Cryptid

It's a reasonable indepent film for what it is. It has good direction, decent acting, and the story was well done for being what it is.

It's really not got you on the edge of your seat but it does have some good creepy moments. The creature itself is ok for a low budget film, basically it could be better but it could absolutely have been worse.

I very much liked how they had all the "research" put into it for this being a cryptid story.

It was well thought out and you do get a bit attached to some of the characters, so it's got decent character development as well.

Overall its not amazing but I enjoyed it and would love to see a sequel to this film.

So yeah. If there's one thing i despise about hack writers and directors, it's when they have a genuinely interesting story and monster, but lack of intelligence prevents us from getting a decent film. I can go with the b level acting. I can go with a lower budget film. What I cannot abide is stupid writing. If as a novice hunter myself , I can see mistake after mistake after mistake of supposed seasoned hunters, then you really have to wonder what kind of person gets a job writing a film that deals with hunting. Nothing in a film is creepy or scary about an idiot getting him or herself eaten or put in intense situations. You spend more time yelling "WTF ARE YOU DOING!?" or shaking your head in frustration and disgust at what you are being presented with in a horror film. So. Idiot writer, idiot characters. What's worse is it sets up a sequel. God help us.

The climax of this movie is a major letdown, and makes the sequel bait ending a wet noodle. The buildup is done really well except for a few character-related points, like Max being too whiny and Harriet talking like a guy in his early 20s instead of a woman. She's unnecessarily foul-mouthed and I just found the expressions she used to be... not very woman-like. It's not much of a mystery, she was obviously supposed to out-man the man in the movie, but it didn't work for either. Interesting creature, but didn't get to see enough of it, and like I said... the ending was meh. Wasted potential.

I would've liked to see more focus on the research instead of just "I looked through 75 years of records and found exactly the thing I was looking for." Yeah, because that happens when you search old newspapers at the library. For a two-hour movie, it felt like there was more focus on the characters' unimportant backgrounds than necessary, when that time could've better been used to build up the monster, the legend, and giving us a satisfying climax.

So monster movies in sleepy little remote towns are a staple of B movie land. And yeah - most hurt your head, even if you are a B movie afficionado like me. But - Cryptid was actually a decent little film.

Max is a freelance reporter for the local paper. And despite having all the skills of a good investigative journalist, he has been down on his luck and on brink of being fired. He comes upon an accident scene being overseen by Charlie the sheriff (with whom he has some history as he raised Max's deceased fiance). Charlie is a rock, and Max presses him about the accident - labeled as a presumed bear attack. Charlie is clearly bothered by the incident, but won't share with Max. As more people end up dead from the presumed bear attacks, Max smells the story of a lifetime and enlist help from his coworker and best friend Harriet. Together, the two dig and uncover ... well, that it's NOT a bear.

The acting was pretty solid. And there was some character development and emotional scenes and side stories, rather than just one bloodbath after another. The cinematography was decent, although the monster itself could have been done better. The movie is not scary and pretty predictable. But a decent watch .... So make some nachos and enjoy.

Decent but never actually saw the creature entirely! Darkness made it difficult to see anything. We watch a creature feature to see the creature. Don't count on that! The trailer was better than the movie! It had the potential to be much more entertaining. Regretfully I actually purchased this movie. No a total loss! There was some "edge of your seat" moments. Of course the discounted price of this movie was about the same as a matinee price at the theater. I should have waited to see it for free. I also should have read all of the reviews before I purchased. I'm thinking that this should mark the end of my movie purchases.