Triassic Attack (2010)

Sadly Over-hyped

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Upset about the building on his sacred land, an Indian shaman summons an ancient spirit to stop the construction, but when they take the form of the dinosaur skeletons housed nearby, he joins with the police to stop their rampage before they eat the entire town.This here turned out to be quite the decent Sci-Fi Channel effort. One of the film's better features is some rather fun and enjoyable action scenes here that give this some fun and enjoyable scenes, as the ceremony to bring them back to life is one of these highlights. There's some fun to be had with the gathering of the different elements needed, the flashing images as the connection occurs unknowingly during the ceremony and then finally unleashing the skeletons which leads into the secondary attack on the construction site outside in a wholly impressive scene, while the student attacks in the forest that eventually results in their bloody discovery later and the escape in the police car trying to dodge the creatures always breaking in, bursting the creature to pieces before chasing them into a water- tower. Later action scenes here are a lot of fun as the big school-site ambush as it begins rampaging through the gathered faculty members at the ceremony which brings on plenty of fun action with the encounters of the staff and the others trapped inside while giving this some rather fun action. That doesn't even get to the film's two main highlight scenes, the big attack on the beach where skeleton creatures goes on a rampage at the fraternity initiation and begins chomping down on the members quite gruesomely in an extended and enjoyable sequence, while the finale comes off as a lot of fun with the secondary spiritual ceremony and the different attacks on the town before finally getting to the unique and creature finale that's wholly fun here. Along with the novel idea of the skeletons instead of the flesh-and-blood creations, there's some good parts here though it does have a few small issues. The biggest problem here is the film's use of those skeleton dinosaurs, as they're an absolutely horrendous execution filled with several problems as this absolutely kills off the gore here by never giving the kills anything to go on as this barely even contains any blood. None of the kills here have any of that, and it's such a detriment that the cheesy atmosphere is completely gone. That also gives way to the film's other problem with such ludicrous and pathetic CGI that's beyond laughable and becomes such a severe flaw considering the screen time they have as this continues on with the same flaws as usual. Otherwise, this was a decent enough effort.Rated Unrated/R: Violence and Language.

Triassic Attack is set in Mill City in the US where a large university have brought half the land & intends to demolish half the houses & shop's & expand the current university. A local Native American named Dakota (Raoul Trujillo) is opposed to the plans which will destroy his ancestor's heritage, he also feels his people were tricked into signing away their land & is doing all he can to stop the bulldozer's moving in. Dakota's uncle happens to be Jake Roundtree (Steven Brand) the town Sheriff who has to abide by the law, frustrated & angry Dakota decides to use ancient magic to save the town & performs a rite in which evil spirits possess three Dinosaur skeleton's bringing them to life, the rampaging skeleton's attack & kill anyone they meet & it's up to the Sheriff & his archaeologist wife Emma (Kirsty Mitchell) to figure out a way to stop them, meanwhile Dakota feels guilty & also sets out to stop them...Directed by Colin Ferguson this is yet another of the endless line of crappy films made by the SyFy Channel, how do these keep getting made? They never get good reviews & no-one seems to like them but for some reason the SyFy Channel continues to churn them out, someone must watch them? People like me I suppose who watch in the hope their next film might be good & since they air on television for free decide it's worth the effort because we haven't spent any money renting or buying the thing, I am still waiting for that good SyFy Channel film & believe me I have seen plenty of them. First a fact, none of the Dinosaur's featured in Triassic Attack actually lived during the triassic period, go ahead & look it up I think you will find that I am right. What the hell happened to the 'Science' in 'Science Fiction'? I guess the makers just thought Triassic Attack sounded better then Cretaceous Attack. Lets not kid ourselves though, nothing in Triassic Attack makes any sense & the whole film feels random & cobbled together, the script tries to be deep & have a parent daughter conflict angle while it also tries to say that while we have to look to the future we can embrace & remember the past but these attempts at serious drama are just laughable & are there to pad the running out between the Dinosaur attacks. The living Dinosaur skeleton's also pose many questions like how can they make roaring noises? How can they see? How can that one fly without & wings? Then at the end the two join together & we get a flying T-Rex as the film just gets even sillier. All attempts at humour, scares, suspense, tension & human drama fall flat & the whole 86 minutes is a chore to sit through.The special effects as you might suspect are poor, from the electricity bolts at the end to the Dinosaur skeleton's themselves, they just look absurd & the whole concept behind is daft. There's not even any decent gore either, there's a couple of dead bodies & a arm in a tree but nothing else worth mentioning. It's even odd that the hate figures of the film survive, I mean the university dean who is shown as a money grabbing white guy doesn't get so much as a scratch on him & Dakota the guy responsible for bring the Dinosaur skeleton's to life & is therefore indirectly responsible for at least a dozen death's is seen as the hero & saviour at the end!Although set entirely in the US this was apparently filmed in Bulgaria, the production values are cheap & it looks like the television film it is. The acting isn't great, the cast look nice enough but unremarkable.Triassic Attack is yet another instantly forgettable made for television SyFy Channel creature feature that is just as boring, badly written, incompetently made & silly as most of their other's. Don't bother wasting your time.

One test for a good show of any type is a simple question: did you care about the characters? I cared about the sheriff (who reminded me a bit of the sheriff in "Eureka"), about his estranged wife and about his daughter. Three likable actors portrayed the parts and I thought did good solid work. I objected for a moment at the skeletons breathing and bellowing without lungs but they were animated by *magic* after all. This is not a National Geographics special; it is a daft little fantasy. With good supporting actors, a couple of imaginative twists and a minimum of gore "Triassic Attack" became a fine little movie. Low expectations and being ill may have had something to do with it but I thoroughly enjoyed the time I "wasted" on this. I am confused about the title: none of the bony critters looked to be from the Triassic to me!

Could more effort be put forth in the composition? Sure. Could we have a lower budget film with 3D effects that had lighting more like the environment? Sure. I think some of the audio/soundtrack deterred me a bit during the dialog.But even with this I still had fun with this film. It had some funny moments that kept me in it but I think what got me the most was the sense of peril that was genuinely lacking at most times. I would like to see more good quality sci-fi native American lore based films.Please don't give up. This movie had good bones.. but where's the beef!