CREATURE (2011) Review

Directed by: Fred Andrews

Starring: Mehcad brooks, Dillon Casey, Serinda Swan, Sid Haig

I'm not really sure where this film came from or how it ended up in theatres this month, but after watching it I honestly think that CREATURE probably should have been a straight to dvd deal. I can think of dozens of other horror films that deserved to make it to theatres than this one. Despite the title, the movie actually plays out more like a slasher, and a pretty generic one at that.

CREATURE follows a group of young adults on a road trip through Louisiana. They stop at a seedy looking gas station for a bit of a pee break and a little chat with the locals. The inside of the store is a kind of recreation of Captain Spaulding's from House of 1000 Corpses, complete with oddities and even Sid Haig himself.

Oscar (Casey) seems to have a keen interest in all of this folklore crap, and asks the store owner Chopper (Haig) about 'the house that Grimley built' which is part of a local legend involving inbred hillbillies and a strange alligator/human hybrid creature. So Chopper draws them up a map and sends them on their merry way. They find the house, and decide to set up camp and stay the night. Of course not long after nightfall, all sorts of bad shit starts to happen. They find themselves stalked by a terrible creature from the swamp.

There are a couple of little sub-plots involving an ancient ritual and some incest in there too, but basically that's the story.

I was actually a little excited when I first started watching, because in the first minute of the film there is some gratuitous full frontal nudity and I was hoping that this would be a bit of a throwback to those classic monster movies. And it kind of is, except for the fact that there is very little gore. I know that gore doesn't always make a good horror movie, but in a slasher like this there really should be a lot more. Most of it happens off screen, and all you really see is the end result.

The creature after which the movie is named, looked a little ridiculous in my opinion and wasn't very entertaining at all.

I'm not really sure what else to write about. I guess the acting was pretty good, but nothing fantastic. But I didn't find CREATURE to be a particularly original or entertaining film. If you don't see it, you're not really missing out on much at all. If you want something similar but more entertaining you might want to try Hatchet.