Review: Blood Monkey

 Overall Stars: ** - Scare Factor: **

What's funny about Blood Monkey is not only the title of the film, but the fact that it was put together like a Sci-Fi original movie. However Blood Monkey has still not been shown on the channel that usually does show many of the film released by RHI Entertainment.  For some reason though it yet to be seen as a Saturday night original film.

Six students have arrived in Africa to study apes with the r Professor Hamilton ( F. Murray Abraham, Thir13en Ghosts), only to discover Hamilton’s has a plan far different from what they expect.. He wants to seek out the myth of a  tribe of killer chimpanzees living in the jungles. If he can find these creatures; it would make him part of history and not to mention very wealthy.. After traveling to the remote part of the jungle and setting up camp, the students soon realize that this monkey is a force to be reckoned with. They all want to leave, But Hamilton has plans for them that will help him in his quest to document the creature.  Now, in order to survive the students must come up with a plan of action and fight their way out of the jungle to safety.

   I was pleasantly surprised that the script was actually not half bad. Despite the very poor look and production value of the film the story is what kept me interested in watching the movie though. The dialogue is not that great, and their is a lack of character development.  But the overall plot was paced very well and I was able to get into the film right from the get go.

   Besides Academy Award winning actor F. Murray Abraham being in this film, I really cant' say the acting in the movie was anything special.  Sure, the performances of each actor in the film was alright, but they were nothing to go crazy over. I would say that it's better acting then you see in your normal B-movie, but nothing worth remembering. There were a few scene where some of the actors delivered some very corny dialogue and it seemed as if they were going to laugh after delivering the lines, but hey, that's the screen writers fault, and in this film it seemed like the actors knew that some of their lines were a bit over the top.

   The point in which this film fails miserably in it's overall feel as coming off as a realistic film is in it's production value. First off the film was shot in Thailand, and they tried to pawn off the film as being shot in the African Jungles.  Granted I've never been to either country before, but I must admit that they had me fooled with jungle scenes. I'm not sure if they were on location for the majority of this film but the jungle they shot in did not look as dense as most jungles do.  Not to say that the locations were not great, it just didn't look like they were deep in the jungles of Africa. The visuals effects in the movie were terrible. The monkey looked like it was straight out of a Super Nintendo game and it ruin all believable vision I had in this film.  the make-up effects were not half bad, but it was the overall unreal use of the visuals that really ruined this film for me.

   Overall, If your really into these Sci-fi original movies, and your probably in the minority.  Then you might enjoy this film.  I will go on record as saying that it is one of the better films I've seen, even though this has yet to appear on Sci-fi it is truly a lot better than the majority of the ones that I have seen.  It does however have very poor visuals like the majority of them do.  But this one does actually have a very easy plot to follow and if your willing to watch the uncut version of this film on DVD, then the graphic make-up effects will surely please any fan who need their fix of gore when watching killer animals movies or just your regular horror film in general. Blood Monkey is actually pat of a new DVD series released by RHI Entertainment called The Maneater series so look for other titles with the Maneater label on them.

 Review: Maneater

Overall Stars: **1/2 - Scare Factor: *

Maneater, Ironically enough is the third film that is part of RHI Entertainments and Genius Products  Maneater series. The fact of the matter is that yes, this was a sci-fi pictures original movie that premiered on the Sci-fi Channel. However the fact that most of the films that have made their premiere on sci-fi channel are pretty bad, this one for the most part is actually not half bad at all.

   Maneater is about a tiger that has made it's way into a small town in the Appalachian Mountains when it escaped from an over turned truck that was transporting the tiger.  A young boy who lives in the mountains with his god fearing mother, befriends the tiger in his dreams, or so he thinks. People go missing and bodies are being discover half eaten and mutilated. Now the towns Sheriff Grady Barnes (Gary Busey) must try and track down and get rid of the tiger before more people end up dead. But this tiger is very smart and knows how to hunt. The sheriff will need more help to take down this beast, and now it's up to him, the young boy, Roy Satterly (Ty Wood) and an English hunter named Colonel Graham (Ian D. Clark) are the only ones that have any change to take out the beast. But it's a question of how they will, and will it cost them their lives.

   The script is actually not half bad. The plot is flows very well and the story is really easy to follow. It's not a very hard plot to follow and its' pretty straight forward. The character development is pretty decent and the over all dialogue is not that bad. But it does have it's issues here and there. It's noting great, but it's not half bad either. It's your typical, normal script about a killer tiger. How great is it really going to be?

   The acting is a toss up in this film. The leads in the film give pretty good performances, Gary Busy is good as Sheriff Grady Barnes and for the most part is the most interesting character in the film. Young actor Ty Wood is pretty good as the young and naive Roy Satterly, and Ian D. Clark is great as the smart and intelligent hunter Colonel Graham.  Not to name names in the supporting cast but there were a lot of horrible performances by some of the supporting cast in this film.  Not all of them were bad, but the ones that are for the most part are very noticeable.

   The production value for for this particular film is actually very good. I for one am impressed that their was not an over abundance of cheesy special effects in this film like there is in so many of these sci-fi original movies. You really can't even classify this film as a sci-fi film really, as it's more just about a killer tiger than anything else, nothing more and nothing less. Sure it has some blood and some gore here and there, but that's about it.  The majority of the shots used to show the tiger are actually those of a real tiger instead of a CGI one.

  Overall, Maneater is not that bad of a movie, but it's nothing great either. It's a really easy film to follow as the plot and story are very simple. It was enjoyable for the most part and why It did have it's issues it was entertaining and thrilling. It's a film that I would probably sit down on a Saturday night and catch on the Sci-fi channel if they ever repeat it and nothing else was on television. It's also a horror based film that might be suitable for younger viewers to watch as it's not an over the top scary film, but it has an easy enough plot that an eight year old will know what's going on. Overall it's a film that is probably worth picking up if you enjoy killer tiger films. Nothing more and nothing less.

   Review: Into The Spiders Web.

Overall Stars: **   -  Scare Factor: **

 In the Spider's Web is another title that is part of  RHI Entertainment's Maneater DVD series and unlike Blood Monkey; In the Spider's Web was actually a Saturday night Sci-fi channel original movie. The film was also shot on location in Thailand just like Blood Monkey was and one can only wonder if they were both shot on the same set or location.

    One can look at this film as kind of an unofficial prequel of sorts to Arachnophobia.  Lets just say it's more or less a story if the spider didn't leave the jungle and end up in suburbia.  The film follows a team of backpackers who set out to hike though and explore the jungles of India.  When one of them is bit by a poisonous spider and dies; the group is forced to get help from a local scientist named Dr. Lecorpus (Lance Henriksen, Aliens). However, the village in which the good doctor is living in has a group of people who practice bizarre rituals which include the spiders of the jungles. Now it's just a matter of time before each member of the group becomes an victim to these rituals.

    Believe it or not the script was promising, it had this kind of weird and bizarre story going, and the pacing of the story worked very well. The dialogue was a bit choppy here and there, but it gave the movie the "B" feel it needed to get over as another low rate monster film. Overall it's not a bad script but nothing perfect either. It had it's up and downs but for the most part held it's own.

    The film's directing and acting pretty much go hand in hand. While you can never really rate a B-movie acting as being the best acting in the world, I will give credit to the cast for doing a decent job with the script. So of the line and deliveries of them came out a bit off and resulted in a shake of the head and a moan from myself, but hey what am I supposed to expect from a low budget film such as this. Lance Henriksen of course was good in his role, but something tells me this was just another pay  check for him. Movies like this never really result in the best of everything, and the acting is one place where this film had it's up and downs.

   Surprisingly this film's production was a lot better than most Sci-fi original films. While the CGI and visuals still looked fake,  they were not as bad as they were in the majority of the films Sci-fi channel has produced. The spiders actually really didn't look half bad.  The locations and sets were pretty cool looking but I did feel that some of the make-up and costumes looked a bit out of place. I also felt that the sets themselves were a bit under dressed.  The film does have it's fare share of blood and some guts here and there but nothing to crazy.

   Overall, like I said in my review of the first title of RHI Entertainment's Maneater DVD series Blood Monkey, you really need to be a fan of these films to really like them. In the Spider Web was a little bit better than Blood Monkey production value wise, however I did like the story of Blood Monkey a lot more. It's a crapshoot your either a fan of films of low budget creature films or your not. Personally I'm a big fan of the classic creature features, but these film just fail in their overall realism and effects to impress me.

- Horror Bob

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