Troglodyte

"Sea Beast" (aka. Troglodyte) was actually a rather nice surprise of a movie. I picked up the DVD from Amazon based on the cover of the movie, because it looked interesting.

The story in "Sea Beast" takes place at a coastal community. A local, struggling, fisherman witnesses something taking one of his crew at sea during a storm. Then people start dying at land, and it appears that some aquatic creature have followed the fishing vessel back to land. Can the people stop the deep sea predator before it is too late and can they find the nest? Now, that story was actually quite alright, despite it being very cliché and predictable. But still, it was enjoyable.

Actually the creature design and effects were actually quite good. Think up a weird mix of the Deep Ones (to those familiar with Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythology) and predator, then you have a basic idea of the creatures found in "Sea Beast". I like the way the creatures looked and the CGI was believable enough - except for the super fake boating scene that you are introduced to within the first minute of the movie. Now that was just hilarious.

The acting in "Sea Beast" was adequate, of course nothing award-winning, but not bad like so many other movies. Corin Nemec (playing Will McKenna) has the lead role, and you can say what you will about him, but he actually did a good job in this movie.

"Sea Beast" was great entertainment and I do enjoy monster movies, sadly most of such movies end up being crap. "Sea Beast", however, was quite alright. Despite being predictable to the core, "Sea Beast" turned out to be a nice surprise.

Believe it or not, "Sea Beast" originally appeared as "Troglodyte" on Syfy in 2008. It goes without saying that it was a good call to change the name seeing as how there are no troglodytes in sight.

As the cover of the DVD would suggest, "Sea Beast" is another take on the well-worn "Jaws" theme. This one takes place in the Vancouver, BC, area (big surprise). The creature has the ability to appear nigh invisible and render its prey immobile. This may sound cartoonish, but the way it's explained by the requisite scientist makes it semi-believable.

Other than "Jaws," the plot borrows from other creature flicks like "Predator," "Gremlins" and "Godzilla ('98)." It's reminiscent of the latter film in that there's a mommy monster and a bunch of little tykes, just as ferocious.

What makes "Sea Beast" work is that the material is taken seriously and it has a quality cast, not to mention solid locations. The cast is highlighted by a strong male protagonist, Corin Nemec as Will Mckenna, Will's ditzy daughter, Carla, who can be ultra-violent when necessary (Miriam McDonald) and Will's female sidekick scientist, Arden (Camille Sullivan). Miriam possesses such a cuteness she's somehow just enjoyable to look at. Also, the creature effects (CGI) are well done. Not to mention it's very gory, if you're into that.

There's not much else to say. If you like well-done creatures-on-the-loose TV flicks, "Sea Beast" provides well enough to satisfy. It's far from great but it delivers just enough to grant it a marginal thumbs up.

GRADE: B-

Screened on SyFy as Sea Beast (Trogolodyte on IMDb), probably because it's a hybrid of so many other creatures, both sea beasts and land beasts. Look for elements of Jaws, Alien, Jurassic Park, Lake Placid, and Predator, among others.

It's fun, and just what you expect from a SyFy original offering (at least it's free). Low budget, loosely jointed, questionable acting, cheap CGI effects, and unresolved items at the end. But the creatures are pretty well designed, and the lead actor, the fisherman guy, does pretty well. There's actually urgency in his voice. Not so his daughter and her paper thin character friends. Drama 1 drop outs. The one-on-one fights between the teens and baby creatures are absolutely hilarious--in particular the one where the sea beast pulls himself into a rock, lol. That single moment is worth the price of admission. The siege on the cabin has some great visuals, too.

Most important for a movie is to entertain, and this one does. It holds your attention, and some scary scenes manage to sprinkle in amongst all the craziness. Yes, it resorts to some horror clichés like the blood spurting out of a neck bit when somebody gets decapped. Also, you never quite know what spawned these things. But it's good enough for at least for a few laughs.

The fishing vessel Solita crosses a storm during the night and the Skipper Will McKenna (Corin Nemec) witnesses a weird creature attacking the crewman Joey. They return to the dock and Will has difficulties to pay the amount he owes to the former owner of the boat, Roy (Roman Podhara). The fish population is reducing in the area and the biologist Arden (Camille Sullivan) is investigating the possible causes. Meanwhile, Will's daughter Carly (Miriam McDonald) steals the keys of her father's cottage in a nearby island and plans to travel with her boyfriend Danny (Daniel James Wisler) and their friends Erin (Christie Laing) and Drew (Brandon Jay McLaren) to spend the weekend in the island. However, Drew is murdered by a deep sea predator on the dock and his pieces are found by Will and Arden. Carly, Danny and Erin do not have any news from their friend and travel to the island without Drew. Sooner Erin is murdered by the creature and Danny is bitten by a newborn reptile. Danny and Erin seek shelter in the cabin but they are trapped there by the creatures. In the continent, Will and Arden learn that the deep sea predator is a very dangerous species, after a series of lethal attacks, and they head to the island to rescue Carly.

"Troglodyte" is an unoriginal but pretty decent B-movie for television. The plot blends "Lake Placid" and Predator" and the result is a cheesy and forgettable action film with the usual clichés. The town seems to be empty and the conclusion has the usual nonsense, with Will, Carly and Arden happy and forgetting that Danny, Jay and many of their friends are dead. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Feras do Mar" ("Sea Beasts")

The design of the monsters is cool, besides the dodgy CGI, and Corin Nemec is doing his best, but other then that its a fairly generic by the numbers SyFy horror movie. Good in the backgound movie.