lost-in-limbo Review of Attack of the Beast Creatures

Attack of the Beast Creatures (1985)

"I don't like this island."

[6/10 · 10 July 2010]

Dolls?! No beast creatures. An island tribe. Looking no bigger 30cms high. With long black stringy hair. Sharp pointy teeth. Howling screech and growl. Piercing eyes that glow in the dark. Persistently quick off the mark and these nasty critters love the taste of human flesh. Tasty! Well a group of survivors of a sunken cruise ship soon find out that had a better chance taking the odds of staying alive on the water, than what they encounter on an uncharted tropical island. "Attack of the Beast Creatures" is a limited on the cheap production that feels at times like nothing more than a made on the spot home movie, but it's charmingly fun and rather unpleasant in details. The odd story is slight and considerably basic with a stretched out feel… it's a survival outing. Wander here, get attack. Wander there, a nasty surprise waits. Aimlessly wander, get attack… but despite the repetitiveness and slow-pace it's actually well catered for its z-budget. The punchy attacks are quite savage and hysterical, if a little too drawn out that it can be humorous watching the actors struggle about fighting off motionless dolls gnawing away at them. But the crusty make-up FX creates some unbearable images of cheap gore (just watch what acid can do to you!) and creatures (which do look great!) are extremely well presented and photographed when in action. Plenty of lurking POV shots. Sometimes the pacing would stall with padded out dialogue exchanges (where the characters would open up to each other), but the amateurishly raw performances (falling on the bland side, but still admirably committed) don't invoke all that much from the stilted script. As for that whimsical electronic music score, it might have been schlock but it really did grow on me during the darker moments. The locations that were used (Fairfield, Connecticut masquerading as an island) makes good use of the situation, cementing a remote and disorienting spell with its thick, rugged terrain that simply saps the life of the survivors. Defects aside, it's enjoyable minimalist film-making worthy of its cult status.