The tiresome shortcut plot is once again used in this clichéd desert horror flick about a group of young adults on a road trip in their van(yawn)to the Burning Man festival. Yes, all of what I described has been duplicated multiple times in the past so originality vacates the premises rather quickly. Some wacko feeds this creature dogs and may just get a chance to nourish the flesh eating monster with humans instead when the van loaded with amorous teens come driving down his dirt road. So therein lies the plot, you can now fill in the blanks rather easily. The kids get lost, of course, find the nutcase who shoots their van with a shot gun leaving them stranded, stuck at his ramshackle abode until they can figure out a feasible plan to get themselves out of their current predicament. The driver gets in a scuffle with the hick lunatic, shooting the maniac in the process. The crazy's pick-up truck doesn't start, they are scared out of their wits, and worse yet a monster lurks somewhere in the darkness. The usual includes swearing, make-out sessions, tits, entrails, bickering back and forth, heated exchanges, the blame game, drug use, guys with their shirts off exposing their sculpted bodies for the ladies, cell phones and vehicles that don't work, and murky nighttime sequences where we can hardly see anything. The creature which tears apart it's victims while eating them ferociously is never fully seen. Most creative aspect to the movie is that the creature emits a nasty aroma that seductively addicts those who smell from it too long! Despite the overuse of the isolation theme, even something as mediocre as THE CRAVING uses it at times effectively, maybe because the desert setting helps, because you can feel the piercing sun, not to mention the fact that those lost are unfamiliar with their surroundings.
Review of The Craving
