The Hatching

Onviously a completey ridiculous story line but worth an hour and a half of anyones time. Acting was pretty good, decent production and raised a few smiles from Me throughout.

It's a bit tame in parts, (the humour)... and the characters, apart from Lard and his mate, are too weak, but essentially, the people who produced the prosthetic gore and effects, were lazy, not just because of the budget, but careless. One could do a lot better with no budget. Apart from that, the directing and photography was perfect and refreshing. Not to be taken seriously, so it's fine. Some of the really subtle parts were the most hilarious, so you can't blink, or you'd miss them!

I've read some ridiculous critic reviews comparing this movie unfavourably with Shaun of the Dead, which cost at least five times as much to make and didn't include the added distraction of kids and animals in the cast, for that alone the director should be commended!

This movie isn't intended as serious horror but as a Brit-style humour-fest of ridiculous characters in ridiculous circumstances, plus animals, animatronics and kids. Many seasoned directors wouldn't take on that task with a $1M budget let alone a director in his first feature. The humour will either work for you or not and the acting is certainly better than the first two Harry Potter movies!

The cinematography by Gerry Vasbenter is sumptuous for a low budget movie, with moody shots of the Somerset Levels and some great river scenes. Sound is excellent and Jon Cameron's bouncy score sets expectations early on. Alistair Crocker's sound mix is remarkably good for a movie at this budget level. Michael Anderson's ambition is commendable but the cast is always going to be a compromise at this level.

Highlight of the cast is the lovable Georgia Henshaw who moved effortlessly between fun party girl and truly horrified almost-victim and extremely good value for whatever they paid her for the part. The interplay between Jack McMullen as Russell and Danny Kirrane as Lardy was measured and well delivered by both. I hope we see more of them. Justin Lee Collins was essentially himself but didn't detract too much.

All in all I enjoyed it for what it is - a simple piece of entertainment, not without flaws but remarkable technicals at this budget level.

This is a really good, funny film, where absolutely nothing is to be taken seriously.

The effects are perfect for the mindset behind the movie. The rubber crock is perfect, when you compare it with the angry pack of dogs 🤣.

Everything just fits, but I think that the comedy aspect could have been raised a little, and it could have been just pushed a little further, but this is a film to be enjoyed in a group, probably with some decent under the counter cider, just to enhance the experience. Well worth looking at.

One question I do have is who sang the country style song? I have tried a Google search, and tried googling the question but no results. If anyone knows, please post a reply....

But well worth the time, and look for all the inconsistencies... they are really funny. And even the Frankenstein mob scenes are so in keeping with this.

As a lover of B-Movie Monster Movies, I really was looking forward to this one as it's set in England in Somerset and stars Andrew Lee Potts, Thomas Turgoose, and Justin Lee Collins.

On paper, this sounds like it would have been brilliant, however, what we get are an unfunny comedy and a rubber crocodile monster movie. In this day and age, we should be able to do better with the special effects. Even if you have to resort to creating an artificial creature, that is pivotal to the plot, at least do it right. The croc looks like it was built out of leftover Wellingtons and if it took a bite out of you all you would do was laugh, as there's no skull and no jawbones... it's all loose and floppy.

There are also some dismembered body parts that also suffer from the no bone syndrome, I've never seen a floppier leg. These atrocious effects are the only thing that's funny in this movie as writers, Michael Anderson and Nick Squire, aren't the best at writing comedy and it really shows in this movie. Apart from the laughable effects, the comedy falls flat on its face - and not in a good way like slapstick.

Michael Anderson who also directed this picture doesn't seem to be able to get the best out of his cast. Potts and Turgoose are very good actors and I would watch anything they are in but this proves that under poor direction even good actors can come off weak and insincere.

If you like comedic monster movies then stay away from this film.