The Dustwalker

This is so bad I only watched half of it. This movie is an abject lesson in how not to make a sci-fi/horror film. Contains mostly awful acting, awful characters, awful editing, awful story and awful CGI. It's just awful. The only redeeming feature was the magnificent scenery of the Australian outback.

Please do not waste your time watching this turkey. There are thousands of movies better than this.

It's not the worst movie I've seen by far. I couldn't tell the budget from this movie, but I could tell they spent much more money on special effects rather than directing or the actors. Terrible, overused sound effects. I did like the concept and idea with the monster, but they went down the wrong path with it if I'm honest. Not horrible but also not very good. Acting was fine but directing sucked, also some chase/action scenes had terrible camera direction. Also something minor but that really bugged me was how clear the radios were it was super unrealistic.

Just watched a Hulu movie called Dustwalker I'm not entirely sure why. At first it was Lovecraftian psychological horror. (Look at the image art on the movie poster and dvd cover for reference to why I thought it'd be more Cthulhu-related.) Then the 10 minute mark hit and the plot got thrown out the window. Too many plot devices that were never explained and left unanswered for the duration. The first one was that town's only cell tower is down...which we find out because the tech pulls out his cell phone and calls A friend in town...who answers /on her cell phone/. This isn't even a spoiler since /NEVER COMES UP AGAIN/. Also, I HATED the ending. I'll spoil that below. Spoilers start here:: I have a few questions: 1. Why is the movie called Dustwalker? The creature never goes near the dust storm (which itself is a one-and-done plot device that never gets explained. The thing goes underground as it's primary mode of transportation. 2. How the hell does the ALIEN speak and understand English within a couple hours after arriving on earth? 3. Can we talk about how the creature is half scorpion, half Resident Evil dog thing, but Is also a centaur? 4. The ending. Ugh. So. The entire movie is spent with survivors running from people gone murder-hobo who exist only to kill all humans and infect them with alien DNA or whatever. Then big bad comes along (the third of 4 times we see the creature), and takes all of the infected people, puts them in a pit and freaking /IMMOLATES THEM/ with its "now I'm a dragon-scorpion-demon-dog-thing" magical fire breath. That's it. The whole premise of the movie sucks so hard that the writer literally figured it'd be easier to just set it alight than try to fill in all of the plot holes.

If you're a fan of really campy, tropey bad films, go find one that doesn't suck and watch that instead. Overall, I give this movie a 2/10 stars, and that's just because I like psych horror (though this one down played the horror aspect.)

The poster is very cool. Too bad it has nothing to do with the movie. I don't know if I've seem a more poorly edited film. I realize the budget was low, but that has nothing to do with putting the scenes together in such a way that a story makes sense. Anytime something happens we either cut away in the middle or jump in after it's happened. There is no narrative here, just random scenes that tell us nothing about what is happening. Then with virtually no setup a completely new element randomly appears, but other than one initial reaction none of the characters seem the least bit curious how it relates or what they should be doing about it. If my assumption about the plot is correct there is an interesting story in here somewhere, but it's lost due to a weak understanding of story structure and the aforementioned poor editing.

The Dustwalker is a basic budget alien thriller from down under. Its limited funding shows from the get go but its not a bad little film.

It has the benefit of a rather unique setting that's suitably isolated, a small Australian outback town that fits in well with the back story. Having actors who actually know how to act helps this film too.

The action such as it is, is a bit mixed. Its a little too slow for my liking and its budgetary restraints stop it from doing anything novel that would have lifted it.

I think with decent money this could have been a winner but as it stands its only "ok".

5/10 from me.