Sea Beast (2008)

 

As soon as you know that this is a made-for-TV film for the SyFy Channel, most people will run away in abject terror, as this seldom bodes well for the quality. But hear me out: this one isn't half bad. In fact, it's actually rather enjoyable and much better put together than most of their output. 

Is it great? No. But it sure as hell is a lot better than anyone dared to expect.

It also borrows heavily from much better films and manages to remain coherent (for the most part). 

During a fierce storm, captain Will McKenna (Corin Nemec) of the fishing boat Solita sees a bizarre creature grab one of his sailors, but because this happened just after he hit his head, he's not sure if what he saw was real. So the consensus is that a wave hit the poor guy overboard. However, it turns out there actually is a creature that has followed the boat into the harbour and is now on the hunt for easy prey. 

That's humans, obviously. Because even though we might think we're masters of the universe, usually the universe just regards us as a walking buffet. And who can blame the universe, after all?

Several people get killed and Will teams up with a marine biologist who was in the neighbourhood, trying to figure out why the fish stock is dropping dramatically. But the plot thickens when people discover the beast can actually move about on land as well and it can also camouflage itself extremely thoroughly. 

It gets even crazier when McKenna's daughter and boyfriend (and one token extra girl) head to an island where there's a cabin and they are beset by baby beasts. They make a run for the wreckage of a ferry, but the beast and its babies have made their nest there. Will Will be in time to save his daughter? Does that alliteration sound horrendous? Can someone fix the wonky explosions? 

Sure, this film reeks of nods and ideas from 'Jaws' to 'Predator' and even a smidgin of 'Alien', but there is in fact a script that's half decent and events take place in a predictable yet logical fashion. It also is quite a bit of fun, as this is presented fairly well for the low budget fare it obviously is. The locale works (I assume it was recorded in Canada. It sure looks like Canada to me) and most of the actors are good enough to be convincing. 

Yes, some corpses can be seen still breathing or blinking their eyes, and reacting dramatically to stuff that isn't there is something not everyone can pull off convincingly, but still. 

What deserves some praise, is the creature itself. Not only does it look rather cool, the CG is better than you might think. The camouflage effect is clearly a rip-off of 'Predator', but it works. Just ignore the immense discrepancy between the CG creatures and the occasional puppet heads they also use, as those look absolutely horrendous. 

And yes, there are plotholes and silly stuff. The daughter's boyfriend gets offed almost haphazardly, the biologist gets out of the water in a dry wetsuit, even though she was supposed to have gone to the bottom right before and there's no way in hell Will survived that last explosion. But he did.

I guess Parker Lewis really can't lose. And if you got thàt reference, you're about my age and officially part of the geeky elders. Congratulations. 

Nevertheless, this makes for an entertaining watch. Give it a go.