Roadkill

Before Johannes Roberts brought us 47 Meters Down or The Strangers sequel, he directed this SyFy movie named Roadkill. I have genuinely liked his movies before even though none of them were masterpieces but I thought they are mostly entertaining and fun little flicks. With this one being a sci-fi original you probably know what you're going to get. You will have bad acting, awful CGI effects and a dumb plot. However I think this is one of the better SyFy movies, the effects are bad but I have seen way worse, the acting was also not terrible and we even have some decent make-up effects. And as far as the story goes, I think it's quite original. A couple of teens driving around Ireland in an RV accidentally run over an old gypsy woman and are cursed with a giant flying creature chasing them down to kill them.

So basically just expect a typical sci-fi movie that is slightly above average for their content. [3,8/10]

Yeah I gave it 7 of 10, what of it?! I enjoyed this movie the first time SyFy ran it a couple years ago and I've been looking for it ever since. I found it for free today on an online free movie site. (legal) I like B movies IF they are done with decent acting (this was) decent plot without too many holes ((check) and most importantly NO horrible CGI. The CGI in this movie was decently done for what it is and for the budget they probably had to work with. I didn't once roll my eyes at the monster bird. Honestly, who really knows what a truck sized bird would look like in real life? I imagine a bit unreal! I love B movies, I love creature features and I loved this movie. I offer no apologies, it was great!

This is a pretty bad movie that is lousy and unwatchable. The story is nothing to special because it's just characters trying to flee from a myth bird. It's interesting they use that type of bird that I never heard of and does give details on what it is. But the movie full of cliches and is easily predictable throughout. The whole curse thing makes no sense because the bird is also after people who have nothing to do with the accident so why include a curse. There's no one to root for in the movie because all of them are pretty bad and aren't that likable at all. The acting itself is pretty bad in this type of movie. This movie is not worth watching.

Roadkill is a telefilm directed by Johannes Roberts and written by Rick Suvalle. It stars Oliver James, Eliza Bennett, Kacey Barnfield, Ned Dennehy, Diarmuid Noyes, Roisin Murphy and Eve Macklin. Music is by Ray Harman and cinematography by Peter Robertson.

A bunch of young friends are travelling around Ireland in an RV when they stop off at a bric-a-brac store. Getting into a dispute with one of the crotchety shop inhabitants, the youths are forced to flee and knock down an old Romany lady with their RV. Whilst trying to aid the old woman, she gasps her last breaths whilst issuing a curse on all involved in her killing…

Once in a while you stumble upon a telefilm that really entertains and holds you for its duration, sadly Roadkill is not one of them. Low expectations always help with these sort of productions, they are after all knocked up by aspiring directors who are just happy to have a film shown on the SyFy channel, but thee's not a lot to write home about here.

In its favour is the appearance of Ned Dennehy, who is always good value for a bit of scuzzy characterisation, and Stephen Rea even pops in for a cameo, but both actors are clearly slumming it and working for food. The group of handsome youngsters are the usual roll call of nice legs, nice cleavage, nice pecs, supplemented by the dim one, the annoying one who says dude a lot and etc, each to be picked off by a rather crummy CGI mythical beast from Sinbad lore.

Will any of them survive? Just what is the secret of the medallion that Dennehy's dirty army are so keen to get back? The answers to these questions will of course provide the backbone of the story, leading to an unintentionally funny moment when "lead girl" turns into Chuck Norris. The acting isn't awful and it's nice to have some genuine Irish countryside as the backdrop to a story set in Ireland, but it all comes off as pointless TV schedule filler. And unadventurous filler at that. 3/10

If you can't handle bad CGI (and I mean the worst kind), than do yourself a favor and do not watch this movie. It actually has many things that would make me want to rate this 2/3 out of 10. But this is the Ned Dennehy show. You might have seen this man before in other movies and he always has some interesting characters. But he really shines in this crazy role right here.

So while most of the other actors (mostly the young ones) are not up to the task (e.g. might want to stick to their day job), Ned really goes all out. I really enjoyed him, he made the rest of the movie look better than it actually is ...