Mandrake

I had no I idea if this movie would be worth watching or not, but me and my mom decided to get it. When she was reading to me what it was a bout at the Red Box I told her to get it.

The cast was amazing! Top notch acting I believe. They all had my attention and I found there characters all very likable, even the ones that I didn't think I would like eventually I found likable. Not to say there ain't ones you may not like.

You'll see the scenery in the movie is beautiful. It takes place about in mid South America, but was really shot in Louisiana. This creature you will see in the movie looks pretty amazing. This wasn't no typical SyFy movie. Give it a watch, its worth it!

An obsessed millionaire hires archaeologists, anthropologists and mercenaries, one of which does not exactly belong. But unfortunately, ancient tribesmen, some plant monster(s) and even their own boss eventually stand in their way.

Apparently Syfy films have been around for long enough for nostalgia as the natives will seem familiar to those who only hoped they could forget "Snake King"

But it doesn't end there! Because they added another villain; those who have witnessed such why-couldn't-it-be-forgettable films as "Cerberus" and "Raptor Island" will non-consentually feel a familiar feeling with the introduction of a heartless rich man, willing to murder his troops should they even consider getting in his path, slowing him, or on occasion not being the closest to the monster!

Ultimately many people die as you would expect, and naturally everyone you'd expect to die dies. The plant monster itself is an interesting idea but didn't contribute much more than, say, another giant or crocodile.

In a fictitious Latin American country, the soldier of fortune Sgt. McCall (Max Martini) leads the Vargas Expedition sponsored by the powerful Harry Vargas (Benito Martinez) and formed by the archaeologists Dr. Felicia (Betsy Russell) and Lin (Wayne Pere); the local Santiago Zavala (Nick Gomez) and a baggage carrier through the jungle. In the base, Carla Manning (Jon Mack) gives support to McCall's team and is the liaison with Harry, who is obsessed for a dagger.

When they reach a tomb facing south in a sacred ground, they open the tomb and finds a dagger with a ruby craved in a skeleton and Lin removes weapon from the grave, accomplishing the objective of their assignment. Dr. Felicia advises them that the tomb has a warning advising to not remove the dagger. Soon they discover that nature and the Yamballi tribe are chasing them; further, the previous expedition sent to the forest to retrieve the dagger has been slaughtered.

"Mandrake" is a TV movie released in Brazil on DVD. The story is absolutely predictable and the adventure of the expeditionary team is not scary. In the end, watching this film was a waste of time in a Saturday afternoon. Better off if I had taken a nap. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "A Raiz do Mal" ("The Root of the Evil")

I wanted to like this movie, filmed in Shreveport, La. including a better cast than some of these SyFy movies have, but NO. Andre Stevens of Dallas fame and b-movie star produced this film it has some good special FX, and production values, yet the script never works, the actors never capture their characters. Watch it you sit thru the whole thing thinking wow this looks better than most Saturday Night flicks, even the monster is fairly cool looking, and when its over you'll think what happened to my last two hours. The actor from the Unit isn't bad but you just can't seem to connect to anyone in the film. A few inventive moments nothing more.

Mandrake is about an expedition group funded by a very rich guy named Henry to retrieve a dagger...little do they know...a great evil lurks in the jungle!!

The film was surprisingly good...the acting was decent...CG was bearable and the storyline was original. It isn't your typical syfy for those reasons I'd say.

Although it was an above average syfy type movie...I found it not the least bit scary...maybe one or two parts during the film stood out for "frightening" but, other then it was somewhat boring.

The movie was also very predictable. What you think would happen...happens. So at times it would become hard to watch and hard to get into the movie.

All in all, it was not a total bust because the monster was original and the acting was pretty good. But other then that it's your typical syfy predictable not scary film.