miércoles, 24 de febrero de 2010

Syngenor

A company named Norton Cyberdine (yeah really original name there, dudes) have created the ultimate super soldier, the Syngenor (Synthetic Genetic Organsm), a creature that is perfect for surviving in desert enviroments. Sadly, these ‘ultimate soldiers’ are still uncontrolable, and when one of them escapes, things get pretty hairy for the company. Soon people start getting killed, and the people in the company start dying in violent ways, and not just from the beasts. It’s up to a reporter (Mitchell Lawrence) and a hot chick (Starr Andreff) to get to the bottom of it. This film was meant as a sequel to the 1980 William Malone film, Scared To Death, since it features the same monster. In truth, other than the monster, it has nothing to do with the original. It’s more of a cliched action/scifi monster film, with very little originality to be had. The acting, for the most part, is just terrible. It’s as cliched as it gets. The only exception is David Gale (Re-Animator, The Brain) who plays the boss of the building where these creatures are being created. For the first half of the film, he’s just an unstable, uncomfortable dude who keeps injecting himself with some green shit ala Re-Animator. But when the second half breaks in, the dude turns into a true psychopath, shouting and acting like a crazy buffoon, trying to protect the Syngenors. Gale really over-acts but seems to be having a ton of fun in the process. It reminds me of a crazy Vincent Price performance, only nuttier. The creature effects are also pretty good. They look like a more humanoid-like Gillman, but hey it’s not as good or as memorable as the Universal fishman. You’ll never be fooled as it being a man in a costume. They drink spinal fluid, which is kind of cool. What I was very disappointed about is that the film just doesn’t have the energy, nor the gore, of either Re-Animator or The Brain. I guess when I saw David Gale, I expected this film to be very crazy, but it just wasn’t. In fact, it gets kind of boring. There are sequences that are completely ripped off from Aliens, with a group of soldiers going after the Syngenors (In the worst soldier costumes in history). And the ending is just insane, with the Syngenor/girl hybrid and David Gale going to it like they're in love. Sadly it all ends in crap. So yes, the monsters and David Gale are all great, but this movie just isn’t. The script is weak, the pace is slow and there’s very little to recommend, other than the previously mentioned. Watch it with a buddy. Or drunk.
By the way, the Syngenor's only weakness is water. Do you think M. Night Shamalama-ding-dong saw this while writing Signs? I think he did. This is better than Signs though, sad but true.

1 comentario:

  1. Always thought the cover was cool, never got around to renting it. Looks like something along the lines of Inseminoid...cheap sci-fi b movie territory. Not a bad thing when in the right mood.

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