The good points:
1 It takes itself seriously, it is not a daft parody of science fiction like Sharknado.
2 Interesting premise - millions of monsters from deep beneath the Earth's crust rise up world wide during some eclipses to eat people.
3 Good dialogue and acting. Generally not bad direction and editing.
4 Several types of monster (avian, bovine, humanoid, small worm things, giant worm things) suggest a subterranean ecosystem somewhere.
5 Okay CGI. Vast hordes are depicted with conviction. Close-up hand to hand battles, less so.
The problems:
1 There is no attempt to understand or explain the creatures, which a sci-fi or horror film ought to try to do. Some people think they are literal demons, which some people would, but why would subterranean creatures react to a total eclipse they cannot possibly detect? Is it because they really are supernatural? I can see why cold would bother them but why salt? Salt is a traditional weapon against magical threats, again suggesting a supernatural nature. They decay rapidly into red mulch when dead but nobody mentions this, making me think this was added at the CGI stage and was not in the script.
2 Just one is seen at night apparently either dead or paralysed, but mysteriously still intact. Nothing is made of this potentially intriguing episode.
3 Several action scenes are missing short vital events necessary to make the scenes flow and make sense. Easily fixable, so why weren't they? Was it edited in a rush?
It still manages to be one of the best SyFy channel movies.
1 It takes itself seriously, it is not a daft parody of science fiction like Sharknado.
2 Interesting premise - millions of monsters from deep beneath the Earth's crust rise up world wide during some eclipses to eat people.
3 Good dialogue and acting. Generally not bad direction and editing.
4 Several types of monster (avian, bovine, humanoid, small worm things, giant worm things) suggest a subterranean ecosystem somewhere.
5 Okay CGI. Vast hordes are depicted with conviction. Close-up hand to hand battles, less so.
The problems:
1 There is no attempt to understand or explain the creatures, which a sci-fi or horror film ought to try to do. Some people think they are literal demons, which some people would, but why would subterranean creatures react to a total eclipse they cannot possibly detect? Is it because they really are supernatural? I can see why cold would bother them but why salt? Salt is a traditional weapon against magical threats, again suggesting a supernatural nature. They decay rapidly into red mulch when dead but nobody mentions this, making me think this was added at the CGI stage and was not in the script.
2 Just one is seen at night apparently either dead or paralysed, but mysteriously still intact. Nothing is made of this potentially intriguing episode.
3 Several action scenes are missing short vital events necessary to make the scenes flow and make sense. Easily fixable, so why weren't they? Was it edited in a rush?
It still manages to be one of the best SyFy channel movies.