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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
ONE OF THE BEST SCI FI FILMS, 4 Nov 2007
Cryptozoologist Dr. Pena, (Giancarlo Esposito) manages to capture the legendary chupacabra during a mission to Mexico. Thinking that the best way to get it back home is aboard a commercial cruise liner, he smuggles it aboard luxury cruise Regent Queen, which is having some problems of its own. Captain Randolph (John Rhys-Davies) has asked insurance investigator and ex-Navy SEAL Lance (Dylan Neal) to investigate the recent robbery aboard the ship. While being stowed aboard, the creature escapes and kills several members of the crew. At the dinner party, Lance is interested in Randolph's daughter Jenny, (Chelan Simmons) the fitness instructor, who herself seems interested in Dr. Pena. When news of the creature's escape reaches Randolph, he and Lance leave and find the dead bodies of the murdered crew. Enforcing a lock-down, Lance, Randolph and the remaining crew members attempt to hunt down the animal. When they find out that the creature is impervious to their small arms and attacking the passengers aboard, they send out for help from the Navy, and together they team up to fight off the deadly creature.
The Good News: When I first heard of this movie, I thought that the film would be the typical low-budget gore-fest that the Sci-Fi channel is proud of showing. When I watched it, I was surprised and quite enjoyed the film far more than many of their films. Granted, all of them have been better than most of what is released into theaters, but this is definitely one of their better efforts. They weren't afraid to skimp on the gore, which is provided here for all the blood-and-guts lovers. While most of the kills do happen off-screen, we get to see enormous amounts of blood splatter when they are killed. We even get to see scratched up bodies with long bloody streaks across them. There are a few kills where we do get to see the deaths, and the centerpiece is seeing one guy completely gnarled in half with chunks spread out in a small circle around him. We even get to see the chupacabra attack a whiny dog in the one classic scene in the film. An elderly woman is looking for her small do when it runs away from her. As she searches around the ship for it, she wanders into the ship's casino. We cut over to the dog in the casino and it meets the chupacabra. The creature roars at the dog, and we are left to believe that it has scared the dog away. The woman looking for the dog wanders around and finds the chupacabra snaking on the dog. She screams in horror, which alerts the chupacabra to her presence. It then throws the dog away and attacks the woman, and her fate is sealed by a giant blood splatter on a slot machine. I smiled when they scene came up, because both had been so annoying and serving of their fates that it made you glad the creature killed them off. This also brings up the fact that there is a lot more suspense in the film than there should be. The opening capture of the chupacabra is pretty creepy. Setting up a trap, the team sets up around the base to ensure the trap works. Hearing bushes rustling, everyone gets ready. As it proves to be just the wind, everyone relaxes. Just then, the chupacabra springs forth and captures one of the captors, and this sets off a giant fire fight between the scared team and the monster, and eventually the trap works by sheer luck. Almost every attack be the chupacabra is a good jump, as he appears out of nowhere and grabs a person and drags them away. On top of all this, the film features one of my favorite actors, John Rhys-Davies as the captain of the ship. He gets a few good lines at the expense of the creature and even has some participation in the final defeat of the chupacabra. He always seems to wow me with his performances, and this is one of his better ones.
The Bad News: As I said, most of the attacks are off-screen with the blood splatter coming onto scene. This probably infuriated me a lot more than most, as I am used to watching these kinds of movies and am tired of the "less is more" mentality. We have seen it all before, so it's nothing new to see another decapitated head or dismemberment. Also, the fitness instructor is able to stop the creature with a few kicks and punches, yet the trained military has difficulty killing it with ammunition. Truly a weird coincidence.
The Final Verdict: You can pick this apart more than I did, but this is still great escapist entertainment and nothing more. The ending is a bit of a let down after the rest of the movie, but it is a lot better than horror fans will find elsewhere. Check it out, gore hounds and to everyone else, give it a spin. It may be better than you think it will.
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