Ogre

When I first saw the previews for this new sci-fi flick, I had the impression I was going to see a film that was as technically and artistically lazy and un-creative as its very title. The film is simply called "ogre" and it's about, well, an ogre. And not a talking one like Shrek. Just a big, lumbering, clumsy green hunchback wearing an apron who roars and likes to tear people into pieces. It's more like a troll.

"Ogre" actually turned out to surprise me, for it was much better than I was expecting. The graphics were just as poor as I anticipated, but everything else, notably the acting, was a major improvement over some of its other brother flicks that keep popping up on and off on the Sci-Fi Channel. Performances by the entire cast were worth writing home about. Not to say they were uniformally magnificent, but they were done by actors and actresses who had a clue of what they were doing and actually stirred to make an effort. The plot of the film was also more interesting...for a low-budget flick.

I am not, however, praising "Ogre" enough to say that it's a good movie. I still have to give it a marginally negative review because of the fact that it did prove to be a little tedious and slow over its running time with not enough action. And there was also some inconsistency I have to point out. Such as some of the secondary characters have old-fashioned muskets and the leading actor carries a contemporary police shotgun. And yet in the scenes where they're shooting it out with the ogre, he's firing shot-after-shot from his shotgun without the slightest recoil and the ones with the muskets are flinching back or falling over from the recoil of older, less reactive weapons.

Bottom line, "Ogre" was not a major surprise, but it was definitely more than I was expecting given the style and results that its brother and sister films on the Sci-Fi Channel have given to me over the years. What it really has to show for itself is its acting and the good performances of the cast. Still, it was a little too slow for me, and thus, I don't highly recommend it.

As a fan of monster movies and not opposed to a little gratuitous gore, I was fascinated by the title and the brief synopsis in my programme guide, so decided to watch this movie. I confess that I missed the beginning so did not see what happened to the two teenagers who let the ogre out of his lair. I presume they were eaten but I didn't witness this. I started watching from when the other two were in jail along with the "chosen one" for the ogre's next dinner.

I particularly liked the acting of Katharine Isabelle who played Jessica, the female of the two teenagers. I thought she hammed up her lines a little but that she gave the plot a bit of realism and down to earth-edness that was missing from the whole surmise.

The programme guide listed this movie under "horror." I would think that is a bit strong for the mild violence and terror generated by this film, most of which could easily be bettered by an average computer game aimed at teenagers. The ogre himself is a bit of a joke to put it mildly. Extremely juvenile computer graphics, comic-book roars, (why do all dinosaurs and monsters have exactly the same roars, I wonder?) and slow enough plodding that left me wondering how he caught anyone that wasn't tied to a stake as a sacrifice. Anyone who wasn't actually in a wheelchair could have outrun him, I would have thought.

Then of course there is the ever-present disbelieving police. Where would a good monster movie (or even a bad one) be without a couple of coppers laughing their heads off at the idea that there's a monster in them thar woods? Despite all of this, and suspending disbelief whenever the star of the show appeared on screen to gouge and maim those unfortunate locals who stood still for the required ten minutes waiting for him to reach them, I found this film enjoyable, particularly due to Katharine's natural performance. Whoever did the CGI ought to be allowed early retirement, but otherwise it was an enjoyable romp...hardly horror though.

I didn't expect a lot from a lowish budget B movie but I admit I quite enjoyed this film for being eerily atmospheric and for the impressive acting by the main characters. The ogre's menacing growl from deep in the forest felt quite unnerving.

John Schneider slotted very neatly into his powerful convincing character. Clearly a versatile actor!

I would have given this film a 7 if it wasn't for ( and I think most people would agree with me here ) a very ify ogre that seemed to be dropped in from a below average video game. When you think of the possible great GGI available in 2008 the ogre certainly could have been vastly improved ( budget allowing ). Yep, a well presented, very well acted, partly 19th Century set sci-fi fantasy film let down by the 19th century CGI.

Other than John Schneider starring as the village leader, there's not much to recommend OGRE. This TV movie looks like it was put together by the same people who worked on that incredibly bad Nazi Frankentein monster flick a few years ago. In fact, the monster here is virtually identical to that one. A group of teens stumbles across an 18th century village stuck in time. Once a year, a villager is offered up to the title character to keep it appeased. The teens accidentally let it loose and all hell breaks loose. The goofy plot is right out of M. Night's THE VILLAGE, which itself was pretty shabby. Katharine Isabelle of GINGER SNAPS fame plays one of the teens, and I wish the ogre had killed her first. She was that annoying. The CGI is atrocious as usual, which is par for the course with a SciFi Channel flick. The monster walks around with no sense of weight or mass, and most of its kills avoid combining the actors in the same shot with the creature, a sure sign of a very low budget. Sad.

Ogre was not a good, let alone great, movie, but considering the uninspiring title that I was expecting schlock, I was pleasantly surprised. It does have a lot of flaws, starting with the terrible effects, sadly the Ogre is no exception. There is still the lame gore and cheesy dialogue, while the story is thin, predictable and at times tedious. On the other hand, it is one of the more tolerable movies I've seen on the SyFy channel, because while not mind-blowing the acting does look as though they are putting effort into their roles, John Schneider in particular is interesting to watch. Katherine Isaballe does at times overdo it with the shrillness though. The characters are not characters you remember for years, but they are not as irritating as other characters from the likes of the SyFy disaster movies for instance, and they are not as blatantly stereotypical either. Although the effects do cheapen the film, Ogre didn't look too bad to me, the editing was at least not slip-shod and there was attempts at an atmosphere. Again, the music is nothing extraordinary, but it has some haunting themes and it doesn't feel as though it is slowing the film down. All in all, not bad, not good, just scraping the average line. 5/10 Bethany Cox