Outbreak

OK. It's made by the Sci-fi channel, one of the kings of B (ok too generous) C/D movie production. (Does anyone know if they ever made a good movie that wasn't a miniseries? Dune and Children of Dune were good. Does anyone actually expect Sci-fi to make a good made for TV movie that is not a miniseries?). The writers, director, and actors all know this and play to it. The movie is bad, but because everyone involved knows this, it actually becomes very funny at points. It even makes fun of some the classic horror movie clichés. The requisite couple having sex that dies early (everyone knows that the first people to have sex or get into their skibbies always dies) are two geriatric escapees from a nursing home. Realize what we all know, its bad, its meant to be bad, and enjoy, and revel in the badness.

(must have for B/C movie collectors)

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.

In Louisiana, the clumsy director of the local museum, Dr. Frank Abernathy (Vincent Ventresca), removes a weird device from a frozen 17 ton mammoth, actually a GPS that brings a spacecraft with an alien entity to Earth that falls into the local museum and revives the mammoth that hosts the lifeforce. The animal attacks the security guard first and the population later. Special Agents Powers (Leila Arcieri) and Whitaker (Marcus Lyle Brown) seek out the paleontologist Dr. Frank to help them to destroy the mammoth; otherwise the government will blast the town. Dr. Frank concludes that the animal must be frozen and together with his father and fan of sci-fi movies, Simon Abernathy (Tom Skerritt) and his sixteen year-old daughter (Summer Glau), they plot a plan to capture the mammoth.

The forgettable "Mammoth" is an attempt of remaking those sci-fi movies from the 50's and 60's that unfortunately fails. There are references to many sci-fi classics, but the silly story does not work well alternating humor that is not funny and fiction. For example, the unnecessary death of Squirrelly is stupid and moralist and for the purpose of the plot, is absolutely useless. Simon Abernathy seems to be a lunatic in many moments and his son Franks is never funny, only clumsy. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Extinção em Fúria" ("Extinction in Fury")

This is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a great movie. I have long said SciFi Original is synonymous with "crap" when it comes to movies. They don't have a very good track record when it comes to movies, but I'm beginning to think that this one shows they know it.

The actors, mostly B-movie and TV types, with Summer Glau probably being the biggest name in it, aren't the worst actors SciFi has put in a movie. The writing actually has some quotable lines. The special effects are bad for modern era CGI, but we're talking about a low budget horror film. We've all seen them, and some of us actually enjoy them. So, if you like the corniness of so many horror films from the 50s and 60s, or maybe the camp of the Killer Tomatoes series or perhaps Tremors, you will actually enjoy this movie.