Carnivorous

I watched this "film" last night by accident after a friend received it in the post from his monthly subscription DVD provider service. My friend denied all responsibility after we watched this turgid and vacuous waste of light, denying that he had ever added it to his want list at all - perhaps the people at LoveFilm (other DVD provider services are available) regularly send this film out for a laugh just to irritate people. This incidentally, is the only reason I can think of for anyone to be involved in the making and distribution of this genuinely appalling eye irritant of an atrocity - they must just want to cause as much misery and unhappiness in the world as possible. Well - they're getting there.

I watched "Carnivorous" online the other night, and felt that a few of the other reviews were a bit harsh. First off, "Carnivorous" is an extremely adventurous film, and given it's small budget, I think they made a decent little indie. Writer/Director Drew Maxwell writes quite an original tale about hellish beasts stalking a handful of society's unwanted, all of whom have awoke to find themselves imprisoned in an underground labyrinth. The acting is solid for the most part, although the films main character "Kate" (Leah Rose) tends to over-act (both dialog and actions) in many of the key scenes, and this becomes quite annoying. However, her co-star Ryan Schaufler is wonderful in the role of "Ian", and the rest of the cast play their roles well, although we get very little as far as knowing the backgrounds of their characters. The scenery is admirable, but quite dark due to a weak lighting scheme, and a lot of the time resembles something out of "The Land of the Lost" television show of the 1970's. The actors were obviously added later, and this sometimes becomes way too clear and takes away from the story itself. Then there's the creatures.... Yikes! They are ridiculous at best... And yes, you have seen far scarier monsters on your children's video games. These CGI created turds are just plain stupid and unnecessary. This is a real shame, because it takes away from what would otherwise be a creepy scenario, and film in general. How the director / producers could not see this, is the scariest part of the film... There is very little "Genuine" gore, as most of that is computer generated as well, but there are a few above average scalp removals and head extractions that will keep the true gore-hounds happy. And then of course, there is some gratuitous nudity that is well done and quite... GRATUITOUS!!!

Besides the horrible CGI effects and weak acting ability by the film's lead character, "Carnivourous" deserves to be rewarded for it's sense of adventure and willingness to try something new.

For something distributed by Shoreline Entertainment, unfortunately, Carnivorous is one of the best.

Granted, its main accomplishment is generating apathy; that's because what little substance this film has is repetitive and before long, you'll probably stop caring. Still better than what you normally find amongst Shoreline's library. Essentially, people trapped within a CGI castle battle CGI monsters.

Characters contribute little before the script begins killing them off. Occasionally, still photography of the dead people appears. Why is unknown.

The pacing is pretty fast. For what it's worth. Granted, before long the actors' interaction with creatures and corridors is something the audience should adjust to. For what that's worth. Carnivorous may be somewhat watchable as a timewaster, but that's about it.

The only problem thing is before this movie ends, you'll probably have stopped paying attention, thus negating the negatives and, um... positives(?) of Carnivorous.

Carnivorous certainly isn't the best movie by any stretch of the imagination, but it's SUPER-LOW IMDb score definitely makes it seem worse than it really is. Yes, the film is shot almost entirely in green screen with the actors added into artificial backgrounds. This effect is awkward at the immediate beginning, but once you get used to it, it isn't really that bad. There are a couple of scenes throughout the movie where I thought, "Woah, that actually looks really cool!" In particular there is a floating drawbridge scene that stands out (you will know it when you see it). Also, the acting isn't the greatest, but when you are filming an ULTRA-LOW BUDGET movie in WISCONSIN of all places (and I can say that because I live 20 minutes from the border), I don't expect Oscar quality performances.

Anyway, the movie was never BORING, which is my definition of a bad movie. A movie can be as cheesy and goofy and have all the bad special effects it wants to, but as long as it ENTERTAINS me for an hour and a half, I don't consider it a failure. Carnivorous entertained me immensely for its entire running time....I was SUPER tired when I started watching it, and was sure I would fall asleep...but I didn't.... and I wouldn't even mind watching it again. I'm very curious to see what the director Drew Maxwell is working on next!

Brett Heitkam rainyday4357@yahoo.com

This movie, put it simply, the worst There is no story on the movie, nor cause-effect, special effects are lousy to describe at it's best.

This film, begins a "horror" scene, couple, walking on the dark of a huge hall kind of like monastery style and when you look at the scenes, it's quite obnoxious the 3D effect is poor, the walls, corridors, even the "demons" look like if they were taken out of a video game, please play Halo and you can have a clear perception of what this looks like, anyone could see the scenes are poorly developed.

The acting, well, amateurs at it's worst, alas, 1st scene, there is a black guy whom apparently appear from the shadows, this guy gets eaten and anyone could see he is laughing at the scene.