An ancient pestilence called The Scourge has been set free in a small town after being entombed in a church's masonry for a century and a half. As bodies rapidly pile up, nothing stands ... See full summary »
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An ancient pestilence called The Scourge has been set free in a small town after being entombed in a church's masonry for a century and a half. As bodies rapidly pile up, nothing stands between the spawning Scourge and the rest of the town except our young heroes Scott and Jessie who rediscover their love for each other in the process. Written by
Jonas Quastel
I guess it was the advert that convinced me to give this one a go, even though I tend to steer clear of these sorts of films, or at any rate until they have more reviews and I can really tell if they might appeal. I watched this anyway, thinking that it might feature some fun monster action, or creeps or gore, or something decent, but ultimately its a bit of a wash out. The premise is perfectly workable, with a mean parasite creature unleashed after a church burns down, but the film never does anything exciting or original with it. Moreover, the writing here is pretty bad, the premise is underdeveloped, as are the characters and there are a few moments where people simply do not act realistically and their behaviour is clearly just a contrivance to move the plot along. The two leads, a troubled tough played ably enough by Nic Rhind and the pretty sheriffs niece, nicely performed by Robyn Ledoux, are both watchable enough, but kinda bland and there is an obvious lack of enough budget or directorial smarts to put them through much of a wringer. The only other character who has anything much to do is the sheriff, played by Russel Ferrier, who does his best with a poorly written character. All these flaws would be somewhat more manageable were the film to deliver on sleaze or gore or imaginative monster shenanigans, but there is no sleaze and the gore is lacking. There is a bit of blood on display, but only one moment that qualifies as actual gore. Its put across OK but is far, far too little for a film so thin in most other respects. The design of the creature is at least pretty neat, its a suitably monstrous, alien looking creation that, while not looking too original, is at least quite cool and well animated for the budget. Sure, its obvious cgi but its OK, a lot better than say, the average Sci Fi Channel original. As may be plain, I didn't think much of this film. Still, its not unwatchable, its shot well enough, moves along nicely enough and never really gets dull. The heroine is easy on the eye, the few appearances of the creature are mildly fun and the film is short enough not to try the patience too much. A generous 4/10 is in order, I think.
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I guess it was the advert that convinced me to give this one a go, even though I tend to steer clear of these sorts of films, or at any rate until they have more reviews and I can really tell if they might appeal. I watched this anyway, thinking that it might feature some fun monster action, or creeps or gore, or something decent, but ultimately its a bit of a wash out. The premise is perfectly workable, with a mean parasite creature unleashed after a church burns down, but the film never does anything exciting or original with it. Moreover, the writing here is pretty bad, the premise is underdeveloped, as are the characters and there are a few moments where people simply do not act realistically and their behaviour is clearly just a contrivance to move the plot along. The two leads, a troubled tough played ably enough by Nic Rhind and the pretty sheriffs niece, nicely performed by Robyn Ledoux, are both watchable enough, but kinda bland and there is an obvious lack of enough budget or directorial smarts to put them through much of a wringer. The only other character who has anything much to do is the sheriff, played by Russel Ferrier, who does his best with a poorly written character. All these flaws would be somewhat more manageable were the film to deliver on sleaze or gore or imaginative monster shenanigans, but there is no sleaze and the gore is lacking. There is a bit of blood on display, but only one moment that qualifies as actual gore. Its put across OK but is far, far too little for a film so thin in most other respects. The design of the creature is at least pretty neat, its a suitably monstrous, alien looking creation that, while not looking too original, is at least quite cool and well animated for the budget. Sure, its obvious cgi but its OK, a lot better than say, the average Sci Fi Channel original. As may be plain, I didn't think much of this film. Still, its not unwatchable, its shot well enough, moves along nicely enough and never really gets dull. The heroine is easy on the eye, the few appearances of the creature are mildly fun and the film is short enough not to try the patience too much. A generous 4/10 is in order, I think.