Hyenas

Well, at least they tried.

One of the better aspects of "Hyenas" was the fact that they took the traditional werewolf cast mold, broke it and replaced it with hyenas. A bold move, and it might actually have worked, had they the CGI on their side. This approach was a much needed one, just a shame it failed.

The story told in "Hyenas", well there were two stories actually, was pretty simple and easy to follow. The main story was the one with Gannon losing his family to the flesh-eating shape-shifting hyenas, then being sought out by Crazy Briggs, trained and then seeking revenge. That part of the story was actually decent enough. The other half of the story, the one with the two rivaling street gangs, well that was just unnecessary and very strained to look at. Those thugs came off nothing more than muppets trying to behave like street urchins. That part of the story should have stayed in the cutting room.

As for the CGI effects, well I am not much of a fan of cheesy effects, and "Hyenas" was one big cheese effect fest. From the glowing red eyes on the hyenas (as well as their hybrid and human forms) to the downright eyesore CGI animated hyenas running around. The movie truly did not have the effects on its side. And I think, if they actually had a bigger budget for the effects, the movie might actually just have proved much more cool and would have raised itself up from below mediocre value. And the actual shape-shifting scenes, well, you have to see that to believe it, and seriously, try not to laugh when you do.

The cast was a sorted bunch to say the least. I was a bit surprised to see Costas Mandylor (playing Gannon) in this movie. He went from the "SAW" movies to this? Alrighty then. But he did a good enough job in this movie, though he was better in "SAW". Joshua Alba (playing Marco) was actually one of the guys putting on one of the better performances. I am not much of a fan of Christa Campbell, but wow, this performance was bad.

"Hyenas" truly had potential, but it was hindered by its budget. The CGI effects really brought down the overall enjoyment of the movie. Plus some of the acting and dialogue also helped tripping the movie along the way. It is a shame, because it was refreshing to see hyenas take it on to the scene, trying to kick the werewolves from their pedestal. This movie could have worked out so well, but it wasn't just meant to be. I am rating this movie 3/10 because of the story and because it had potential, it was just hindered in its wake.

Following a series of grisly murders, a hunter and his protégée team up together to find the culprit terrorizing their small town and set out to stop the vicious shape-shifting creatures responsible from continuing their rampage.

This turned out to be quite an enjoyable effort. One of the better elements is the new and somewhat original take on werewolves provided here where they're not portrayed as typical humans but more like rabid animals with the unique ability to shape-shift rather than be afflicted with a curse or other such condition. That, combined with their obvious pack-like attitude, creative back-story and absolutely cruel viciousness makes for an absolutely appealing creature that gets a lot right here, including times where it really drives up the tension as they stalk their prey or simply engage in stealth tactics to force their victims into a deadly situation. As well, there's a lot of rather fun confrontations here with the creatures including the opening encounter at the highway trap, the forest shoot-out that initially encourages belief in their existence for the skeptical aide and the garage encounter that really serves as the film's biggest and most chilling sequence as the trapped victim slowly realizes his doom in the darkened garage and slowly goes insane with their tormenting before springing the final trap. It's repeated to nice success during the woodland encounter but just doesn't have the same impact as earlier, and thankfully the final encounter at the house is where it gets to the highest mark with a spectacular assault on both sides from the creatures and the hunters' defenses coming into solid showings. There's still a few flaws here, including the absolutely inane CGI for the creatures in their animal form which looks inherently fake and quite laughable due to the rather distracting nature it implies throughout the scene. As well, the fact that it tends to employ a few extra plot lines that aren't needed is a little confusing which spreads the film out a little longer than it really should be, but overall there's a lot to like here if the flaws aren't too damaging.

Rated R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence, Full Nudity and minor drug use.

Hilariously bad take on the werewolf myth involving a clan of shape- shifting hyenas who hunt humans for food. Despite my one star rating, this is one of the most entertaining films I've seen in ages, albeit for all the wrong reasons! The worst acting and dialogue this side of Ed Wood and CGI hyenas that make Tony the Tiger from the Frosties commercials look like a real tiger in comparison, this production is incompetent on every level! The lame characters, cheap "Star Trek"-style underground cavern set and pant-wettingly funny plot twists combine to provide a perfect Friday night entertainment with a crate of beer and some like-minded mates. Highly recommended for fans of bad cinema,Elvira would have a field day with this one!

It looks good on paper. Eric Weston directed it, well, in 1981 he made the cult flick and video nasty "Evilspeak" so I thought, this is going to be good. Sadly, only one minute into the movie and I knew it, this is going to be bad. But I gave it a chance. Costas Mandylor from the Saw franchise was in it but just face it, from a blockbuster to a no-buster. The idea was okay, changing the theme from werewolves into hyenas. But a lot of things broke this flick down. The killings are all of screen. I admit, you do see some victims but it's never that frightening or gory. Secondly, they used CGI for the hyenas, no prob wasn't it for the fact that it was badly used. And the gang of hyenas were based on Lost Boys. Even the acting for almost everybody was wooden. It's sad, I really am sure that it could be done much better. Of course a horror wouldn't be anything without nudity (?)so they gave us Christa fully naked but if you take a close you can see that she hasn't got any nipples. I have said it before, if you agree to do nudity than show it and don't hide your breasts after CGI. Really, what I thought would be a well done came out as a dreg. Now I understand the laughing of the hyenas...

I saw this movie tonight. I was expecting it to be a bad but NOT this bad film! The CGI effects are awful, the acting was even worse. The lines are bad. Guess the director wanted to "change" a bit the all werewolf scenarios and instead.. he replaced them with "hyenas", humans who transform in to these animals at night and hunt for some human meat. The story cant get serious since the acting is super bad. It has some good points like the woods in the dark are well directed but thats it. If u want to have a good laugh with your mates then this is the movie to see. I gave this film a 3/10 because of the laughs I had and also for Christa Campbell who is gorgeous.. although without nipples (!) Pass this crappy film and if you don't have anything better to do then go to bed.