Tag Archives: monster

Rawhead Rex (1986)

March 30, 2025 Ken Miller Leave a comment

Yikes! It's Rawhead Rex! — Yikes! It’s Rawhead Rex!

Starring David Dukes, Kelly Piper, Hugh O’Conor, Cora Venus Lunny, Ronan Wilmot, Niall Toibin, Niall O’Brien and Heinrich von Schellendorf. Written by Clive Barker. Directed by George Pavlou. Produced by Kevin Attew, Don Hawkins, David Collins, Al Burgess and Paul Gwynn. Alpine Pictures/Green Man Productions

There's something nasty lurking beneath this standing stone... — There’s something nasty lurking beneath this standing stone…

An American author, Howard Hallenbeck (Dukes), travels around Ireland with his family, doing research for his book focusing on the persistence of sacred sites. The Hallenbecks are staying in a small village, where Howard is checking out the local church’s intriguing stained glass panels, when an enraged, toothsome monster is released from beneath an ancient menhir.

The demonic creature depicted in the stained glass is no mere myth... — The demonic creature depicted in the stained glass is no mere myth…

This beast goes on the rampage, and one of the creature’s victims is Howard’s son, provoking the upset & angry author to seek out a way to destroy the monster, but there are those, including the church’s rector, Declan O’Brien, who regard the critter as a pagan god…

A dentist's nightmare! — A dentist’s nightmare!

RAWHEAD REX started life as a short story included in Volume Three of Clive Barker’s BOOKS OF BLOOD anthology series. The original story is set in Kent, and features a folkloric humanoid monster, a kind of raw-fleshed, ferocious personification of hyper-toxic-masculinity. This berserk, barbaric boogeyman devours innocent children and violates women, though the brutal man-beast has an aversion to pregnant females and those who are menstruating: they cause a sense of fear within the ancient, feral being. Barker wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation, but he was pretty dissatisfied with the way the movie eventually turned out, prompting him to direct the next movie version of one of his stories himself, that film being HELLRAISER (1987), based on Barker’s novella THE HELLBOUND HEART.

Artwork for the Arrow Video Blu-ray release

Okay, I can fully understand why Clive Barker felt let down by the cinematic representation of his original yarn. There was no way George Pavlou’s low budget flick was going to live up to the impactful, visceral tone and atmosphere of Barker’s source material. I really like that original story, it’s one of my favourite Barker tales. And yet…

…I believe that this film is definitely in need of reappraisal!

Maybe this sounds like I’m damning the movie with faint praise when I say that the practical effects monster on show here is better than so much of the cheap CGI dross churned out over the last couple of decades, but I do mean this as a compliment. Sure, Rawhead Rex’s scowling face doesn’t have an awful lot of different facial expressions, but it’s still damn satisfying to see an actual creature suit being used, something that is really there, really in the scenes! I love the fact this beast-man is basically a big, leather-clad humanoid monster with a huge maw full of teeth!

The special effects team had a frantic four week deadline to create the Rawhead Rex creature: a body suit, with an animatronic monster head for close-ups, brought the snarling monster to life in the movie. And, by god, it works just fine!

The film is not as transgressive as the short story, but it is enthusiastically gory, and there is a lot of fun/cool stuff to look out for, like the great shot of Rawhead standing on a hill holding aloft a severed head, his beastly breath illuminated as he exhales. And then there’s the attack on the caravan park: faces are slashed and boobs get revealed as the wild, primal creature runs amok! And let’s not forget the blasphemous baptism scene (taken from the original story), where Rawhead bathes the kneeling Declan O’Brien with its urine!

Rawhead rampages through a caravan park!

O’Brien tells his boss, Reverend Coot, that Rawhead Rex is a god, a deity that was here long before Christ: before civilisation, Rawhead was the king of this place. Later on, O’Brien utters a classic line as he forces Coot to meet the deadly Rawhead: “Get upstairs, fuckface, I can’t keep god waiting!”

The barechested, muscled Rawhead (played by Heinrich von Schellendorf) has glowing red eyes, which have the ability to overwhelm the minds of some victims (the creature doesn’t have this power in the original story). “For you!” Says a burning cop, who has become one of Rawhead’s acolytes, as he immolates his fellow officers!

Salvation is hidden within the church’s altar, in the form of a small, stone earth-goddess-style idol, which a woman must wield, leading to an optical FX-drenched showdown, as Howard’s wife Elaine (Piper) uses the idol to unleash supernatural forces to drive Rawhead back into the ground. This is a colourful, rousing fantasy-horror finale!

Honestly, I don’t believe RAWHEAD REX deserves the derision levelled at it from many critics. It is an unpretentious, cheesy-but-satisfying, 80s-tastic entertainment, a B-movie that makes sure its rampaging, rubbery, rockin’, rampant god-beast is given a lot of time on screen! And for that I respect it!

Graveyard Shark (2024)

January 31, 2025 Ken Miller Leave a comment

Stephanie Ward plays Abby the cryptid hunter

Starring Stephanie Ward, Michael John Gilbert, Berndele March, Ryan Santiago, Madisen Zabawa, Olivia Walton and Olga N. Bogdanova. Written and directed by Matthew A. Peters. Produced by Joe Cappelli, Avery Guerra, Ainslee Looman, Anthony Clark Pierce, Brandon Wheeler, Sifundo Nene and Brandon Wheeler.
Mad Angel Films

A toothy humanoid creature known as the Graveyard Shark is said to be responsible for the disappearances of various people in the backwater town of Willsboro Point. Abby Wescott (Ward), a wannabe cryptid hunter, is called in to uncover the bloody truth behind these events. Accompanied by her assistant Greg (Gilbert), Abby eventually teams-up with local oddball Captain Seyburn (March) and members of a Graveyard Shark survivors counselling group. Even though the local shades-wearing sheriff (Santiago) says that the Graveyard Shark is just some local folklore nonsense, the critter proves to be all too real when it bloodily attacks a busty, tattooed female deputy whilst she’s enjoying a sex session with her colleague near the latest crime scene! Abby and her allies finally face-off against the creature (one of the counselling group women actually gets it on with the brute!), and the identity of the person who has been secretly helping the blue-skinned beast is revealed…

Graveyard Shark stalks through the foliage

One of the characters strokes Graveyard Shark's abs... — One of the characters strokes Graveyard Shark’s abs…

GRAVEYARD SHARK is a movie that most definitely doesn’t take itself seriously. The folks behind this knew (I hope) what their limitations were, so they proceeded to deliver a film full of dumb humour, copious amounts of spraying blood, stupid dialogue, boobs and a big beast.

The hammer-headed mutant rips out a human heart!

The film’s lighting and cinematography is on par with the general acting quality, which is to say that it’s all strictly amateur hour level. And yet… the filmmakers are obviously having fun, and this adds to the viewing experience. So, when we get the creature’s origin story, we can be sure that it will be a really stupid, stupid, stupid (but fun) origin story! You see, this muscled monster is the result of a union between eccentric loner Captain Seyburn… and a mermaid of colour that Seyburn encountered in a swamp! The whole backstory is explained to Abby as she sits with Seyburn in a diner. Seyburn describes, with the help of flashbacks, how he met a ‘fine-ass mermaid’ and they had comical intercourse which seemed to consist of Seyburn just grinding his groin against the underside of the mermaid’s tail. As Seyburn climaxes in his flashback, the film cuts to a shot of him in the diner, pouring melted butter all over a cooked lobster. Subtle this ain’t!

Captain Seyburn (Berndele March) talks with Abby... — Captain Seyburn (Berndele March) talks with Abby…

...and he divulges what happened when he met a mermaid in a swamp — …and he divulges what happened when he met a mermaid in a swamp

Abby learns from Captain Seyburn that the mermaid had returned with a love child, asking him for money to raise their lil’ shark-headed nipper, but Seyburn killed the siren with a shovel instead, burying her and the baby in the cemetery. But, somehow, the tiny mutant shark had clung to life and now it dwells in the graveyard…

Don't trust this dude — Don’t trust this dude

This film really is a dumbass nonsense-fest, with such silly scenes as a dream sequence in which Abby gets high and romps in bed with a bigfoot, who is actually Greg in a costume. But I felt compelled to keep watching anyway, in large part because the movie’s titular monster is brought to the screen via the old school method of using a monster suit!

The Graveyard Shark creature has a buff, musclebound humanoid body that is topped with a toothy hammerhead shark face! I’m just a sucker for practical effects creatures, even when it is a cartoony, cheesy-but-cool costume like this one! This hammer-headed fishy freak, designed by Anthony Clark Pierce, is far preferable to the sub-par CGI effects seen in most low-price b-movies of a similar budget, that’s for sure.

This monster looks like he's been down the gym! — This monster looks like he’s been down the gym!

Many of the monster attacks are shot in a very similar fashion, with the suitmation actor (Brandon Wheeler) shoving the costume’s shark head against the current victim’s neck, as blood is pumped everywhere. Though the results are samey, they are bloody, and there’s the occasional disembowelment of a victim added to the mix too.

Counsellor Dr. Jan Lovnik (Olga N. Bogdanova) is disemboweled!

GRAVEYARD SHARK is, without a doubt, a shoddy, cheapo production, which leaps at any chance to include some nekkid flesh and includes a lot of crass ‘humorous’ chat about going down on mermaids. But the film does end with a fight between the rubbery Graveyard Shark and a fuzzy werewolf! Yes, you read that correctly: it turns out that Greg is actually a man-wolf! This monster suit showdown is slapdash and, of course, pretty enjoyable, with the werewolf costume’s yellow-green eyes glowing so brightly they sometimes look like twin torch beams shining in the mist! So I kinda liked this flick anyway – sue me!

Devil Fetus (1983)

March 31, 2023 Ken Miller Leave a comment

Starring Eddie Chan, Leung San, Lau Dan and Au-Yang Sha-Fei, directed by Liu Hung-Chuen, produced by Lo Wei, with action choreography by Mai Kei.

He's got a splitting headache — I’ve got a splitting headache!

If somebody is lit by a green light, it means they're evil, right? — If somebody is lit by a green light, it means they’re evil, right?

Possessions, supernatural occurrences and death await a rich family following the purchase of a jade vase.

You aways get priests in this kind of film

The somewhat phallic-looking ornament, which is smashed early on in the movie, is really just an excuse for a string of occult happenings, including levitation, the vomiting of birthday cake and worms, the eating of a recently exhumed dog’s guts, and rape by a white haired, slimy demon. As the title suggests, there is the brief shot of a green fetus-thingy bursting from a dead woman’s stomach, plus a face-ripping that reveals maggots beneath the flesh, and the bravura on-screen head-crushing of one of the characters trapped in a shrinking room.

Assaulted by a grey-haired monster — Assaulted by a white-haired monster

The standard of the special FX varies: a shot of a holy man, who is twisted into the earth by grasping hands, is achieved simply by using double-exposed images, as are shots of the possessed younger son gliding about the place. However, the scene of the son splitting in two down the middle, as a demon bursts out of him, is a novel effect. This devil critter is beheaded almost immediately and, in a show-stopping example of Hong Kong weirdness, a succession of human heads on long necks streak from a severed neck, followed by a fountain of fluid! After an Evil Dead-style shot of the demon head decomposing (via jerky animation), the toothy skull zips toward the camera for a freeze-frame ending!

The severed monster's head... — The severed monster’s head…

...zooms toward the camera! — …zooms toward the camera!

Making little sense, this film becomes more and more ludicrous, but it remains an enjoyable spectacle throughout, eschewing the usual Hong Kong filmmaker’s tendency to include comedic interludes.

Eating a dead dog's guts: not recommended! — Eating a dead dog’s guts: not recommended!

Forbidden World (1982)

December 10, 2022 Ken Miller Leave a comment

This slimy, mutant muck gets everywhere!

Slimy lumps of self-replicating meaty protein! — Watch out for the lumps of self-replicating meaty protein!

Please don't step in the mutated gunge — Please don’t step in the mutated gunge

Directed by Allan (PROGRAMMED TO KILL) Holzman, written by Tim (GHOST WARRIOR) Curnen, from a story by Jim (CHOPPING MALL) Wynorski and R.J. (BEASTMASTER 2) Robertson and starring Jesse (SILENT RUNNING) Vint, Dawn Dunlap, June Chadwick, Linden Chiles, Fox Harris and Michael Bowen.

Also known as MUTANT and SUBJECT 20, this Roger Corman-produced ALIEN rip-off is lurid, colourful, exploitative and splattery. It uses some of the sets that were featured in Corman’s GALAXY OF TERROR (1981), a film on which James Cameron was the production designer.

This story concerns space ranger Mike Colby (Vint), who arrives at a research station that is under threat from a mutant organism that has evolved from an experimental life form, known as ‘Subject 20’, that has been created by the group of scientists on planet Xarbia.

SAM-104 (Don Olivera) and Mike Colby (Jesse Vint)

With some oddly edited moments and an okay electronic score, this film presents us with a mutated creature that turns its human victims into lumps of self-replicating meaty protein.

There's lots of fluid dribbling and dripping about — There’s lots of fluid dribbling and dripping about the place

As the organism evolves, it gains a maw full of big teeth

Venturing out onto the planet's surface... — Venturing out onto the planet’s surface…

...they come across this toothsome thingy — …they come across this toothsome life form

A cocoon-type thingy attached to the rocks

Obviously aiming at the young male market, the movie has the two female characters, Tracy Baxter (Dunlap) and Dr. Barbara Glaser (Chadwick), taking saunas & showers… even though there’s a monster on the loose!

Tracy Baxter heads for the sauna/sunbed room, which is, of course, essential on all distant research bases! — Tracy Baxter heads for the sauna/sunbed room, which is, of course, an essential feature of all distant research bases!

Dr. Barbara Glaser is rather, erm, underdressed

Tracy and Barbara even try to communicate with the creature whilst wearing very short bathrobes. This doesn’t end well when one of the women gets transfixed by a spiked tentacle. Ouch!

"I know! Let's try to communicate with the revolting mutant beast whilst wearing bath robes!" — “I know! Let’s try to communicate with the revolting mutant beast whilst wearing bathrobes!”

So is this a classic creature feature? Well, it certainly doesn’t reach the heights of science fiction greatness, that’s for sure, but it manages to be a pretension-free sci-fi-horror flick that is a perfect example of the kind of exploitative, pulpy, gaudy production that got made in the 80s.

And the film definitely scores points for giving us a finale with a difference: we get to see the hero performing DIY surgery on a scientist suffering from cancer, so that he can remove the large tumour… and then feed it to the creature, which then proceeds to vomit itself to death!

Classy stuff!

The creature suffers from terminal upchucking!

Some posters…

Some other cool stuff…

Scream Factory SteelBook cover with artwork by Laz Marquez

And here’s a behind the scenes shot…

Behemoth (2011)

November 28, 2021 Ken Miller Leave a comment

That's certainly a big Behemoth! — That’s certainly a big Behemoth!

With deaths and quakes occurring around Mount Lincoln, it is eventually discovered that beneath the mountain lurks… Behemoth!

This movie was the 23rd film in the ‘Maneater Series’ (this was the brand name, logo and look given to a series of made-for-television horror films produced by RHI Entertainment, distributed by Vivendi Entertainment). Other movies that were part of the Maneater Series included GRIZZLY RAGE (2007), MALIBU SHARK ATTACK (2009) and WYVERN (2009).

"It's the size of the mountain!" — “It’s the size of the mountain!”

BEHEMOTH, which stars Ed Quinn, Pascale Hutton and William Bruce Davis, was premiered on January 15th 2011 on the SyFy Channel, so I guess it’s not a surprise that the acting, production values, script and special effects for this TV movie are not of the highest standard.

A mountain... a monster... a massacre — A mountain… a monster… a massacre

I’ll be honest: I didn’t focus too much on the storyline & acting, but I did quite like the Behemoth critter itself, once it rises from the ground. The CGI ain’t anything to write home about and during the finale the Behemoth basically just flaps its tentacles around a bit on top of the mountain, before beefy Bradley Cooper lookalike Ed Quinn blows it up (quite easily) with a rocket launcher, but the big, goofy, novel-looking beast is a fun creation. So here are some shots of the Behemoth to enjoy…

A giant monster eye peers through a hole in the mountainside…

...and then a tentacle pokes from the hole! — …and then a tentacle pokes from the hole: run!

At one point the Behemoth’s head pokes from the ground and gobbles up a character when he falls from the cliff he’s clinging to…

The Behemoth's knobbly outer skin reminds me a bit of the armoured carapaces of the Zargs in WARLORDS OF ATLANTIS — The Behemoth’s knobbly outer skin reminds me a bit of the armoured carapaces of the Zargs in WARLORDS OF ATLANTIS

Here are a bunch of pics of the Behemoth once it finally bursts from the summit of the mountain…

Huge, crab-like legs and tentacles emerge

It that central, toothy section a nod to the Sarlacc?

The weird-lookin' Behemoth crawls to the top of Mount Lincoln — The weird-lookin’ Behemoth crawls to the top of Mount Lincoln

Does the Behemoth's face resemble the monster on the cover of Blue Öyster Cult's album Cultösaurus Erectus? — Does the Behemoth’s face resemble the monster on the cover of Blue Öyster Cult’s album Cultösaurus Erectus?

Ed Quinn aims his rocket launcher at the Behemoth... — Ed Quinn aims his rocket launcher at the Behemoth…

...and he needs to shoot the rocket through the monster's mouth! — …and he needs to shoot the rocket straight down the monster’s mouth!

A pleased Ed Quinn flies off in a helicopter

Finally, some DVD and VCD covers…

Well, this isn't a very accurate depiction of the monster — Well, this isn’t a very accurate depiction of the monster!

Thirst (2015)

July 23, 2021 Ken Miller 2 Comments

Alien critter alert! — Toothy-faced beastie!

The staff and teenagers at a wilderness boot camp for problem teens are attacked by a vicious bio-mechanical alien. With nobody nearby to help them, they are forced to fight back on their own.

The poster artist doesn't seem to know the movie is set in a desert... — The poster artist doesn’t seem to know the movie is set in a desert…

This is a just-about-okay flick that is better than the stuff produced by the Asylum, for instance (which I know isn’t saying much!)

Directed by Greg Kiefer, THIRST features almost-okay (or at least acceptable) CGI, but some of the cliched characters get pretty irritating, which affects the potential watchability and enjoyment of the movie – and I think it would have been better if the alien’s origin had been gone into.

If you fancy watching a bunch of one dimensional protagonists getting bumped off by a CGI critter that looks its best in the night scenes (but is featured in a lot of bright daylight scenes) this could well be the cliche-ridden flick for you!

Creature concept design by Mauricio Ruiz…

Shame the creature in the movie wasn't as cool as this original design — Shame the creature in the movie wasn’t as cool as this original design

Beast From Haunted Cave (1959)

July 11, 2021 Ken Miller 1 Comment

Tough criminal boss Alexander Ward (Frank Wolff) oversees a small heist team intent on stealing gold bars from a bank vault in snowy South Dakota. The plan involves one of the criminals, Marty Jones (Richard Sinatra – cousin of Frank Sinatra), setting off an explosion in a nearby gold mine to act as a diversion as the bank is robbed. The mine is the home of a spider-like monster, however, which pursues Ward’s crew as they head for a remote cabin, led by local guide Gil Jackson (Michael Forest), who is, at first, unaware that he’s helping criminals fleeing the scene of their crime. Gil finds himself falling for Ward’s lover Gypsy (Sheila Noonan), who tells him that the gang intends to kill him…

BEAST FROM HAUNTED CAVE was the directorial debut of Monte (TWO-LANE BLACKTOP) Hellman and is an interesting hybrid of heist flick and monster movie. With tough dialogue and heist plot setup, this low budget film is initially like something you’d read in a pulpy crime paperback, but a cobwebby creature is added to the mix, making this a novel Corman-produced curio.

The film was originally released with THE WASP WOMAN

The lack of budget is obvious when it comes to the creature, which is mainly represented as a long prop arm poked on-screen and a couple of quick shots where it is inserted into location scenes via double exposure (which makes you think it might be a spirit of some kind because it is see-through). The monster is definitely meant to be a physical creature, though, and there’s a decent finale where the various characters encounter the beast in a remote cave.

The creature keeps its victims webbed-up and alive, so that it can take its time feeding on them, which I think is quite a creepy concept for a 50s B-movie. In one effective moment we see the creature’s first victim covered in a cocoon of web, stuck between two trees, and we realise that the monster has pursued the group into the mountains and has brought the initial victim along with it (as an on-the-go snack!)

Cocooned amongst the trees... — Cocooned amongst the trees…

Though the funky-looking, furry-faced, long-armed critter is very lo-fi, I still rather like this cheaply-made creature feature.

Octaman (1971)

June 12, 2021 Ken Miller Leave a comment

A scientific expedition, financed by a circus owner, goes in search of a humanoid octopus mutation in Mexico.

poster art — Horror heap from the nuclear trash!

Written and directed by Harry Essex, who wrote IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE (1953) and CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1954), this cult flick’s major (only!) selling point is the fun creature costume created by Rick Baker and Doug Beswick. The rubbery, tentacled critter is often shot and lit in less than dynamic ways, but it is on screen a LOT!

Don't mess with Octaman! — Don’t mess with Octaman!

In the film the fire 'sucks' the air from around Octaman: great science! — In the film the fire ‘sucks’ the air from around Octaman, even though this is taking place outside: great science!

Earlier in the movie we get to see a small mutant octopus that can crawl on land and apparently likes to live in fresh water. Later, there’s a sequence where the characters trap Octaman in a circle of fire, sedate it and imprison it under a net, which is silly but cool. But there’s a very tedious sequence towards the end of the film, focusing on the protagonists crawling endlessly around a cave, that is far, far from cool.

As Travis J Hill Cartoonist (a moderator for the Monster Zone Facebook group) says: What’s more fun than a barrel o’ cephalopod?

For the most part, however, if you’re a creature feature fan you’ll probably find this is a fairly watchable, low budget, cheesy, painless time-waster with a very shaky grasp of scientific principles. It stars Kerwin (7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD) Mathews, Jeff (THIS ISLAND EARTH) Morrow and Pier (SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME) Angeli, who gets carried off by Octaman at one point.

On a sad note, Pier Angeli was found dead in her Beverly Hills home (apparently from an accidental barbiturate overdose) before production on the film was completed.

Octaman carries off Pier Angeli — Getting carried away…

Behind the scenes shot of Read Morgan, who wore the costume

Octaman jumps from the RV — It’s in the RV!

The Young Cannibals (2019)

May 25, 2021 Ken Miller Leave a comment

In a pre-title sequence two desperate men are shown eating part of a dead colleague on a snow-covered mountain. A third man refuses to take part in this. When the three men walk onwards, the two who had eaten the flesh start acting scared, as if they can see something up ahead. The man who’d not succumbed to cannibalism can’t see what is pursuing the others. This unseen force lifts up one of the flesh eaters, throws him to the snowy ground and bloodily rips into him.

Only those who've eaten human flesh can see the creature... — Only those who’ve eaten human flesh can see the creature…

A victim is attacked — …and it hunts them down and kills them

The movie now switches location to the UK and we watch Ethan (Benjamin Sarpong-Broni) devising a way to get his girlfriend Nat (Megan Purvis) out of the mental health facility she is currently staying in. The couple have planned this escape so that Nat can celebrate her birthday with a bunch of friends on a weekend camping trip.

The land they are camping on is owned by Blackwood (David Patrick Stucky), who we recognise as the surviving flesh eater from the opening sequence. Blackwood generously offers the campers a container of raw hamburger patties. The friends enjoy this free meal, unaware that the burger patties contain human flesh…

Blackwood reappears and tells the group what they’ve eaten – and he explains that the local woodland is inhabited by a creature that hunts and kills anyone who has consumed human flesh. Blackwood’s plan is to use the friends as offerings, hoping that the monster (that has presumably stalked him from the mountains) will gorge on them and will leave him alone for a while.

The friends must now try to keep out of the creature’s clutches, and this really should’ve provided the film with lots of opportunities to give us tension and action, but there’s a fair bit of running time where not much happens and we get characters having “you weren’t there to help”-type drama moments instead.

Brother and sister have a 'you-weren't-there-for-me' moment — Brother and sister have a ‘you-weren’t-there-for-me’ moment

The movie inevitably ends with a final girl confronting Blackwood and dealing with the pursuing creature.

Nat covers herself in another victim's blood — Nat covers herself in another victim’s blood

This low budget movie looks okay visually, has practical effects and features a decent synth score by Gabe Castro, so it’s a shame a lot of the film is basically a bunch of rather one-note characters walking and running about in the woods.

What I liked most about the movie was the central idea, which is pretty cool: if you eat human flesh you will be hunted down and killed by a creature that ONLY cannibals can see (non-cannibals can only see the victims being attacked, with the creature remaining invisible to them).

The suggestion that the creature can’t see you if you cover yourself with a dead person’s blood doesn’t seem well thought-through, however. Surely most cannibals get covered in a dead person’s blood (because they’re eating a corpse), so this must be a real problem for a creature that only hunts down cannibals!

The guy with the rifle can't see the monster holding up Ethan because he hasn't munched on human flesh — The guy with the rifle can’t see the monster holding up Ethan because he hasn’t munched on human flesh

This monster is a humanoid creature with a big, tooth-filled mouth, but it is never seen as clearly as depicted in the film’s poster: it is always shot cloaked in shadows, filmed from a distance, or shown in extreme close-up.

The poster showed the beastie far more clearly

In the end the movie just fails to be very memorable, which is a pity, as it had potential.

It's looking out the window! — It’s looking out the window!

The Bone Snatcher (2003)

May 21, 2021 Ken Miller 2 Comments

The creature seen through a rifle scope — What is this thing?!

A search team looking for missing geologists in an African desert encounter a swarm of black particles/creatures that eat the flesh off victims and then wrap around the bones to become ambulatory monsters.

Ignore this poster: the creature is not a swarm of ants

The team discovers flesh-stripped corpses

The team starts getting picked off by these things and they eventually have a showdown in an abandoned mine, where it is discovered that the black swarm is controlled by a balloon-sized, egg/cocoon-like hive-mind kind of thing.

The black mass of 'particles' — The black mass of ‘particles’

Consumed by black stuff in his sleeping bag!

A victim gets his arm eaten by the swarm

Director Jason Wulfsohn’s film isn’t perfect, with rather forced tension amongst the characters, resulting in an overabundance of bickering. However, there is stuff to like too. The cinematography, aided by the desert location, is decent and the acting’s okay, with Warrick Grier standing out for me as Karl: the gung ho, trigger-happy member of the team.

Warrick Grier plays Karl — Warrick Grier plays gun-toting Karl

The film remains watchable mainly because of the creatures, which look pretty good: a mix of flowing black particles and pieces of skeletons or body parts (such as a victim’s face, or a fleshless skull, etc). If a creature gets shot it simply reverts back to a mass of particles and seeps back into the desert, leaving the gnawed bones behind that it had been using as its own temporary skeleton. These creatures really should have had more screen time. Shame.

One of the creatures just before it is shot

A memorable moment occurs when one of these bone snatcher creatures approaches the main characters in the night, wearing the face of one of their friends. It then proceeds to disgorge a squirming mass of black particles from the mouth of its flesh-mask!

It's wearing their team mate's face! — A bone snatcher critter wears their team mate’s face!

Barfing up some more black particles. Nice

I feel the origin of these particle-things would have worked better if it had been some kind of African supernatural force, which was hinted at when the characters encounter a bunch of strange, bug-eyed totems in the desert. The final revelation that the black swarm is controlled by a small, orange blob-sack hive-mind (that can just be stabbed) comes across as rather underwhelming.

So this is the big, bad controller of the creatures?!

Still, the creatures are cool.

Devoted to every kind of movie and TV monster, from King Kong to Godzilla, from the Blob to Alien. Plus monsters from other media too, including books and comics.