Megaconda

Megaconda was a movie that I didn't know existed until today. I watched and thought it was averages but entertaining. The effects aren't the best but I didn't expect them to be. The snake scenes are fun to watch. The acting wasn't anything to write home about about though Greg Evigan was decent with what he was given. I also thought the snake was a bit to big, I would have rather seen a snake as big as the ones in the Anaconda series but that's just me. The sounds that the snake makes are the same ones you hear in every giant snake movie which isn't a bad thing because I do like the sounds, though I guess I'm weird. The director, Christopher Ray (known for Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus) did a decent job directing, he is pretty good at action sequences which was really what I and other people watch these type of movies for. But over all this is a average but entertaining movie. 2 out of 4 stars

It is really sad to think this was screen star Stella Stevens last acting gig before five years later she had to sell home and go into a long term nursing facility and now wastes away her last years. Her acting scenes were unfortunately not memorable as the lowly barkeep at local watering hole and also as nursemaid for the last hiking survivor. Only glad thing was to see this was not like most of the big snake movies where everyone is gobbled up. Stella Stevens character was able to live!!! I hope she made enough from this movie to keep some $$$ in the bank.

As for the professional review, this mirrors what's already been said. With particular focus on how bad the CGI 'Megaconda' was, unless you genuinely are in a charitable mood - this is a supremely bad movie ! With the exception of a few staff who have been 'around the block' a few times over the years through different roles, ...the acting is questionable at best...plot, I'll leave that to you... and movies that have little to no dialogue at the end to sum seem to top off a bad way of spending 1 1/2 hours of your life.

Watch for a laugh, watch to cringe, watch for whatever you want! Up to you!

First of all, I must admit that I had absolutely no expectations for this 2010 movie. Why? Well, for starters, look at the name; "Megaconda". That just drips with low budget and horrible creature feature all over it. And usually movies with monstrously large snakes tend to be dubious at best.

But I hadn't seen the movie before, so of course I ended up sitting down to watch the 2010 movie from writer Steve Latshaw and director Christopher Olen Ray.

So how was it? Well, pretty much as it could possible be. A predictable movie with such a generic script that even a dead person could be able to keep up with it. And the CGI animated snake was so fake and poorly made that even a computer game from the 1990s would reject it.

Granted, "Megaconda" was not among the best of huge snake movies. No, not even by a longshot. Yet, I managed to get through the entire ordeal.

The acting in the movie was adequate enough, if you take into consideration the limitations of the script and the flaccid characters they had to work with. Of course, a movie such as this doesn't really boast any grand names on the billing.

A creature feature such as "Megaconda" is required to have realistic effects, or at least a creature design that you can buy into. But "Megaconda" didn't have that. Instead we were treated to a horribly animated CGI snake that was definitely among some of the worst animated snake effects I have suffered through.

My rating of "Megaconda" lands on a staggering three out of ten stars. This was a swing and a miss folks, and you might as well just give the movie a wide berth, because it is not really worth the time, money or effort.

After a series of strange incidents, a group of friends hiking out in the woods finds evidence that a local construction project has awakened a gigantic prehistoric snake that is running loose in the countryside killing everyone it comes across and forces them to call the authorities to deal with it.

This here was an expectedly decent enough creature feature. Like what is usually the case with these films, the high amount of action here battling the creature makes for a slew of cheesy creature feature goodness. From the opening ambush on the construction worker that doesn't notice it stalking towards him, the attack on the hikers going innocently through the park or the son's first encounter with the creature where it forces them to hide in the cave with the artist working in the area all make for some fun moments here, and with the series of scenes featuring the snake hunting stragglers in the woods it makes for an even better time getting to the finale. Bringing in a helicopter ambush, a series of gun-battles against the snake and an explosive finale, there's some strong cheesy creature action that keeps the film moving along rather nicely and making for the film's best aspects. There are still some problems with this one. The most obvious issue present is the lame CGI that feels like every other bargain-basement style production in the style where it never really employs the kind of realistic work it should be capable of. The snake's size and generally quite energetic appearance means that it has to look incredibly cheap to get it to perform those actions, causing the infamous style of graphics that come from cut scenes out of a video game. Its dimensions are never accurate as it seems to tower over anything and everything one minute then manages to sneak into the most obscure places to strike out at victims whenever possible which just highlights how off the material in those scenes is. The other real issue is the film's padding with rather useless side-plots that go nowhere. It's not necessary to keep coming back to the constant complaining about the need for all the different attempts to stop the company building in the area. It's a common trope that doesn't mean much to the film as a whole, manages to go nowhere when it's brought up to various individuals in higher authority only to have the entire thing wiped out without any resolution. The cheating housewife scenario doesn't help matters, and with the lack of any exploitation to come out of this feels like padding to add a reason for the characters to be there to ramp up the body count. As well, with the shoddy-looking single-location feel that still shows busy highways running by in the background unaffected by what's going on, which makes for quite a cheesy feel, these are what hold this one back despite being expected for this kind of film.

Rated Unrated/R: Violence and Language.