Unearthed (2008)

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

What did the team behind 'Unearthed' really unearth: horror or terror?If films could be terror this would be a candidate. The characters are uninteresting, unsympathetic and the plot (if you want to use that word) moves along at a snail's pace and never manages to be anything other than mediocre and quite frankly boring.The characters are, as mentioned above, uninteresting. They seem to be written with great haste, taking all of the clichés one could think of. We have the sheriff with a dark past (a female sheriff, actually, which is kinda rare to see so not knocking the film for that), her socially-awkward friend, and her wimp of a deputy. We got ourselves two mystical Indians, an elder and a younger, more action-minded guy. We got the stereotypical "Big City-Man" and a young teenage-something crew. See? All present and accounted for. And of course the villain. The alien. Or monster? I don't know because it seems they ripped it's design right out of 'Alien". They just added a few more eyes, thats it. It's Alien.The plot isn't really there. Granted there seems to be a story behind it all but it's vague and thin at best. We never get to a point of satisfactory storytelling due to one fatal flaw: what's going on?! It just started and ended, and allow me to be frank: you'll be praying for the ending before you know it. You'll be bored and annoyed at the same time, and you'll be amazed by how that's even possible. Granted, the story seems to evolve around some dig-site, or whatnot, and the monster has something to do with that, but other than that your guess is as good as mine. Keep in mind, I just watched the film. That's bad news.Technically the movie is a mess. The camera is unsteady and juggling about uncontrollably when it doesn't need to, and the music is forgettable. The editing is frantic during action-scenes, limiting our ability to actually see what's going on, and this is the same problem that Christopher Nolan had with 'Batman Begins', but he's one of the best. If he couldn't pull it off, then just imagine how bad it's pulled off here.Anywho, give it a go if you're an aspiring director and want to see what not to do, but do not expect to unearth a gem - only Hell lies beneath.

Unearthed has two strikes against it. The monster is an outright Alien rip-off complete with bad very CGI. They simply would have been better off not showing it.The other strike is for a film some seriously attractive actresses (Emmanuelle Vaugier, Beau Garrett, Miranda Bailey, Whitney Able, and heck even cute older Deborah Offner) there is no T and A. This seems silly for what is in essence an exploitation movie.Outside of those faults this is a better than average monster romp. Direction is tight and creative. The acting is professional. The film looks good. And the action scenes are filled with actual action.Anyone who has been tortured with the grade Z five guys vs. a cartoon films on the SciFi Channel will appreciate an above board effort.Good gore and great action make Unearthed a worth watching. Just wish they explored the sexual tension between the twenty-something lady sheriff and the twenty-something lady scientist.

In the desert area of Hat Creek, cows are found partially devoured and the farmers believe that a wolf is attacking the cattle. The alcoholic Sheriff Annie Flynn (Emmanuelle Vaugier) is called by the local farmer Rob Horn (M.C. Gainey) to witness the remains of an animal to request reimbursement from the government and for an accident with a tank truck that is blocking the road. However, Annie sooner discovers that an ancient alien creature sent to annihilate life on Earth hundreds of years ago was released by the Indian Kale (Luke Goss) during an archaeological excavation in the desert. The Indian Caya (Beau Garrett) and a group of travelers stranded in the spot without gas together with Annie and Kale try to find a means to destroy the alien and save mankind.Watching "Unearthed" is a waste of time, since the forgettable story is nothing but a collection of clichés. Most of the characters are unpleasant and non-charismatic and the lead character is actually the anti-heroine Annie Flynn that is a drunken sheriff tormented by the accidental death of an Indian girl. The scene of Caya and the alien creature is another ridiculous rip-off of the classic scene of "Alien" with Sigourney Weaver. My vote is three.Title (Brazil): "Aniquilação" ("Annihilation")

After a truck is destroyed on a freeway, an alcoholic police officer (Emmanuelle Vaugier) and others are terrorized by a mysterious and violent creature. As the night progresses, the group of survivors learn that the creature is not of this Earth and attempting to destroy the human race.The writer/director of Dead & Breakfast, a fun horror-comedy, and writer of the upcoming reboot of Creepshow returns with Unearthed. Giving a quick scan of the DVD case, I see what's simultaneously the worst-looking cover and most unoriginal plot of the After Dark Horror Fest so far (from both years). It sounded more like a Sci-Fi Original's plot than it did a theatrically released horror film. Hell, even Sci-Fi Originals have more creativity in their plots (who will ever forget Rock Monster?). So, without an original storyline or, at least, cool artwork, Unearthed had a lot of work to do. As expected, it didn't come through. While the acting in this one was quite a bit better than the other After Dark Horrorfest films I've seen, the stale writing and lack of risky direction made for a very boring film. I, truly, have never been less engaged by a film. I never once cared about the characters in peril. . . just hoped they would die quickly to get the film over with. The effects were, when finally seen, poorly done. There were almost no scares and even fewer moments of any suspense. Overall, there aren't really any redeeming characteristics of this film. Not enjoyable, not enough violence/gore to please horrorhounds, no sex/nudity, no spectacularly well done writing or directing. . . really nothing good at all.Final verdict: 2.5/10.