a very very pleasant surprise

cujo2

Having followed the progression of this movie for months after finding out it came through upcoming horror movies.com I finally had the chance to see it yesterday.

Coming from the old creature features of the 80's the current torture porn movement in horror movies that basically consist out of the many ways you can carve up a human being as unpleasantly as possible cant really make me very happy. So finding a creature feature or even a movie made with attention and a lot of love for the material is becoming more and more special. Unfortunately most of the creature features are movies like lake placid 2 or even worse but sometimes a movie pops out which is really well made. And this is such a movie.

It is clear that the director made the best of what he could with the budget available ( somewhere around 4 or 5 million) and what he came up with was an organism which grows exponential and cant be stopped. By using this enemy clever ( meaning not showing it too much, especially its CGI origins) the story unfolds in a much bigger way than your typical deserted location. Especially the beginning which reminds the entering of the marines in Aliens2 of the hive is very good. the promise made in those first scenes is kept up all the way to the end where there is a tad too much CGI ( which shows the budget restrains). It all boils down to a satisfying finale. The only scene that is a bit strange is when the female lead - while losing her husband hours before - has a special rub down scene with the male lead that feels off base somehow,and I am not talking why the scene takes place but the way it is executed. speaking of that female lead, she doesn't put in the strongest of performances but that is the only downside I can see. Small errors in the story aside it is all very well made with smart choices( using satellite imagery to depict the main battle gives it the right "it cant be stopped"feeling we all like in these end of the world movies. Just expect a well paced "end of the world" movie which is made with love on a modest budget.

Very recommended title and for me personally well worth the wait. Would be nice to see what this director can do with more budget.

score 9/10

cujo2 26 February 2008

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1827354/