Troglodyte

The fishing vessel Solita crosses a storm during the night and the Skipper Will McKenna (Corin Nemec) witnesses a weird creature attacking the crewman Joey. They return to the dock and Will has difficulties to pay the amount he owes to the former owner of the boat, Roy (Roman Podhara). The fish population is reducing in the area and the biologist Arden (Camille Sullivan) is investigating the possible causes. Meanwhile, Will's daughter Carly (Miriam McDonald) steals the keys of her father's cottage in a nearby island and plans to travel with her boyfriend Danny (Daniel James Wisler) and their friends Erin (Christie Laing) and Drew (Brandon Jay McLaren) to spend the weekend in the island. However, Drew is murdered by a deep sea predator on the dock and his pieces are found by Will and Arden. Carly, Danny and Erin do not have any news from their friend and travel to the island without Drew. Sooner Erin is murdered by the creature and Danny is bitten by a newborn reptile. Danny and Erin seek shelter in the cabin but they are trapped there by the creatures. In the continent, Will and Arden learn that the deep sea predator is a very dangerous species, after a series of lethal attacks, and they head to the island to rescue Carly.

"Troglodyte" is an unoriginal but pretty decent B-movie for television. The plot blends "Lake Placid" and Predator" and the result is a cheesy and forgettable action film with the usual clichés. The town seems to be empty and the conclusion has the usual nonsense, with Will, Carly and Arden happy and forgetting that Danny, Jay and many of their friends are dead. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Feras do Mar" ("Sea Beasts")

Depending on your point of view, this movie either delivers what you would expect from a low budget creature feature or you should avoid at all costs. There are some similarities here with another "Sci-fi Channel" movie "Loch Ness Terror". The difference being that "Sea Beast" runs off in several different directions at a frantic pace, while "Loch Ness Terror" is far more deliberate. The CGI monsters are about equal, and interestingly both films have young creatures getting in on the carnage. One major annoyance about "Sea Beast" is the daughter, played by Miriam McDonald. Her acting is so amateurish that you will be rooting for the creature to end her misery and your's. The creatures are on screen in daylight for a good amount of time, which maintains interest throughout, although there is never any attempt to explain where they came from in the first place. - MERK

"Sea Beast" (aka. Troglodyte) was actually a rather nice surprise of a movie. I picked up the DVD from Amazon based on the cover of the movie, because it looked interesting.

The story in "Sea Beast" takes place at a coastal community. A local, struggling, fisherman witnesses something taking one of his crew at sea during a storm. Then people start dying at land, and it appears that some aquatic creature have followed the fishing vessel back to land. Can the people stop the deep sea predator before it is too late and can they find the nest? Now, that story was actually quite alright, despite it being very cliché and predictable. But still, it was enjoyable.

Actually the creature design and effects were actually quite good. Think up a weird mix of the Deep Ones (to those familiar with Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythology) and predator, then you have a basic idea of the creatures found in "Sea Beast". I like the way the creatures looked and the CGI was believable enough - except for the super fake boating scene that you are introduced to within the first minute of the movie. Now that was just hilarious.

The acting in "Sea Beast" was adequate, of course nothing award-winning, but not bad like so many other movies. Corin Nemec (playing Will McKenna) has the lead role, and you can say what you will about him, but he actually did a good job in this movie.

"Sea Beast" was great entertainment and I do enjoy monster movies, sadly most of such movies end up being crap. "Sea Beast", however, was quite alright. Despite being predictable to the core, "Sea Beast" turned out to be a nice surprise.

I don't mind low-budget movies, some of them are bottom-of-the-barrel quality but some are entertaining. Troglodyte is sort of watchable and entertaining, but it does have a lot wrong with it. I give it credit for a great idea, quite nice locations, a decent soundtrack and a good performance from Corin Nemic. However, Miriam McDonald is absolutely awful, consisting of forced line delivery and more annoying than anything else. She's not the only asset that doesn't work. The stereotypical characters also don't work, and neither do the choppy editing, abysmally rendered CGI effects, a meandering, cheesy and predictable script and a story that gets stupider and stupider from one scene to the next. Overall, not bad but far from good. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Believe it or not, "Sea Beast" originally appeared as "Troglodyte" on Syfy in 2008. It goes without saying that it was a good call to change the name seeing as how there are no troglodytes in sight.

As the cover of the DVD would suggest, "Sea Beast" is another take on the well-worn "Jaws" theme. This one takes place in the Vancouver, BC, area (big surprise). The creature has the ability to appear nigh invisible and render its prey immobile. This may sound cartoonish, but the way it's explained by the requisite scientist makes it semi-believable.

Other than "Jaws," the plot borrows from other creature flicks like "Predator," "Gremlins" and "Godzilla ('98)." It's reminiscent of the latter film in that there's a mommy monster and a bunch of little tykes, just as ferocious.

What makes "Sea Beast" work is that the material is taken seriously and it has a quality cast, not to mention solid locations. The cast is highlighted by a strong male protagonist, Corin Nemec as Will Mckenna, Will's ditzy daughter, Carla, who can be ultra-violent when necessary (Miriam McDonald) and Will's female sidekick scientist, Arden (Camille Sullivan). Miriam possesses such a cuteness she's somehow just enjoyable to look at. Also, the creature effects (CGI) are well done. Not to mention it's very gory, if you're into that.

There's not much else to say. If you like well-done creatures-on-the-loose TV flicks, "Sea Beast" provides well enough to satisfy. It's far from great but it delivers just enough to grant it a marginal thumbs up.

GRADE: B-