They don't make them like THIS anymore! No, wait! This is a 2003 film, not one from 1953! Well, maybe they DO still make em like this!
I was looking for a horror movie that wouldn't tax my brain too badly on a Saturday night and therefore wasn't particularly disappointed with Bog Creatures. The setting is semi-eerie and the acting is okay. Basically, this wasn't a bad horror flick; it just isn't anything that hasn't been seen before. In fact, it really hearkens back to the horror films of the 1950s which we laugh at today. The only differences are slightly better costumes/effects, more foul language, etc.
SPOILERS AHEAD
This may actually become a campy movie at some point. The most bizarre scene is the doofy guy sneaking into one of the girl's tents and sniffing her panties. She returns and catches him, but is standing behind him and can't see what he's doing. So, like any normal rational guy, he SWALLOWS the panties, trying to act nonchalant.
We have a rather bizarre scenario in itself, with specially-recruited `troubled' drop-out archaeology students being brought together. Somehow the tough guy with the tattoo just doesn't strike me as a college archaeology student-having known a number of them. It also seems strange that this U.K. professor has to find his `special' archaeology kids in America.
At least the troweling scene where the first Viking berserker is unearthed--first the helmet then the realization that there is a body IN the helmet--is good. This gives a brief feeling of reality or at least texture to the film. So does the autopsy scene. Other than that, though, it's basically a bunch of typical college losers in the woods, being semi-stalked by somewhat non-aggressive mummified corpses. (If you want to see this basic plot in a well-animated, more lively manner, watch Scooby Doo On Zombie Island!) To put it another way, it's about as scary as Ghost Breakers (with Bob Hope), but much less funny.
The cast is fairly solid, although after just one viewing (all I desire!), I'm not able to keep the five students straight. There are two decent-looking girls we barely get to know, plus a tough guy, a nerd and a weird intellectual who doesn't seem to give a rip. Lara Theodos is certainly hot as Dr. Feneman's brilliant kid sister. The ending, by the way, is interesting-and certainly in keeping with the campy 1950s feel of the movie. Overall, the movie is like the Bog Creatures themselves: kind of creepy, but not much bite.
I was looking for a horror movie that wouldn't tax my brain too badly on a Saturday night and therefore wasn't particularly disappointed with Bog Creatures. The setting is semi-eerie and the acting is okay. Basically, this wasn't a bad horror flick; it just isn't anything that hasn't been seen before. In fact, it really hearkens back to the horror films of the 1950s which we laugh at today. The only differences are slightly better costumes/effects, more foul language, etc.
SPOILERS AHEAD
This may actually become a campy movie at some point. The most bizarre scene is the doofy guy sneaking into one of the girl's tents and sniffing her panties. She returns and catches him, but is standing behind him and can't see what he's doing. So, like any normal rational guy, he SWALLOWS the panties, trying to act nonchalant.
We have a rather bizarre scenario in itself, with specially-recruited `troubled' drop-out archaeology students being brought together. Somehow the tough guy with the tattoo just doesn't strike me as a college archaeology student-having known a number of them. It also seems strange that this U.K. professor has to find his `special' archaeology kids in America.
At least the troweling scene where the first Viking berserker is unearthed--first the helmet then the realization that there is a body IN the helmet--is good. This gives a brief feeling of reality or at least texture to the film. So does the autopsy scene. Other than that, though, it's basically a bunch of typical college losers in the woods, being semi-stalked by somewhat non-aggressive mummified corpses. (If you want to see this basic plot in a well-animated, more lively manner, watch Scooby Doo On Zombie Island!) To put it another way, it's about as scary as Ghost Breakers (with Bob Hope), but much less funny.
The cast is fairly solid, although after just one viewing (all I desire!), I'm not able to keep the five students straight. There are two decent-looking girls we barely get to know, plus a tough guy, a nerd and a weird intellectual who doesn't seem to give a rip. Lara Theodos is certainly hot as Dr. Feneman's brilliant kid sister. The ending, by the way, is interesting-and certainly in keeping with the campy 1950s feel of the movie. Overall, the movie is like the Bog Creatures themselves: kind of creepy, but not much bite.