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May 2009 ~ July 2009
2009 ~ Director: Martin Barnewitz
You can most of the time tell when a horror film is a hit or not mostly by if the imminent sequel receives a theatrical release or straight to DVD. The 2003 surprise hit Wrong Turn had a sequel a few years later, direct to DVD. Surprising good considering, while theatrical dreck like Boogeyman had a sequel hitting the theaters as well. Sometimes in the horror world (and the world of film in general) life just isn't fair. 2007 saw the emergence of the infamous Pang brothers with their stateside debut with The Messengers starring a pre-Twilight Kristen Stewart. So with this continuing trend, director Martin Barnewitz and Sony Pictures bring to us Messengers 2: The Scarecrow.
Young, happy, farm-loving Rollins family John (Norman Reedus), Mary (Heather Stephens), Lindsey (Claire Holt), and Randy (Erbi Ago) try, try, and try again to make their corn crop grow, but to no avail. On the brink of foreclosure, John happens upon a scarecrow which his son deems evil. Being the nice father he is, he puts it up anyway. And though good events do prosper, it comes at a high price to any individual who comes between he and his land and family.
Consider this film a rather knock-kneed version of The Monkey's Paw. Also consider it a waste of time. Uneven pacing, two dimensional characters, fake scares, and just plain dull. There's some nice skin action courtesy of Darcy Fowers, but that's about all the attention I gave M2. Well......not exactly. Despite looking really cheap, I thought the scarecrow itself was pretty cool looking. Though when the last 15 minutes hit, all that anticipation got flushed down the crapper due to extremely poor "acting". Though then again.....he sounded cool.
The DVD is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen with 5.1 Surround Sound. There's a commentary and trailers to round out this slim package.
Messengers 2: The Scarecrow is labeled as a prequel to the 2007 film. When a prequel is filmed, you pretty much know who is going to win. Oh yeah, this sucker was written by Todd Farmer, who obviously needed the paycheck, and the US casting is by someone named Daniel (Danny) Pintauro. I mention the US casting not only because of his possible connection to Alyssa Milano, but because this was mostly (or appears to be) created by a Russian film crew. Anyway, if you were really into the first film, would you want to spend time with this.
D -Rabid Rich
2009 ~ Director: Paul Ziller
If you've read my past reviews courtesy of Genius film as part of the Maneater Series, then you know my take on this company. Director Paul Ziller (Yeti: Curse of the Snow Demon and Swarmed) comes forth with another beastie gone wild in the form of The Sea Beast.
Will McKenna (Corin Nemec) is a fisherman just trying to get by in life. But now he and family and friends are confronted by a mythical creature coming from the sea, but also has the ability to become invisible and devour human flesh at the bat of an eyelash.
There really isn't much to this piece of Sci-Fi trash. Occasionally gory in places, it doesn't help that the acting and actors are all horrible (exception to the always fascinating Nemec, who probably had to dumb himself down about 50 IQ points). This is also a complete rip-off of Jaws and Predator. And you'll also easily notice the hackneyed attempt to become the next Sam Raimi. Oh, and look for the Quint wannabe in the form of Brent Strait playing Ben.
DVD presented in widescreen and no extras. Personally, I wish the Maneater Series did have extras because I'd love to now how any actor, no matter how good, can take this stuff seriously and not break down from embarrassment.
Sea Beast is horrid. And coming from Paul Ziller, it sounds typical. Not even bad in the Yeti: Curse of the Snow Demon way. So there's no entertainment value found here.
D- -Rabid Rich
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