Hydra - L'isola del mistero

Well, granted, I didn't have much of any expectations to this 2009 movie titled "Hydra", but still I sat down to watch it, as I haven't seen it before. And I do like creature features, although a great many number of them turns out to be horrible. Still, perhaps "Hydra" would be a hidden gem.

No. It definitely wasn't.

This movie was bad, from the script and storyline to the atrocious CGI effects that were abysmal and such an eyesore to behold. You have to look long and hard to find CGI effects that are this bad and actually make it through the editing room and into the final cut of the movie. I mean, the hydra looked like something taken straight out of a mid-1990s computer game. It was horrible to look at, and it dragged the enjoyment of the movie down badly. Nay, I will say that it sucked the enjoyment of the movie right out of it.

The acting in the movie was as to be expected from a movie such as this, and take into consideration that the actors and actresses had next to nothing to work with in terms of script and storyline, much less having proper characters to act upon.

All in all, "Hydra" is a movie to give a wide berth. Then again, who wouldn't give a hydra a wide berth?

I am rating "Hydra" a mere two out of ten stars. And it was so bad that I didn't even manage to endure the entire movie to the end. I just simply couldn't stand it, as it failed to entertain me on so many accounts.

I have witnessed a lot of films in my time. Originally scored for the SyFy channel on television and released on DVD, this film is embarrassing. The scenery is pathetic, editing is sloppy and my god the acting performances are forced and generic. The Hydra monster is a critical piece in the story and falls off the grid in originality.

The story has a similar ring to it as 2007 The Condemned where people are taken prisoner and hunted for sport so to speak. A very "C" style script with no real creativity. I yawned most of the way through the film 1/10

HEY EVERYBODY ITS ME, (4) .......and today we review ......a big ol snake monster movie .....multi headed snake monster that is ......

SO standard FX from back when digital / CGI was terrible.... my kids have made better CGI FX drawing with crayons lol.....but i can appreciate the attempt, especially the "temple" scene with the green screen/digital over lay of old statues lol... i mean it ALMOST worked .... colour was pretty close ...... so you at least get a gold star for that one .... good job buddy ....

i did enjoy seeing some great actors in here though ... guys like that creeping captain guy whos has always been awesome ..... also the chubby dude from peewees great adventure and the leprechaun movies LOL ........so i mean ... the acting portion was decent at least ........had a solid cast of the average people to die ... like the jocky guy, the token black dude , who i might add survived a long time actually .... the bimbo chick .... the nerd science chick ...so this almost was a slasher film if you think about it , except it took place during the day , AND honestly if should have been night shots , that probably would have helped ALOT with the cgi parts .........

PLOTHOLE: if hercules already killed it with the sword that could kill it then why is it back again and they need the sword to kill it ?!??!!!!??!?!?... real talk though ...... obviously he didnt do a very good job the first time or he wouldnt be dead and the giant snake monster thing would be .......ALSO showing the entire body MIGHT have been a bad idea as well .... i mean we all KNOW what it should look like ...but that doesnt mean we should actually see it on screen because WOW it just ends up looking like a REALLY bad hand puppet .... like a glove with snake heads on the end ......

over all this is a pretty average kind of creature feature for the mid 2000's late 2000's when cgi ruled the film world and honestly it was/is a double edged sword ....hopfully NOT wielded by herk there lol... but its bad because it was cheap to mass produce SO many creature movies and it over saturated the market for the longest time ...cheap fast flicks ......but not quality ....... sadly .... this was semi entertaining because i love giant monster movies / creature features , a call back to my younger days staying up late nights watching the all night monster marathons .........

3/10.

Another reviewer described this as being superior for a Sci-Fi Channel TV production. He was wrong. This is very much par for the course for the channel, a cheesy CGI-filled slice of monster mayhem in which various assembled non-actors are bumped off one by one on a remote island by the titular creature.

The ridiculous set-up of the narrative is particularly amusing here. There's a remote island in the Mediterranean where a group of archaeologists just happen to be conducting an expedition when they fall foul of the titular beastie. At the same time, and most bizarrely, there's a MOST DANGEROUS GAME-style hunt going on too, where some big game hunters are tracking down convicted criminals and get cash prizes if they manage to murder them.

Inevitably the stories all combine but in the most ordinary way imaginable. HYDRA is for the most part a repetitive production in which almost the entire cast is bumped off before the survivors finally figure out a way to combat the monster. The acting is poor and the CGI effects typically awful for a Sci Fi Channel production. There's little more to say really other than you know what you're going to get with this one.

Four incredibly wealthy men with more money than common sense, and whom all had lost a loved one due to murder, charter a yacht to an abandoned island where they will hunt 4 alleged criminals. However the island that decide on is very much already occupied....by a Hydra. Yup, that must mean that it's SyFy Original picture time again.

This creature-of-the-week meets "Most Dangerous Game" may be a tad better than the typical SyyFy flick but it still wears out it's (admittedly forced) welcome with cardboard characters that you don't really care what happens to & a monster that seems cool enough at first but gets more and more boring with each subsequent attack. This is highly forgettable fluff that is only good for a rainy Saturday morning when you have nothing better to do but nurse a hangover.

My Grade: D

DVD Extras: Just trailers for "Direct Contact", "The Code", "Labor Pains"