After a series of strange incidents, a group of friends hiking out in the woods finds evidence that a local construction project has awakened a gigantic prehistoric snake that is running loose in the countryside killing everyone it comes across and forces them to call the authorities to deal with it.
This here was an expectedly decent enough creature feature. Like what is usually the case with these films, the high amount of action here battling the creature makes for a slew of cheesy creature feature goodness. From the opening ambush on the construction worker that doesn't notice it stalking towards him, the attack on the hikers going innocently through the park or the son's first encounter with the creature where it forces them to hide in the cave with the artist working in the area all make for some fun moments here, and with the series of scenes featuring the snake hunting stragglers in the woods it makes for an even better time getting to the finale. Bringing in a helicopter ambush, a series of gun-battles against the snake and an explosive finale, there's some strong cheesy creature action that keeps the film moving along rather nicely and making for the film's best aspects. There are still some problems with this one. The most obvious issue present is the lame CGI that feels like every other bargain-basement style production in the style where it never really employs the kind of realistic work it should be capable of. The snake's size and generally quite energetic appearance means that it has to look incredibly cheap to get it to perform those actions, causing the infamous style of graphics that come from cut scenes out of a video game. Its dimensions are never accurate as it seems to tower over anything and everything one minute then manages to sneak into the most obscure places to strike out at victims whenever possible which just highlights how off the material in those scenes is. The other real issue is the film's padding with rather useless side-plots that go nowhere. It's not necessary to keep coming back to the constant complaining about the need for all the different attempts to stop the company building in the area. It's a common trope that doesn't mean much to the film as a whole, manages to go nowhere when it's brought up to various individuals in higher authority only to have the entire thing wiped out without any resolution. The cheating housewife scenario doesn't help matters, and with the lack of any exploitation to come out of this feels like padding to add a reason for the characters to be there to ramp up the body count. As well, with the shoddy-looking single-location feel that still shows busy highways running by in the background unaffected by what's going on, which makes for quite a cheesy feel, these are what hold this one back despite being expected for this kind of film.
Rated Unrated/R: Violence and Language.
