The Rig

This horror film is set aboard an actual oil rig--one that was the first of its type and is a museum today. A cute twist is having one of the characters actually wearing a t-shirt for the museum in one scene! On the rig, some underwater beast is disturbed and comes aboard to pick off the crew one by one.

"The Rig" is a low budget horror film with very modest production values in most ways. However, in two ways the film was quite outstanding--the blood and gore was a lot more realistic and profuse than you might expect and the musical score was great and really added to the tension. Otherwise, the film is clearly inspired by films such as "Alien", "Predator" and "The Thing". The idea of an alien slowly picking off members of a group certainly is NOT original and the writing could have been a lot better (the characters sometimes seem like caricatures and the ending is weak). It also suffers some from a few stupid clichés (such as adding nudity where it is pretty inappropriate) and seems a bit formulaic. Overall, the way I see it, if you like gore and low-budget monster films, you'll probably enjoy the film. If not, you'll probably wonder why you've wasted nearly and hour and a half of your life.

THE RIG is another nondescript monster-on-the-loose story, made foul by an almost non-existent budget and a distinct lack of imagination. Indeed, the paucity of creative energy is evident in this film's paint-by-numbers script, which tells exactly the same kind of story as has already been done dozens of times before by better directors with bigger budgets.

In this one, the crew of an oil rig find themselves menaced by a monster from the ocean floor, although there aren't many explanations on offer. It all boils down to a man in a rubber suit – or what looks like a child in this case – running around and killing overacting cast members in slapdash ways. Attempts at poverty-row gore effects are pitiful and the acting from the no name cast is even worse, not that it mattered when the characters are so clichéd to begin with. The only actors I recognised were THE BRING remake's Art LaFleur and OUT FOR JUSTICE's William Forsythe, neither or whom can readily be described as stars.

In the end, the things that really bring THE RIG down are the lack of money and the lack of experience on the part of the director. It just looks cheap and cheesy throughout, and not in a good way. There are no surprises, no well-directed scenes of suspense or action, just a mindless mess of watered-down and hackneyed scenarios done before and better.

This movie makes absolutely no sense and was written by people who have absolutely no idea of work safety regulations... people die all the time on that drilling platform and the staff acts like if they simply deserted - there is no emotion, no stress, no documenting what happened, just sex scenes and stupid dialogue.

I understand they had no budget, but that no excuse for lazy writing and pathetic acting. Roger Corman made movies on shoestring budgets but never sank that low.

I'm surprised the director ever found another job.

Wow, can someone please give me the directors number as he owes me 2 hours of my life back. Easily the worst movie I've seen of late.

I'm not usually reviewer, nor a movie critic, but if i can save someone from watching this movie then I will have achieved some sort of personal satisfaction for the torture that I received whilst watching it.

The 2 positive things i can take from this movie is that 1)i saw some boobs and 2) it makes some bad movies I've watched now seem semi-bad.

Every facet of this movie is shocking from the script right down to the monster which is is a cross between an inbred raccoon an A-sexual dog on heat.

The acting is only topped in poorness by the dialog, which appears to be the script of a cheesy R-rated porn.

How this movie made it to DVD is beyond me, obviously someone in the cast or crew is sleeping with someone in the know how.

I wouldn't even recommend illegally downloading this movie. do yourself and your braincells a favour and steer clear unless you have a spew bucket and a swear jar handy 0.5/10

In the midst of a tropical storm, the crew of an offshore oil rig must survive the rampage of a creature after invading its undersea habitat.

Although I don't think this film debuted on SyFy, it belongs there. It's of low budget, little original plot, and just all around lesser quality. I can say, thank goodness, this did not have the horrible special effects of SyFy (actually, some of the gore was decent).

William Forsythe is the alleged star, his name even appearing before the film's title. Well, that's a tough call. He's not the main character, and he is outacted by his mustache in a few scenes. So, unless you're a die-hard Forsythe fan, don't expect him to be the key to this film's success.

The DVD has a misleading cover image, making the monster look gigantic. It's much more humanoid. And there is a subplot of a brother story... for why? It's not important to the story at all, and adds a thin sentimentality to this film. Very thin.

The one thing I can praise them for is that this movie was shot on location at Charlie rig (now a museum in Louisiana). As far as authentic scenery goes, you can't get much more real than this. An actual rig!