Jurassic Tiger : Le Tigre aux crocs d'acier

Cheaply made Sci-Fi channel time filler which makes both humans and sabretooth tigers look like nitwits.

David Keith and John Rhys-Davies are the only actors who you'll recognize, and for good reason. Everybody else look like they were grabbed from a middle school "Introduction to Drama" course, (which they all flunked). Even Davies struggles with the brainless greedy rich bozo cliché he is stuck with. How Keith kept a straight face amidst all this is anybody's guess.

Somewhere, some scientist who saw Jurassic Park performs genetic restoration experiments or something, thus reproducing the imposing Ice Age beast, big teeth and all. The experiments fail to make the CGI monster look real, or to do a believable level of acting (well, he fits right in with his co-stars in that department). Keith plays a big game hunter who tries to hunt the thing, while your stock group of screaming group of stereotyped teens (nerd, jock, tramp, sexy intelligent girl, oversexed dumbbell guy etc.) camp nearby and say stupid stuff before they take turns getting munched. The hilarious scene of an idiot trying to fistfight/stab the creature is classic.

Good for a laugh only.

Interesting premise, not so good effects. I think they should have used the guys who did the effects for the History Channels Prehistoric Mammals show. And, as usual, really stupid characters...the only one with two brain cells to rub together was the hunter. I kept cheering on the 'cat to kill them all. (Due to the long list of stupidity, I won't bother trying to list them)

Notice the set up for a sequel. "What's wrong? Never hear two cats mating?" Bet that puma was a female.

RELEASED TO TV IN 2002 and directed by James D.R. Hickox, "Sabretooth" chronicles events when a saberetooth cat, cloned via fossilized DNA, is unleashed into the Big Bear Valley wilderness where it preys on vacationers and a group of trainee guides (led by Jenna Gering & Josh Holloway). The two responsible for creating the creature (Vanessa Angel &John Rhys-Davies) hire a great white hunter to capture it (David Keith).

The beginning introduces the main cast and it's too goofy for its own good, particularly in regards to the trainee program group. But the story surprisingly gets compelling, despite the goofiness, and there's a great romantic scene between Holloway's character and Lola (Nicole Tubiola).

The cast is likable (rounded out by Lahmard J. Tate and Phillip Glasser) and there's a nice assortment of females but, for me, they all lacked genuine sex appeal, except for maybe Steffanie Busey (Kara), who is overlooked because her part's so peripheral. It's a fun flick and the locations are great, but the creature is too cartoony to suspend disbelief when its head or body is clearly shown. They should've limited views to quick, partial looks, like they did in the first half.

THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hour & 30 minutes and was shot in Big Bear Lake area, San Bernardino National Forest, California. WRITERS: Scott Vandiver (concept) & Tom Woosley (script).

GRADE: C/C- (4.5/10)

(There are Spoilers) Your usual monster from the past coming to a theater, or DVD outlet, near you with a ferocious 500 plus pound saber-tooth tiger-minus its stripes-being brought back to life via DNA genetic engineering. The two persons responsible for the saber-tooth's resurrection multi-millionaire and presidential hopeful, or so he hopes, Anthony Bricklin, John Rhys-Davis, and his lover and assistant DNA and genetic engineer Catherine Vicly, Venessa Angel, have no idea in what a Frankenstein, or Tony the Tiger, monster they created until it was too late.

With the saber-tooth escaping from his confinement, when the truck that he was caged in overturned, he goes straight into he wilds of the Nortern California mountains and runs into this troop of outdoor guides lead by the beautiful and well built, she has to be in tip top shape for the job she's doing, Casey Balenger, Jenna Gering. Wanting to take the big cat alive both Catherine and Brickin get big game hunter Bob Thatcher, David Keith, to hunt the killer feline down but a with a tranquilizer, not a super elephant, gun.

The killer cat using his superior sense of smell and hunting ability has no trouble at all finding his prey, which seems to be exclusively humans, and in no time at all almost wipes out and eats the entire cast in the movie. Thatcher who's about the only person in the film who has a chance to bring down the saber-tooth is handicapped by both Catherine and Bricklin who want the beast to be taken alive not dead in order to get both rich and farther their careers in politics and science. Bricklin feels the cat, with the money he gets from exhibiting it, will get him elected president and Catherine, in her creating it out of 10,000 year old DNA matter, the Nobel Prize in biological research. The only thing these two deluded lunatics end up getting is having themselves served up as the big cat's lunch and dinner!

***SPOILERS*** Not as bad at it at first seemed with the killer cat after being practically invisible, we only get to see glimpse of him, for almost the entire film coming out into the open and really doing a number, with his foot long canines, on everyone that he both runs and bites into. Thatcher despite his best efforts as a big game hunter is stymied by both Bricklin & Catherine, in bringing the big cat down, who want to prevent him from doing his job not knowing, or even caring, that if he did they would live to see the end of the movie. It was Thatcher who finally put this indestructible killer away not with the modern and sophisticated weapons that he had at his disposal but with what the cave man used to both fend it off and kill it some 10,000 years ago!

Apparently I was supposed to be scared; however, I couldn't stop laughing long enough to manage it. The writers created characters whose motto seems to be "when in danger or in doubt; run in circles...scream and shout" and don't have a shred of common sense between them. Also the producers need to ask the CGI people for a refund...that was the sorriest looking special effect I've seen in a while. I realize that this is not a big-budget production, but with the level of technology available they could have done much better.