Outbreak

Having read the few lines we get on the on-screen TV guide, I was sure this would not be great. Poorly put together with some really average CGI, it was only (slightly) saved (for me) by the performance of Tom Skerritt as Simon Abernathy (Frank's father), he held the thing together. Even the presence of Summer Glau as Frank's daughter, Jack (silly name for a girl, I know) didn't make it any better. I'll give honourable mentions to; Vincent Ventresca as Dr. Frank Abernathy, Cole Williams as Squirrelly, Charles Carroll as Sheriff Marion Morrison (that's John Wayne's real name for those that don't know), Leila Arcieri as Agent Powers and Marcus Lyle Brown as Agent Whitaker.

For a script that was meant to be playing for laughs, I found very little to laugh about. To say the jokes were (for the most part) pretty lame would be putting it mildly. The plot was all over the place, there were holes in it you could drive a truck through… and at one point I think they did! It did try to rally at one point and almost grabbed my attention, but then lapsed back into banality yet again… Sadly. NOT RECOMMENDED, but the good films will look all the better for seeing it.

My score: 3.8/10

IMDb Score: 3.8/10 (based on 1,533 votes at the time of going to press).

MetaScore: No Data: (Based on 0 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes 'Tomatometer' Score: No Score Yet… (based on 1 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes 'Audience' Score: 18/100 'Liked It' (based on 838 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).

You can find an expanded version of this review on my blog: Thoughts of a SteelMonster.

Well.. some out there is comparing this movie with other sci-fi channel movies and thinks that compared to them this is not that bad. I love sci-fi, but not sci-fi channel so usually I try to avoid anything of the sorts. So maybe they're right.

But to the core. This movie is bad, really bad. And claiming that the humor makes up for the bad acting and extremely poor effects is a joke.

Summary: bad acting, bad effects, bad "jokes". This movie is bad by all standards according to me. I do not think they've managed with any aspect at all. Even if it's not meant to be taken serious it still don't do anything for me since the idea of a good horror/comedy is based on some good acting working together with the humor (ex. Critters and Gremlins).

Short summary: bad movie, don't waste your time.

If you're looking for a movie to take your mind off life for an hour and a half, you could do a lot worse than Mammoth. OK, you could also do a lot better but this film doesn't pretend to be anything other than a low-budget cheesy horror.

In fact, part of the charm of Mammoth was that everyone had their tongue firmly in their cheek making this film, especially the delightfully nerdy scientist played by Vincent Ventresca. The special effects are naff in the extreme and the dialogue totally contrived but that just made me chuckle rather than roll my eyes in frustration.

I guess it depends how you like your genres. If you liked Snakes on a Plane, then you may well like it. Don't expect too much from it and you might be pleasantly entertained.

I know, I know, there is no such word as Stupidest!!! but honestly, what else would describe this drivel.

Absolutely horrible. And the acting!!! it's all camp and no drama. If they are going to make it like a Roger Corman, campy, Saturday afternoon at the movies, well, get better plots and keep out the comedy. I mean really. Reminded me of MARS ATTACKS!!

The special effects were not special, believe me. The only interesting thing was the female agent. I couldn't tell if she was a black woman or a white woman. She has the most amazing face. I looked it up and her mom is black and her father is Italian. What a beautiful combination. I did not understand the ending. If someone does, please let me know.

This reminded me of the Sabretooth and the Sasquatch, (those were better). Anything with David Keith and Lance Henricksen, well, I'll watch them any day. Also, Michael Ironside. Why don't they just make another Watchers Sequel? the Sci fi channel could use one of those.

I saw the last half of this movie on SciFi and then a few hours later, I saw the beginning when they replayed it. If I had seen it from the beginning, I would have been a lot more disappointed, because the opening sequence was amazing, and sadly, the rest of the film didn't quite measure up. But the opening? Great CGI effects giving way to traditional animation (of cave drawings) that gave us a taste of the backstory, with fun, appropriately theramin-heavy music - it could have been the opening to a theatrical film, it was just that good! I can tell what the director/writers/producers were going for with the rest of the film, with the over-the-top plot, characters, and humorous lines and references to classic 50s sci- fi schlock. But it just didn't quite come off. And for the hour that I saw of it, they could have benefited from a whole lot more mammoth, since that IS the title. Oh well. I bet the creators do better next time.