Komodo (1999)

After witnessing his parents being killed by creatures on an island as a child, a young man is brought back to the island a few years later by his psychiatrist, only to be terrorized by the same creatures.

Director:

Michael Lantieri

Writers:

Hans Bauer, Craig Mitchell

Stars:

Jill Hennessy, Billy Burke, Kevin Zegers

3 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Jill Hennessy	...	Victoria
Billy Burke	...	Oates
Kevin Zegers	...	Patrick Connally
Paul Gleeson	...	Denby
Nina Landis	...	Annie
Michael Edward-Stevens	...	Martin Gris
Simon Westaway	...	Bracken
Bruce Hughes	...	Mr. Connally
Jane Conroy	...	Mrs. Connally
Melissa Jaffer	...	Patrick's Grandmother
Brian McDermott	...	Sheriff Gordon
Nique Needles	...	Hippie

Storyline

During the 70's, some Komodo Dragon eggs were dumped on the beach of a North Carolina island. Somehow, the baby Komodos survived, and twenty years later they have grown up and taken over the island for themselves. Young Patrick has lost his parents and his dog to the lizards, but didn't see them himself, which has left him traumatized. Now, with his therapist Victoria, who doesn't believe the Dragons are real, he is returning to the island to confront his fears. Soon people are being chomped, and Patrick and Victoria must fight for their lives if they ever hope to make it back home.

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Plot Keywords:

psychotronic film | natural horror | island | komodo dragon | dog | 

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Taglines:

they exist. you are history

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Genres:

Adventure | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for monster violence and language

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was originally made with the intention of being theatrically released on a worldwide level, but the distributors fell through at the last minute. Komodo did end up playing theatrically in Australia, as well as in very limited screenings in the United States and Toronto, Canada, but otherwise went direct-to-VHS.

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Goofs

Kevin gets a chance to take his shirt off. He smears blood across his chest. As he runs away with Victoria towards the helicopter, his chest is glistening, but there's not a trace of blood.

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Quotes

Victoria: Is there anything these things won't eat?
Denby: Yea, anything faster than they are, I guess. And raisins. They don't eat raisins.

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Connections

Referenced in Best of the Worst: Our VHS Collection (2019)

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Soundtracks

Sultans of Swing
by Mark Knopfler
Performed by Dire Straits

User Reviews

With a little work, this should've been a theatrical release

First off let me say one thing... B horror and drama are the only two genres that really don't mix at all. That said, Komodo, one of the few films to actually try to combine those two genres, isn't all that bad of a movie. The special effects are in fact pretty impressive for a straight to video cheesefest, and the cinematography is definitely worth noting. The cinematographer somehow made Komodo look like a big budget studio piece, with some very inventive camera angles and my favorite... a LOT of movement. I don't know why... I'm just a fan of camera movement.

The acting, though it wasn't great, was decidedly above average for a film such as this. Jill Hennessy, star of TV's Law and Order, put forth a decent performance, but her... errr... assets seemed to have a lot more screen presence than she ever will. Kevin Zegers, one of the most talented actors of his generation, showed little of that talent here, sleep walking through his role with ease. The remainder of the supporting cast was average, with the exception of Patrick's grandmother (I think), who was just begging to be eaten. Remember that one moment in Deep Blue Sea when Samuel L Jackson got chomped up by the shark? Remember how you felt when that happened? Were you cheering? I thought so. That's exactly how you'll feel when she gets swallowed whole by the Komodo Dragon (cue cheesy Dum Dum Dum sound), and trust me, you'll be wondering why Jill Hennessy even bothers to try to save her. And thankfully it's in the film's first twenty minutes.

Well, all that said, the movie did have it's share of problems, and then some. First off, THERE WAS NO CLIMAX!

The biggest one however, was the movie's tremendous lack of focus. Many movies do have trouble focusing, but never has that been more evident than in Komodo. First off, the movie can't seem to decide whether it wants to be a Jurassic Park-esque sci fi horror flick, which it hints at in a few scenes, a Carnosaur-esque Jurassic Park rip off, which it also hints at, or a full fledged character study/drama, which I actually wish it had turned into, and also... yea, you guessed it... hints at that. It had the promise, starting off a subplot where Jill Hennessy's character has to crack through the veritable shell Kevin Zegers has created around himself, shielding him from reality. But, alas, that subplot was thrown out halfway through the movie, the main plot with the killer lizards taking over.

Secondly, the movie doesn't want to decide on who the main character is. It starts off with the focus on Kevin Zegers, shifting to Jill Hennessy, back to Zegers, then staying on the two for a while. Then, about an hour through, Zegers is completely forgotten about for over twenty minutes, not a second on screen during that time, until the end, where he's brought back for some reason. If you're gonna have a main character, you can't throw them off to the side?

I made my own Jurassic Park rip off (well, technically it was a spoof), a couple of years ago titled Catastrophe: Jurassic Park (With Cats), and I did the same thing. That was before I knew anything about filmmaking. Now that I do, I watch a Hollywood film like Komodo do the same thing and I'm blown away. Have these people even gone to film school?

Bottom line: Komodo is an entertaining B flick, but little else. But hey, if the considerably worse Bats made it to theaters, why didn't this?

***/*****

Details

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 May 2000 (Malaysia)

Also Known As:

Komodo

Filming Locations:

Cape Moreton, Moreton Island, Queensland, Australia

Box Office

Budget:

AUD15,000,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$207,496

Company Credits

Production Co:

Komodo Film Productions Pty. Ltd., Scanbox Asia Pacific Ltd.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1