Starring Lim Youwei, Hong Siyang, Wang Tingwen, He Jiangfeng and Gao Shaowei. Written by Wu Weijuan and Zhu Zifa. Directed by Zhang Wei for New Studios Pictures/Shandong Harmony Pictures/Anhui Mengyu Pictures.

Single parent Gu Zhiyuan (Youwei) does low-paid dock work after leaving a life of crime, doing his best to raise his daughter Linglong (Tingwen). When a rampaging river monster comes ashore, causes havoc in the city of Tianjin, then abducts Linglong by snagging her with its tail (in a very similar way to what happens in the 2006 South Korean monster film THE HOST), Zhiyuan sets out to save his daughter.

Aided by his journalist sister-in-law Xiaowei (Siyang) and a couple of his friends, Zhiyuan discovers that Wu Xun, a senior doctor at the local children’s hospital, is the man responsible for creating the beast during experiments aimed, so he claims, at saving ill children’s lives. Wu says that he will help them capture the creature, which is using the extensive sewer systems below the city as its lair…

Lots of action takes place within the labyrinthine sewers, as Zhiyuen, armed with a trident, slashes the creature and leads the enraged beast into a trap, where it is ensnared in a chain net. But Zhiyuan is immediately betrayed by Wu, who is in league with local mob kingpin Master Kun. Wu doesn’t want the beast to be killed, which causes a rift with Master Kun, leading to a shootout in the sewers, enabling the creature to escape.

After some melodramatics following the death of his best pal, Zhiyuen is arrested on false charges by the Tianjin cops, but Xiaowei persuades the inept head policeman, Sheriff Hu, to let Zhiyuen walk free and hunt for the beast with his officers.

Zhiyuen and one of his buddies capture the creature in the sewers once more but, yet again, Wu intervenes, threatening to shoot the recently-saved Linglong if his beloved beast is hurt. The villainous Wu, you’ll be glad to find out, does meet a fitting, fiery end, though the monster still roams free. It chases Zhiyuen and Linglong to the nearby river landing, where a cops-vs-beast face-off occurs and grappling hooks are deployed to little effect, leaving it up to Zhiyuan to deal with the beast by ramming an explosive package beneath the critter’s skin with his trident, resulting in a downbeat ending as the hero sacrifices his life to take down the monster. Post-credits, however, we are shown Zhiyuan enjoying a meal with Linglong and Xiaowei, so he obviously did survive.

The monster in this direct-to-streaming movie, set during the Republic of China period, is a dark-skinned, toothy-faced, quadrupedal, long-tailed amphibious creature with a small-ish neural spine sail. The critter comes across as an amalgamation of the thing from THE HOST with a body structure akin to a Ray Harryhausen stop-motion creation, although the overall look has an alien creature vibe to it too. Though not in the same league as THE HOST, the CGI is passable, the action is brisk, the monster has a decent amount of screen time, and there’s a final shot after the credits to set up a sequel, making this low budget flick an entertaining Chinese creature feature that’s worth checking out.