A film crew from the University of the Rio Grande is formed to investigate the strange presence of the "Chupacabra" (or goat sucker), a mythical creature that has been implicated in the killing of livestock and the death of the crew leader's (Joiner) uncle in a small town in Texas. While local authorities have attributed the deaths to an unidentified "animal attack", Joiner is convinced it's the work of the Chupacabra and her personal vendetta leads the crew into a deadly encounter in which they attempt to trap and capture the animal for scientific purposes. Told as a documentary, with snippets of expert commentary interspersed, the movie looks like a student film shot entirely on a camcorder and while that element arguably lends 'authenticity' to the narrative concept, it doesn't bode well for mainstream film audiences, who will likely find this too amateurish to digest.
The acting is mostly very poor, with Joiner the key culprit, her performance is stilted, the dialogue she delivers at times forced and unconvincing. Despite being supposedly isolated (which McKinney, as the hulking ex-marine reinforces several times), as they prepare to take-on the ferocious Chubacabra, inconceivably, no one has a mobile phone (it's set in 1997), and for some reason, the constant traffic that is audible to the viewer, is ignored by the cast, as if it doesn't exist. Disappointingly, director Castro has left too many plot holes open with his storyline, and the end result is tedious and inadequate.
Special effects deserve some credit in part, notably the scene in which McKinney is dispatched is utterly grotesque and fully effective but unfortunately, it's a standard that is applied inconsistently throughout the movie, with the Chupacabra itself looking like some twit dancing around in a martian outfit. Ahead of the game in terms of the subject matter (it's Chupacabra fever in film land) but if you want to learn more about the Chupacabra folklore, this won't necessarily be the best place to enquire.
