Pterodactyl

Looking for her missing sister, a woman and some friends head to a remote section of the countryside to find her after the authorities won't help her, but the more they look into the incident they find the area overrun by giant pterosaurs controlled by superstitious locals and must get away alive.

This was a pretty fun cheesy creature feature. One of the better features here is the solid setup that carries on the tradition of providing a decent way of getting everyone out to the countryside where they can be attacked by the creatures. Getting the kind of start-up here with the missing sister dragging them out to the remote English countryside where the unnatural behavior is seen as enough justification to get everyone out to this part of the woods, this not only accomplishes that task but also allows the kind of build-up about the group so we can get an idea about who they are and what they're doing there. While that's not always a good thing, the central idea generated from all of this is well enough to provide a solid series of plotlines to get this one going. That allows the creature action here to be quite enjoyable focusing on the cheesy nature of the concept at play. With the specific creatures identified early on and bringing about a rather fun type of confrontation where the flying swarm appears out of the sky to grab and bite at their victim before flying away with the body that's ripped to pieces in the process, this all comes together quite nicely to generate some fun sequences. As there's a nice bit of suspense involving the creatures stalking them first through the mountainous, rocky terrain present before the subsequent attack, it takes a nice bit of suspense to the type of cheese present for the creatures to give the film a lot to like. There are some detrimental factors to be had with this one. The main drawback to this one is the sluggish first half which doesn't do much in the way of building a cohesive storyline. While building up the idea of the sister being missing and no one willing to tell them the truth, the main mindset here is on stifling the pace to get this corrupt, incompetent set of local authority in the area unwilling to get out and do their duty in the face of an obvious emergency which holds up the action to a distressing degree. Even more apparent during this section is the lack of genuine friendship displayed during this section between the girls who spend a lot of the time arguing and complaining about the situation to the point that it's hard to believe they're genuine friends with how they interact with each other. The last drawback to the film is the sheer lack of explanation for the group responsible for tending to the creatures all along. With the introduction here treated to us so late in the film and given so little thought that it's just impossible to figure out what the whole point is, this feels so confusing that the counterpoint about their presence there is rightfully brought up to where it's so easy to outwit them and renders them completely irrelevant. As well, there are also the other expected issues here with the lackluster CGI including size and dimension changes depending on the scene being featured, clunky animation for normal activities, or being forced to perform unnatural motions or behavior to suit the sequence, none of these are truly detrimental but still stick out overall here.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

Lyn has been dumped by Kyle, and goes with Saskia to a remote area to rid herself of anything dear to Kyle, as a way of cleansing herself of him. Neither of them happen to notice very large birds (pterodactyls) flying close overhead and making noises. But suddenly they do, and naturally the best choice is to run out into open country to avoid the threat. Saskia suffers a terrible and very fake death. Meanwhile, Lyn's sister Dee hasn't heard from Lyn and is worried, and convinces her friends to go look for her and Saskia. And sadly, their roles are written as if they are very fragile persons, unable to make good decisions, and will easily trip if running. If in cover, run out in the open if there is a threat. But what is going on in this remote area, and will any of them be able to come up with a coherent plan? The area is very remote, the police say they are short handed, and can't really help as Lyn hasn't been missing long enough. The pterodactyls are done decently, it is just they have only a few computer generated movements that often do not fit in with the scene.

As with so many movies today, the characters are all morons or just plain incompetent at basic living. They see a monster and half the time don't even run, just stand there screaming ... then die. When they run, they trip over virtually nothing, fall on the ground, roll on their back and just lay there kicking until the monster gets around to them.

It's pure laziness on the writers and directors parts who seem kind of incompetent as well.

I wanted to give it 1 star but the acting is alright - nothing to rave over but I've seen MUCH worse. Couldn't sit thru the whole thing. Gave up around halfway. The most stupid schmutz you've ever known would do better in these fictional circumstances. A barely tolerable story is ruined because no one knows how to use average intelligent characters to create suspense.

Even the few good actors in this movie couldn't save the abysmal script.

The concept of 'suspension of disbelief', such as the existence of pterodactyls ... in a cold weather climate!? ... still requires people to act quasi-intelligently. Darwin would have made sure half these people would have never made it to adulthood.

And really, you couldn't have waited 6 months to make this during warm weather to make it just slightly believable?

For a low budget film, the special affects were not bad. The locations and photography were pretty good to. And I was rather pleased with the direction in general. But spend an extra day or two on the script and add a little realism to the actors actions, and get rid of a few of the weaker links.