Deadly Species

The plot of "Deadly Species" is fairly simple:an expedition to Everglades in search of a lost native tribe The Calusa turns out to be really a search for the mythical fountain of youth.The expedition consists of two university professors,a bunch of nubile students and a photographer as well as the backer who insists he goes along with his muscled security man.Soon some of them start to die killed by mysterious creatures hidden in the Everglades.Surprisingly dull and badly-acted monster movie which lacks gore and scares.The scenery is quite lush and atmospheric plus there are some shots of naked boobs.The climax is hysterical and pretty stupid.Don't waste your time with "Deadly Species".4 tribes out of 10.

Okay so a research team go out into the Everglades to find a thought extinct tribe of people but run afoul of monsters. Not exactly original stuff.

This heavy b-movie flick keeps the monster to a minimum and thats a shame, this wasn't done for budget reasons as no CGI was used and it was for the purposes of "Effect" then they failed miserably.

With an instantly forgettable cast, recycled plot and a monster that looks like Rawhead Rex (1986) except nude! Deadly Species isn't going to win any awards for....well.....anything but is harmless enough.

It comes under the category of dumb fun, or at least dumb bit of fun.

Cliched, boring in places and never really gets going you can do worse but I can rattle off 100+ movies with similiar plots that deserve your attention more.

The Good:

Cheesy but decent monster

The Bad:

Literally nothing you haven't seen before

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Rawhead Rex has really let himself go

Someone really should have showed that girl how to hold the rifle

I've read so much about 'B' movies not being really serious. And everytime I watch one, it gives lie to the statement. Congo, Anaconda are just two of the movies in my opinion that this film tried to draw from. Miserably though.

What another disaster... This movie is about a group of people in college that want to find an old Indian tribe that was thought to be extinct 150 years ago. A professor and some of his students give up their summer vacation (yeah right screw that) to go hunting for this tribe in the Everglades. Originally they couldn't go because they didn't have the money but some random guy that has naked women everywhere in his estate calls and says hey I got money lets go. The catch is, he isn't in it for the educational value but hes trying to find out why his own people never came back because they supposedly had a magical cure for anything, more of an immortality elixer. Anyway, they manage to make it there with a whole 5 minutes...some expedition...hows that cost 30 grand? Anyway, they manage to find out that some creature is making his way about smoking off all but a select few in the end. This is more of a movie for someone who wants to see nudity from the chest up even though the women were not exactly good looking. We will let you watch the movie to see how it runs! But don't waste your money buying it, just go download it somewhere if you can or watch it at someone elses house.

To say that 'Deadly species' struggles with authenticity is a critical understatement. The actor in the major role of the wealthy "big game hunter" looks and acts like a junior computer technology major at a state college who was begrudgingly convinced to participate in the class project of some friends. While his is the most dire portrayal, he is crudely joined in that ham-handedness by all others on hand. The outfits of the expeditionary team are assembled with at best a partial sense of attentiveness and realism. Why, in kindness I'll assume that most aspects of the feature were deeply constrained by a low budget - there's nothing here that doesn't suffer from a terrible lack of genuineness: wardrobe, props, makeup, production design, camerawork and editing, sound design, acting; I assume even the screenplay was chopped into mincemeat by the limited resources available to realize the concept.

I will generously assume that everyone contributing to the feature did what they could with what they had to work with, including not least of all the FX crew behind the creature design. Moreover, in fairness, it seems that literally everyone involved have few if any additional credits to their name, or that this is generally a film very early in their careers. (As a minor example - probably the most recognizable name of all in attendance, this is only the second listed credit of Amber Midthunder, who was then only 5 years old at the time and has less than a bit part.) Still - I can operate on all the presuppositions I like, yet that does not fundamentally change the fact that 'Deadly species' is a bit of a chore to watch.

I've never seen nudity this plainly gratuitous. Dialogue is contrived beyond all belief, and characters are so thin they're little more than set pieces. Scene writing is as unbothered (and sometimes downright unintelligent) as Daniel Springen's direction (including guidance of his cast), and the overall narrative as it presents is perhaps best described as functional. Jon Greathouse's score sounds like a collection of rough sketches that were never developed further, and effects including blood and gore break suspension of disbelief. Meanwhile, the actors' delivery, expressions, body language, and basic movement and actions in each scene feel forced and unnatural on the most basic level. Can their inadequacy be chalked up simply to a lack of ability? To the utmost fruitlessness of the material, and the direction? Both?

True, I can't say I expected anything different. And 'Deadly species' certainly doesn't pretend to be anything it's not - it works, as well as it could, on its level. Unfortunately, that level requires astounding magnanimity as a viewer to refrain from holding it in utter contempt. Though I may be disappointed, I'd be keen on reading a history of this production - just how, exactly, did it come into being? Even the best ideas herein are rendered with incredible gracelessness - and there are not many good ideas in the first place. Amazingly, there are still worse movies out there (and I've definitely seen some of them), but that doesn't say much. Frankly, there's no real reason to watch this, except perhaps for extreme curiosity or desperate boredom - and even at that, your time would be better spent doing something else.