Carny

I was pleasantly surprised by this Sci-Fi Channel entry. There were some credible makeup and physical effects, a number of competent actors supporting a script that avoided many of the more common clichés for what has become its own genre, the Sci-Fi Channel monster flick usually produced in Canada.

Lou Diamond Phillips stars, cast yet again as a small town sheriff battling things that fly and/or creep whilst chewing scenery, secondary characters and extras at will. It isn't BATS, but its not a crap fest either. Another treat -- the music did not appear to be library music but supported the scenes rather well. A genuine jump inducer in the 2nd act and some graphic gore and another jump in the 3rd made this a "7" in my book.

Oh yeah, and a minimum of shaky camera work and random zooming in and out. Bless the D of P for not inflicting that on the audience.

Was a fair movie, i mean nothing really irritated or annoyed me but the creature was a poor excuse for a devil. The best devil is the one from the movie "the Barrens" you will want to look into that. This was one of the better Maneatser movies in the series though it doesn't beat Grizzly Rage or the tiger one with Busey.

Out of sheer boredom, I flipped the TV onto yet another Sci-Fi Channel B movie, expecting nothing more than pure dreck. Luckily, I was wrong.

Carny has an interesting--if typical--plot. As the story begins, we're treated to brief glimpses of the creature--a snarling, demonic beast. "Oh no," I cry. "It's another one of THOSE films where the creature is only shown in brief, shaky camera shots to avoid special effects costs." Luckily, I was wrong.

Of course the creature escapes, just like you'd expect in a horror movie, beginning a fairly typical "monster on the loose" scenario--because really, you can't make a movie unless the monster is on the loose. Who'd like a movie where the monster just stayed in its cage and ate mice all day??? Bah! There are three things that set Carny apart from the typical Sci-Fi B movie.

1) The characters. Several characters have a fair amount of depth to them. Not a lot, but really, this is a monster-on-the-loose film. The characters aren't -just- there to be eaten; you get a feeling like they're actual people. Additionally--and not to spoil things--but it's not just the monster who's evil in this story!

2) The monster. Ordinarily, beasties such as this look like crap, or look much too powerful. This one looks menacing without one getting the feeling that it's omnipotent.

3) The dialogue. It's not Shakespeare, but like another commenter wrote, it does avoid many clichés and pitfalls of other B movies. And again, monster-on-the-loose flicks really don't require a lot of deep, existential dialogue.

Give Carny a chance. There are far worse out there. If nothing else, feast thine eyes upon the creature!

I was actually pleasantly surprised watching Carny. It does have its problems, but for me is one of the more tolerable SyFy channel movies. It does have some beautiful-looking and atmospheric sets and lighting, giving an appropriate nightmarish feeling, good make-up, a surprisingly well-designed and menacing monster, credible performances and a score that doesn't feel at that generic and also fits with the film's tone. Of course it has its problems, the quality of the story and writing are actually vast improvements to previous and succeeding efforts but they are not perfect still. The story has a good if not groundbreaking(though it didn't need to be) concept and is actually mostly interesting, well-paced and with some scenes that are quite nail-biting. Where it is let down though is in the escape of the monster, which I also feel could've been introduced later and with more suspense, and an ending that feels rushed that contrived. The script is not as clichéd or as cheesy thankfully as most of SyFy's resume, but still could have done with more flow in terms of structure. The characters are not as irritating as before or since, however are an uneven mix, the leads are likable and have some depth but most of the supporting roles are rather shallow and not developed as well. The camera work does suffer also from some choppy editing and numerous instances where it zooms in and out which often gave it a rather overly claustrophobic sensation watching Carny. Overall, not perfect but tolerable, with even its flaws having been done worse elsewhere. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Typical SyFy Channel crap, with one difference: some character development. Lou D.Philips plays a small-town sheriff who goes on the hunt for a winged creature that has escaped from a traveling carnival. The beast makes mincemeat of everyone in its path, and is your typical CGI creation. Ah, but the carny owner (Peterson) is an extremely nasty and hideous-looking fellow who doesn't hesitate to kill anyone who gets in his path either. He imbues his character with a sort of Sidney Greenstreet sense of menace. And the local minister (didn't catch the actor's name) is hellbent on shutting down the carnival, even if it means burning it to the ground with all the carny folks inside their tents. In his own way, the minister is as bad as the ruthless carny owner. Both actors rise above their material. Sadly, Philips does not. He gives the same wooden, mail-it-in performance he gave in BATS (where he also played a small-town sheriff), with no indication he has learned anything new about acting in the interim. He needs a strong director, and he does not have one here. He simply is the one "name" actor in this low-budget Canadian quickie. Truth is, I only watched this quasi-turkey because of him. The ending is so poorly staged and filmed, you may be left wondering what the heck in fact happened.