsters, Cindy Sampson, Sanny Van Heteren, Sebastian Knapp
Link: IMDB

Wyvern (2009)

Turning up the heat in Alaska

A large creature awakens from its slumber in a glacier after temperatures warm near a northern Alaskan town called Beaver Mills with a population just over 300...and slowly dwindling. After a serious of deadly accidents in the woods the Chief of police holds a town meeting to report that a predatory "something" was seen flying through the air to everyone's disbelief and annoyance that the town's festival is threatening to be canceled as a result. Speculation is in the air and nothing's set in stone just yet until that something makes a surprise appearance in the open at the worst time when everyone's exposed. It's called a "Wyvern": a dragon from Nordic legend that feasts on a bottomless pit of men's flesh.

The story is somewhat loose after the creature appears and makes everyone scramble in a panic from not knowing what to do till more of a game plan is implemented from learning its weaknesses. They wing it, so a few coincidences come up but these are made out to be real people instead of instinctively combative or over-the-top cinematic by doing complex and impossible maneuvers. Communications are out, escape routes are blocked and for a share of the film they're desperately held up in the diner in the center of town hoping to outsmart an age old beast that only knows how to do one thing: kill. The creature has a one track mind but still keeps it a challenging sport the way it manages to pick off people by hiding and lunging out or adapting the way it hunts.



The atmosphere is somewhat light with its thrills and kept fun than overly serious or nail bitting tension filled. People are killed and the reaction is: "Do that again! But next time bloodier!" Though once the group gets narrowed down to a select few, this reveals some quirky characters and light hearted situations to personalize them. Nick Chinlund, who plays Jake the former truck driver/main hero, managed to pull out an effectively moving scene amongst the playfulness and carnage about his past and what it means for him to stay in the small town. Erin Karpluk, as Claire the waitress, is the second lead with an eye for Jake and an easy going but tough attitude when it calls for it. To its benefit, the filmmakers managed to put together a cast that an audience doesn't mind becoming familiar with for the entire duration. There's the perverted female deputy, radio DJ, old redneck with tales of legends, war veteran who likes his guns, batty old lady who imagines people and others that come and go. The performances are mostly spot on, with a few hiccups here and there, though they still manage to take the movie with measure despite the premise being somewhat outlandish.


"Wyvern" is an easy made-for-TV movie that uses a template that's been done before and knows its plot is ridiculous. Yet they don't even try and hide that fact by taking it too somberly to the point of stepping over its worth or making it overly dramatic. It's still a sincere delivery that's enough to maintain a steady pacing and some charging power that one can get engaged in for a simple bored afternoon diversion where monsters are terrorizing poor, unsuspecting souls and you're sitting comfortably in your living room with a bowl of popcorn.

Rating: 6.5/10

Director: Steven R. Monroe (House of 9, It Waits, Left in Darkness)
Stars: Nick Chinlund, Erin Karpluk, Don S. Davis, Tinsel Korey, Barry Corbin
Link: IMDB

Rise of the Gargoyles (2009)

You thought stealing from a leprechaun was bad

In Paris, a young professor and failed author named Jack Randall goes to an old church at the recommendation of a friend named Carol to check out the architecture before it's to be torn down. They sneak in at night and spot some strange anomalies that are far more ancient than expected. They're chased out by something in the shadows--that was just awakened by two greedy construction workers prior--but not before Carol innocently takes some souvenirs. Out to eat, a person is dropped from above on their car. Then later that night Carol is killed with Jack being the primary suspect with flying creatures from the church out of the question to the skeptical inspector looking into the strange case. As more bodies start to pile up Jack gets the attention of a sensationalist reporter with video evidence and they--including her cameraman and the steadfast priest of the church--make an attempt to put a stop to the creature since no one else believes them.

"Rise of the Gargoyles" feels like the porno of horror films, of course, without the nudity but the rushed feeling and that everything is thrown together to get right to the meat of it (no pun intended) and move on. The film doesn't feel very measured out: awkwardly misaligned camera angles, inconsistent sound, over lit settings, stock music. It's as if they didn't even story board some shots and just winged it half of the time. The physical effects are shoddy and thrown together to say the least. This had two blatant dummy looking bodies limply thrown after they were killed in the beginning. If you've ever seen old episodes of "Married with Children" and how people's stand ins were chucked for comic effect, then this might come with unintentional laughs than incurring any shred of shock value. The revelations of where this is leading about a dangerous creature quickly gaining strength to threaten humans isn't anything new that hasn't been seen before. That might be fine but on top of that the driving point of doing what's right to save the day despite being accused and not treated fairly by others also felt tired and formulaic from being slapped together. A share of it feels lazy and half-hearted: what was the point?

With the exception of Ifan Huw Dafydd playing the inspector--who went well over the mark, as he must have thought he was going to be in the next "Pink Panther" with his over-the-top accent--I feel bad for the performers since a share of the faults were done behind the camera and in the story. They actually try and attempt to inject some personality into it but it's nowhere near enough to save the entirety. This was a weak attempt and I can't say to waste time with it when there's plenty of "Gargoyles" the animated series episodes to mine through, even if it's a repeat.

Rating: 2/10

Director: Bill Corcoran (21 Jump Street, Mutant X, Falcoln Beach)
Stars: Eric Balfour, Caroline Neron, Tanya Clarke, Ifan Huw Dafydd
Link: IMDB

Carny (2009)

A beast as savage as its prey

What makes this made for TV Canadian film shown on the Sci-Fi (now SyFy) Channel--I know, I know "Canadian"--a cut above the usual creature-running-amuck type of B movie is it takes itself somewhat seriously, it lifts part of the screen away when people actually die and there are a few different themes going on at once to give it some meaning. The film carries the usual hit and miss CGI, though it doesn't look entirely thrown together and there are some actual grisly prosthetic gore effects when the immaterial attacks the material. It rushes into a few of its scenarios--especially how it opens up--but the saving grace of "Carny" is it doesn't entirely feel cheap overall.

A carnival hits a small, crime free town called Reliance with a new oddity up its sleeve that's going to be more outrageous and far more dangerous than the usual human deformity. That's because it's not a human at all: a shady and eccentric showman named Cap gets ahold of the Jersey Devil with curious spectators lining up but to the by-the-book Sheriff's unease. The local pastor goes about his usual ramblings, but this time at least he can say "I told you so" when the winged beast escapes to the nearby woods and attacks and kills unsuspecting locals till a full blown creature hunt with every available gun is assembled. If there's ambition with this carnival then it sheds rivers of red and sees through green eyes since Cap and his even shadier assistant are playing along but are currently trying every which way they can to reacquire it for a buyer willing to pay a pretty penny.

Some of the performances are better than others. Matt Murray, as the pastor's son Taylor, plays the tough and rebellious but scared on the inside persona like a caricature. Vlasta Vrana, as the hypocritical pastor, seems to start out somewhat innocently but escalate to someone far more threatening when people actually listen to his incessant ramblings. As the Sheriff Lou Diamond Phillips manages to act naturally but isn't always given opportunity to play a charismatic leading man with so many others gaining side parts around him. Simone-Elise Girard, as Samara the vision seeker and potential love interest, represents someone as a character but is somewhat stiff in her delivery and tone. Alan C. Peterson, as Cap the showman, keeps up both appearances with the shady dealings behind the scenes and not letting himself being found out in the front.

If one can get over there being no build up to acquiring the Jersey Devil and that there was only minimal effort made with explaining how or why it actually exists then this was a somewhat diverting experience. There are some inconsistencies here and there but the pacing is somewhat steady and moves from one thing to next to cover up a few. The film deals with some indifference and how a situation can escalate out of control with the creature as well as the town's folk against their own kind. There's a sense that every other person wants to control the next, anywhere from the pastor's son not being treated as an individual to the assistant of Cap being pushed around despite having capability. It makes you wonder who is more the villain or darker in nature: the Jersey Devil or the thought to be normal citizens with facades. The deaths are actually treated like who was killed was a person. A share come as a surprise as to who gets it next as the filmmakers aren't afraid to kill off their leads, even when there was a scene with drama to establish who they were prior. Not to mention who saves the day gets shifted around with all of the different people who could have done it, which keeps predictability down and anticipation up.

"Carny" is more bleak than it is fun at points and more of the scary moments come from how the humans treat each other than how the beast mindlessly torments them. The Jersey Devil is still kept somewhat obscured at times, that way to conceal where it's going to come flying or creeping in from next. Likely to happen? No. But it goes to show that the deformed and odd looking carnies on the outside are the only ones that don't act monstrous on the inside when they aren't performing.

Rating: 7/10

Director: Sheldon Wilson (Shallow Ground, Kaw, Screamers: The Hunting)
Stars: Lou Diamond Phillips, Alan C. Peterson, Vlasta Vrana, Simone-Elise Girard, Matt Murray
Link: IMDB

Scream of the Banshee (2011)

This chick can scream...but who'd date her?

This is a story that mixes Irish folklore with Templar knights that have locked away a secret for hundreds of years till it's accidentally unleashed in the modern day. It starts with more mystery and drama and then moves over to some more scares. The events unfold like a from-one-thing-to-the-next type of story mixed with amateur detective work since no one will believe such a fantastic tale anyhow but the few that seen it with their own bulging eyes.

In 12th century Ireland, knights are chasing a woman on horseback through the woods. A fight breaks out with some supernatural abilities shown and the victor, being the last man standing, decapitates the woman and encloses her head in a specially designed metallic box. Present day: an archeology professor is archiving historical artifacts when she receives an anonymous package with a gauntlet inside and a small map that hints at an additional item at the college campus she works at. She gives the task to her daughter and a false room is stumbled into with a medium sized crate that has Duncan written on the side. Inside is a metallic box that's opened by the gauntlet from earlier. It reveals a grotesque severed head with monstrous teeth. One of them disturbs it, causing the head to scream with such force that their ears bleed, only to then disintegrate with no evidence to show for themselves.

They begin to get haunting visits at night and strange occurrences as if something is trying to lure them out with a trap. They stumbled into more clues with a soothsayer named Broderick Duncan who used to teach at the same school. The Internet is a key player in their information gathering with videos from Duncan that leads them into finding out if you've heard the scream, it's essentially a death sentence. The daughter and mother are about to move around again, which causes tension to form between them and the daughter's new boyfriend. Though the romance angle between the two youngsters starts to distract from the story since it carries a contrasting tone and feels like fluff.

Some of the rules and mechanics line up a little too smoothly when the monsters appear and disappear. What's strange is the Banshee seems to wait around till it's convenient to the characters and how much development the audience is shown. It makes them unpredictable in a sense, but to a fault since you're not even sure what they're driving at. Your death? It makes it sound so mundane and one-dimensional when you have some rules for where they came from but not a solid reason of what they're doing there. The characters feel both totally safe to then completely in danger but without a balance in between to maintain the tension since there aren't very many rules in place to stop the Banshee and make this an engaging cat and mouse type of game on both sides. A share of the scares are extreme closeups and deafening sound effects with some strobes and unexpected events to catch you by surprise--to it's credit there's a reason for it. It's a good thing too as the flashing lights somewhat cover up some of the shoddy, thrown-together prosthetics and dated CGI work with good ol' smoke and mirrors.

"Scream of the Banshee" starts out on a high point with an intriguing premise with its own legend and rules, plus the way it was stumbled into makes it somewhat possible on suspending your disbelief. "Dead Silence" had some similar rules to its villain though both are completely different movies. This film only goes down hill from there as it begins to feel rushed to the point of nearly falling flat on its face and the audience thinking where did the picture go? The middle half starts to feel somewhat formulaic and not helped by the obvious editing trick that signals commercial breaks in between since it was also shown on the SyFy channel as a made of TV movie. The ending is a complete mess to the point where I'd have to have the patience of Dali Lama and another three paragraphs to break down the inconsistencies. Some of the dialogue at this point comes across as forced in that it doesn't always feel catered to that specific person playing the role. Some of it feels unauthentic enough to have been read just prior in a script. The motivations start to become nonsensical, anticlimactic and like padding to the run time, not to mention some of its prior story arcs were dropped and never picked back up. There's a decent movie in there somewhere, just whatever power above must have treated it like a stepping stone and had their attention/commitment elsewhere. The optimistic person in me can't get over how the movie can't hold up to such a cool title.

Rating: 2.5/10

From Black to Red recommends instead: "Dead Silence": Your scream is your death. So getting scared from pop outs and looming shadows is an integral part of the story that's also filled with atmosphere, engaging and memorable scenarios till the credits are rolling.

Director: Steven C. Miller (Automaton Transfusion)
Stars: Lauren Holly, Marcelle Baer, Leanne Cochran, Todd Haberkorn, Lance Henriksen
Link: IMDB