Sea Attack

SEA BEAST is a rip-roaring little B-movie that shamelessly rips off the likes of PREDATOR in its tale of a marauding sea monster that comes up on land to stalk and eat hapless human prey, utilising its ability to make its invisible in the meantime. Hell, at one point the hero even says "It bleeds..." and you can almost see the scriptwriters winking at the viewers.

Like most B-movies, this film has its problems. The direction is slightly meandering, but at least the director avoids that annoying and pointless shaky-cam so beloved of B-flick helmers in recent years. The script is hardly polished; we're subjected to padded lines like "If we lose our heads, we're dead" and "I saw it...with my own eyes" and the no-name cast hardly give remarkable performances.

And yet, and yet, SEA BEAST is a lot of fun, it's hard to deny. The pacing is spot on, with the viewer thrown straight into the monster action - none of that slow build up nonsense here, just mayhem and death. The CGI effects are pretty poor, yes, but you feel the animators have at least tried to do what they can with the technology available.

And it's GORY, damn it! Entrails are strewn asunder and heads torn loose, all captured with loving relish. It's hard to dislike this stuff. At one point, the chief critter gives birth to lots of little critters, like in a scene from Emmerich's ill-advised GODZILLA, but SEA BEAST definitely has the edge on that movie, as unlike GODZILLA it's a real hoot!

Being a fisherman is a difficult job, particularly during a rough storm. But things can only get worse when a sea beast decides to make your crew its meal. In this small fishing town, the sea beast and his family follow the seamen ashore... to destroy every living thing in their path. How do you stop a creature that you cannot see?

This happens to be another film in the "Maneater" series of films, which started off with vicious animals (blood monkeys, crocs, and more) and has ventured into some strange territory. They recently came out with "Yeti", for example (you can read the review for this on Killer Reviews). And now, the sea beast, formerly titled "Troglodyte" (which is grossly misleading). It's "Jaws" meets science fiction meets "Raptor Island", which is either awesome or horrible depending on how you feel about those three things.

Personally, I love "Jaws" and science fiction has its good points, but "Raptor Island" is a CG piece of offal. Now, to be fair, "Sea Beast" isn't as poorly animated as "Raptor Island", but they fit in the same category. But we've come to expect that from the Maneater series. Cheesy plot, minimal gore (though this one does alright), little or no nudity or cursing. Your basic TV-ready film. And don't get me wrong, if you want an hour and a half of beer-swilling entertainment, this film will fir your needs. But if you try to dissect it, you'll claw your eyes out. It simply doesn't make much sense.

If you want to watch this film, my best recommendation is that you try to catch it on TV or borrow it from a friend or rent it. There is no reason to purchase this film. It doesn't have a lot of replay value, and there are literally no special features (unless you count scene selection). No subtitles, no languages, no audio commentary, nothing. It's about as bare bones as DVDs come, which is rare these days.

Bottom line: cheap, cheesy entertainment. If that's what you're into (and I guess some people are because they keep making these movies), go for it. If you want more substance or a good scare, this is not the film for you. Seriously, watch "Jaws" for the tenth time before you see this if you want a quality man versus fish story.

"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.

Depending on your point of view, this movie either delivers what you would expect from a low budget creature feature or you should avoid at all costs. There are some similarities here with another "Sci-fi Channel" movie "Loch Ness Terror". The difference being that "Sea Beast" runs off in several different directions at a frantic pace, while "Loch Ness Terror" is far more deliberate. The CGI monsters are about equal, and interestingly both films have young creatures getting in on the carnage. One major annoyance about "Sea Beast" is the daughter, played by Miriam McDonald. Her acting is so amateurish that you will be rooting for the creature to end her misery and your's. The creatures are on screen in daylight for a good amount of time, which maintains interest throughout, although there is never any attempt to explain where they came from in the first place. - MERK

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.