Night Claws (2012) User Reviews

This was, uhm, something else...

[paul_haakonsen · 3/10 · 31 December 2012]

Well, what can be said about "Night Claws"? For starters, then it really seemed like a movie that should have been made in the late 1980's, because it had that distinct late 80's horror feel to it. And is that good or bad? Well, in a sense it was nostalgic, but entertainment-wise, then it made the movie come off as a joke.

The story in "Night Claws" is about some Big Foot creature terrorizing a forest. It is a vicious and bloodthirsty creature that kills just about any sentient creature that ventures into the forest. Why? Well for no apparent reason. It just kills because it can. There is very little meat on the storyline for this movie, which made it even more hard to sit through and not fall asleep.

Let's move on to the acting. Where was it? The people in this movie were so unenthusiastic that it was just downright ridiculous. The performances put on by the actors and actresses in this movie was just horrible to behold. There wasn't a single memorable performance here.

So what worked for the movie? Well, oddly enough, the Big Foot wasn't actually that shabby to look at, the few times you actually got to see it, which was far in between, mind you. And the music wasn't too bad either, though at times it sounded like something from a horror musical of sorts.

I am giving "Night Claws" a 3/10 rating solely based on the design of the Big Foot creature and the 1980's feel there was to the movie, because everything else was not really worth mentioning.

Hunters of the beast

[unbrokenmetal · 4/10 · 2 January 2015]

Bigfoot walks around in the forest and kills two young people. Although they have been torn into pieces with incredible strength, the sheriff believes a human killer must be to blame, even if the claw marks seem a bit weird. Several tourists and hunters enter the forest so the beast gets plenty of opportunity to kill more people. Besides, one of the hunters has a personal revenge business going on, for which the beast's attacks will provide enough distraction.

Hard to believe this movie was shot in the 2010s, it is totally 1980s. Which is good. Instead of CGI creatures, you get an old-fashioned monster (tall guy in a hairy suit) walking around, and there are several familiar actors from 80s trash movies (Reb Brown as the sheriff, Frank Stallone, Ted Prior). Simple minded fun mainly for the older supporters of the genre, probably young audiences will like it less.

Shut up, Cindy.

[ElijahCSkuggs · 4/10 · 29 October 2013]

It's been a while since I've watched a So Bad It's Good type of film, and really, that's all I was hoping this would be. I saw Ted Prior's name, I saw bigfoot in the synopsis, I was in the mood for cheese....what the hell am I waiting for? Let's get going! First off, after starting it, the title calls it Apex-Predator. Whoa, that's even worse than Night Claws....alright!

It doesn't take long for this film to show it's ugly bigfoot head. We got a bad acting right from the get go, and the acting as a whole is what will keep you watching. There may have been one nip slip in the opening scene but nothing else, and there's only minimal blood/make-up effects. So there's no surprises to be had with Apex Night Predator Claws.

Getting back on track and the sole reason to watch this film is to watch the camp. There are a handful of "well-known" B movie actors here, but Reb Brown and Ted Prior stole the show for this guy. When I say "stole the show" I actually mean, kept me from falling asleep. Reb Brown is so amateurish he warmed my heart. He was almost cute with his acting. You could see him remembering his lines, trying to use the correct amount of emotion, it was awesome. He also had a couple funny sequences too. Then we got Ted Prior who is just a hot-blooded, son of a bitch the entire time he's on screen. You get the gist his character is a tough guy, but he takes it one step further and just becomes a jerkoff. So much so, it becomes a positive. He tells his wife in it to shut up at least 5 times. Telling your wife to shut her yap = gold.

So yeah, watch this flick if you truly enjoy camp and/or are a bigfoot enthusiast. If you're neither, pass on this all day long and then some. If you're a little of column A and Column B, I'd say check it out. If you came here looking for any advice on dating, then you've come to the right place. If she talks too much, dump her ass!

very painful

[bear22771 · 1/10 · 24 January 2013]

I don't normally write film reviews but just had to regarding this, i can safely say this is the worst film i have ever had the misfortune to watch, in fact it was that bad i had to turn it off an hour into it, the acting is diabolical as well as the script, it came off as if a child had written and directed it, a huge killer Bigfoot that walks around the forest tearing people up which you don't see much of and some dippy sheriffs who thinks its a serial killer, its so corny it makes you cringe, it could of had potential if more money was available and they got actors who could actually act, a complete waist of time so watch it at your peril!!! you've been warned.

Man, this sucks

[davannacarter · 1/10 · 28 February 2014]

My friend Mike looked at me and asked, "Wanna come over to my house Friday night? We're gonna have tons of booze, play games, watch stupid horror movies, and even try a Ouija Board." He had me at "tons of booze." So I showed up Friday night but I skipped the card games because I suck at poker. I went downstairs and 10 people were about to watch a movie. I asked, "What movie are we watching?" and sat down. The guy next to me shrugged. "I think some Sasquatch movie." I thought he was talking about some Sasquatch documentary. But as the opening credits came on I saw the words "Midnight Releasing" and I said out loud, "Oh s***." Everyone laughed at that. But they should have known it was no laughing matter.

Midnight Releasing is a production company that is notorious for putting out horror movies so garbage even Uwe Boll would be unable to watch. I went to their website once and checked out their trailers. It was just one piece of garbage after the other. I shouldn't have watched this Night Claws movie. But I thought the booze would make it tolerable. It didn't.

Immediately, when the movie began we're shown the obligatory "young people having sex in a secluded area" scene. During the sex, the inevitable girl stops the sex because she heard something part, where the guy says, "Probably just the wind". Followed by "There it is again. John, go into that creepy dark, forest and check out that terrifying sound" part.

Although the movie already started downhill, it goes further downhill by the minute. The acting is atrocious. Plus, a lot of the voice work for the outdoor scenes sounded like it was post-synchronized in an indoor setting. Plus, the script was bad. Unnecessary scenes and people arguing with each other because the writer thought that was necessary for the plot, or something. The regular stock characters in horror were there: the bimbo; the selfish jerk who acts aggressively to everyone for little or no reason; the deranged redneck who knows about the creature; the violent redneck who wants to do whatever he can to kill it; the old, guttural-voiced sheriff who relies on some scientist to inform him on the creature; and the plethora of random people who are just thrown in to increase the kill count.

The special effects is stuff any guy off the street could do. There's this one scene that is extremely dark but it's clear that it was filmed at daytime and darkened with a filter. In this scene, they build a fire. But it's painfully obvious the fire is computer-generated. The computer animated "fire" looked like Super Mario Bros. graphics.

There actually isn't any gore in this movie. For a monster movie to lack gore, that's truly awful. I'll just stop here. To be honest, this is the type of movie only for those horror fans looking for a horror movie where it's obvious the filmmakers just wanted to make a stupid horror without any thought to being scary, original, suspenseful, or innovative. It's clear everyone involved with this movie knew this movie would suck. And if you watch this movie, you'll know it's gonna suck within the first 10 minutes. 1/10 stars from me only because a zero rating isn't allowed on this site.

In search of Bigfoot

[Sandcooler · 5/10 · 27 December 2018]

"Night Claws" looks like it was really fun to make, with David A. Prior meeting a lot of his old friends again. At this point Prior had pretty much retired, but a young producer by the name of Fabio Soldani gave him some money and sent him back to those woods in Mobile, Alabama where he filmed roughly 102% of his movies. Hell, by this point I'm pretty sure I could be a tour guide in that town. Unfortunately, as fun as this reunion must have been, the joy doesn't translate well to the screen.

This movie is supposed to be about Bigfoot, but he's really just an afterthought. His plot remains unresolved and we barely ever see him. For some reason creature features often have the tendency to add human villains as well, which never works and just takes up precious screen-time from the monster we actually want to see. To add insult to injury, this movie looks really ugly. Most of it is shot day-for-night, which really shouldn't be that obvious when shot by a director who's been at this for three decades. There are amateur films on YouTube who use this technique far better than "Night Claws", which is not a ringing endorsement.

That's not to say the movie is completely without enjoyable moments. The climax is very low on Bigfoot, but high on laughable plot twists and unexpected deaths. Everyone's favorite Norm MacDonald punchline Frank Stallone shows up from nowhere for a cameo so brief I'm pretty sure he left his engine running. Sherrie Rose co-stars as a deputy, but looks way more like a stripper. The best part has got to be the unknown Art James though, who gives us some great line readings as the town drunk who tells us everything about Bigfoot (in exchange for alcohol, naturally). This movie has some decent laughs, but no story progression or coherent action. Given that you don't know what's happening half the time, you'll be looking at the clock regularly.

P.S: The credits read 'no Bigfoots were harmed in the making of this movie'. It deserves an extra star for that at least.

"It's A Lot Cheaper Than A Divorce!"...

[azathothpwiggins · 14 June 2021]

NIGHT CLAWS opens with two amorous young people being turned into human salsa by the hairy horror of the title! The next day, we're introduced to Sheriff Joe Kelly (schlock omni-god, Reb Brown!), and his deputy, Roberta Glickman (Sherrie Rose). Police are stumped as they sift through the various body parts.

Meanwhile, a trio of hunters are tracking the creature, and a group on a survival training hike are introduced. Many deaths ensue, as the hunters are hunted and the hikers find survival to be... difficult. This Bigfoot isn't just deadly, it's fast!

Enter Professor Sarah Evans (Leilani Sarelle), who has been sent in by the government to assist Kelly and company.

Oh my!

A group of local youths have decided to have a beer bash in the woods! Will anyone be around to be hungover in the morning?

As killer yeti movies go, this one isn't a total disgrace. After all, what are we expecting, Macbeth? The monster isn't all that terrifying, but gets the job done. Gorehounds will be ecstatic over its gushy attacks! The twist near the end is trumpeted a bit too soon, but still works well enough.

Watch for Frank Stallone in a cameo....

Way too much...

[awesomekickball · 1/10 · 24 August 2022]

This movie tried to bring in a lot of plot points and twists and random, movie-cliché junk. It was as if it was trying to be multiple different movies whilst simultaneously failing at all of them. Not worth the watch.

I'm shaking my head in disbelief.

[brian-royer-286-857305 · 1/10 · 29 October 2013]

The creatures were the coolest thing about this film. After saying that the acting is awful. The writing is awful. Everything else is pretty much awful too. When the Sheriff and Deputies go searching the forest at night for missing group of survivalist wannabes they don't even have flashlights. Duh some minor details would have changed the rating to at least a two. If you do waste your time watching this try to make it fun by picking out all the things that make this film so terrible. Evidence handlers not wearing latex gloves. Survival trainees without back packs. Actors sounding like they are reading off of cue cards. Like I said in the beginning the creatures did look half decent but you don't really see them until the end.

Took too long for somebody to die! I wanted somebody to die!

[tracywinters-44332 · 2/10 · 18 June 2016]

Goofballs in the woods try to figure out what happened to a couple of dumbbells who died violently last night.

Lots of talk and other bulls**t. It takes a long time for more of these in-bred scumbags to buy it, and predictably, there's no monster to be found. Why do all these half-wit directors make the same kinds of movies? They want to create, but all they do is regurgitate. Jesus, take a lesson from my words, you greasy dildos.

Just another small-time attempt to cash in on interesting subject matter, followed up with just another small-time failure.

Avoid this tripe. Go to YouTube and watch the Leonard Nimoy 'In Search Of' episode about Bigfoot instead.

Check the Box

[tmccull52 · 2/10 · 2 October 2019]

This is what I would call an utterly formulaic, check-the-box kind of movie.

Dumb as a bag of hammer's sheriff who steadfastly refuses to accept the evidence? Check .

Hot-headed, belligerent idiot who wants to pick fights with everyone else in the movie? Check.

Air-headed, sweet-natured bimbo married to hot-headed idiot? Check.

Tough-as-nails female character, a la Ripley from Alien? Check.

Vigilante mob who wants to storm the forest to kill the monster? Check.

Brassy, smart collegiate "expert" to clash with the dumb as a bag of hammers sheriff? Check.

It's as though the creative time behind this movie went out of their way to include every cliche character archetype from every horror movie ever in this movie. I am a fan of good "bad" horror movies. This isn't one of those. The biggest horror about this movie was that it was made, at all.

The elite of B-Class veterans... together.

[dead819 · 9/10 · 7 May 2012]

Here we have a David A. Prior's excellent come back to a horror formula. All stars shines as its best: Reb Brown as a tuff sheriff supported by Sherrie Rose; Leilani Sarelle - a scientist which would pay attention of all, by her very attractive and provocative character; Ted Prior, legendary Mike Danton from immortal "Deadly Prey" as well and David Campbell as (in)famous Col. Hogan from the same motion picture. At the bonus there's a very strong (but short) appearance of Frank Stallone, who reminds here the role of Armitage in great "Fear" - his eyes are insane the same! Also beautiful Alissa Koenig and Tara Kleinpeter made nice work here, such as Art James - drunk as hell redneck who tells the stories that you won't forget. Of course not only humans steals this show, just wait to see huge, bloodthirsty bigfoot, which brings the aura of cult horror movie "Night of a Demon" - forget these newdays CGI-mania, it is pure 80s monster! Everything looks B-class perfect, with a good music of Chuck Cirino and very interesting story of Fabio Soldani; but there is just one warning. Do not expect a gorefest, cause "Night Claws" started as a project that could sell it's rights for a television. Sure, I'd rather see a movie like this in full splatter formula (luckely we've got here some brutal scenes), but all in all "NC" is a show that concentrates on forest area and includes some nice twists. Do NOT miss it.

Wonderful Throwback to 80's

[borden721 · 10/10 · 27 January 2013]

I bought quite a few Bigfoot movies on DVD recently and after reading reviews for some of them, here on IMDb, I was quite scared that I got myself bunch of crap. One of this mentioned titles was 'Night Claws' directed by David A. Prior which turned out to be the best Bigfoot movie I ever seen and a wonderful throwback to 80's when I started my experience with a horror genre as a kid. First of all - this is more than just an another typical Bigfoot horror film. It's actually much smarter and when you see end credits, you start to realize that makers of the movie not only paid the tribute to the low budget horror movies from 80's but laughed out recent SyFy channel/Asylum crap. It contains some sort of social comment on what happens to the genre today. After first 30 minutes I was pretty sure It's another standard flick where we follow all the rules and clichés of the genre but boy was I wrong. Last 20 minutes brought quite a few heavy surprises, surprises I would never expect but completely appreciated them. So I would say the script is very strong part of the movie. I'm not saying they have dialogues as sharp as machete but the story is just great, especially the ending which I never saw coming! It's a low budget movie so I wasn't expecting any names in the cast and great acting but I found myself surprised again. There is some horrible acting obviously but must I say there are strong performances here as well. Leilani Sarelle who plays female lead was just great. Not only very beautiful but very talented. I remember her from 'Basic Instinct' and 'Harvest' where she did an amazing job and even though 'Night Claws' is different type of movie, she delivered wonderful and boy what a charmer she is. Another great performance comes from Frank Stallone who appears in the end and his part was a real thrill. David Campbell who played the main villain(well 'human' villain) was just awesome so was Ted Prior as an asshole husband on a camping trip. I also noticed Sherrie Rose who holds a huge part in my B movie childhood. I remember her from more movies than I can think of and while she doesn't have that much to do in the movie she still delivers good performance(and she's an eye candy as well) even if It's far from Leilani Sarelle level of acting, Rose is still nice to see. Bad performances are clearly visible for the short time here and there, mostly by Edward Saint Pe, Candace Weber, Chelsea Rowland, Tracy Miller, Jaclynn Stover and Wade Miller. Funny thing is - all of them are more or less bit players and die sooner rather than later. Just like the director/producer would know they are too weak to act longer :) The most important thing for me was Bigfoot himself. I was hoping for a good monster suit and this is exactly what I got. To be more specific, I got way more than I expected because the creature is one of the best I have ever seen. It looks so 80's It's amazing. Beautiful design by Bruce Larsen who works on a big budget movies every day. I hope to see more of his work in the future. As for the music - Chuck Cirino is a genre legend and he composed great score for the film. I was a bit disappointed in his recent work but with his work on 'Night Claws' he brought my faith in him back. All in all 'Night Claws' is an amazing movie if you love low budget horror movies from 80's. I watched the special features and It's clear they wanted to pay the tribute to this kind of cinema which is long gone today. It looks 80's, feels 80's and it has a bunch of cool actors from 80's(Great to see you again Mr. Brown). If you want another 'Saw' movie It's not your kind of film but if you grew up in 80's like me, you should enjoy it. There are few bad performances and it could be more gory but It's hard to find better Bigfoot movie(It's even better than 'Abominable') than 'Night Claws'. I'm giving it 9 stars deep down from my heart for bringing me such a joy!

Enjoyable creature feature

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 7 October 2013]

A bloodthirsty Bigfoot embarks on a murderous rampage in a small rural community. Earnest and amiable Sheriff Joe Kelly (an excellent and engaging performance by Reb Brown) joins forces with eager Sasquatch expert Sarah Evan (well played with winningly spunky charm by the foxy Leilani Sarelle) to track the beast down. Director David A. Prior, who also co-wrote the compact and compelling script with Fabio Soldani, relates the entertaining story at a snappy pace, offers a few cool bits of funky gore, delivers a couple of nifty surprise plot twists, and even tosses in a smidgen of tasty gratuitous female nudity for good measure. The neat cast of familiar B-movie faces helps a whole lot: Ted Prior as the angry and hostile Charlie Parker, Sherrie Rose as the loyal and smitten Deputy Roberta Glickman, David Campbell as evil big game hunter Hunter Crawford, and Frank Stallone as the vengeful Testi. Art "Sunshine" Wallace contributes a hilarious turn as loopy local drunk Cooter Brown. The Bigfoot looks pretty gnarly. Sodric Dira's polished cinematography provides a nice polished trick. Chuck Cirino's spirited ominous score hits the stirring spot. A really fun flick.

Definitely the most bush league film out there

[Adamdryman2 · 10/10 · 3 March 2014]

So my friends and I entertain ourselves with good B rated movies from time to time. As soon as we started the movie, we knew it was going to be a wild ride. This movie is action packed from start to finish hitting all the focus points of the plot. Reb brown played an amazing role as he played sheriff. His lines were done so professionally and his acting was off the wall. All in all, he is the best actor in the movie. Great plot and gets straight to the point. If your looking for an adventurous, sci-fi horror comedy, then this is a must see. Great family movie and is amazing date movie. The outstanding visual effects and filters will have your living room full of wild packed action and intensity.