Sabretooth (2002)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

One of my all time favorites.

disgusting, overrated, pointless

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

RELEASED TO TV IN 2002 and directed by James D.R. Hickox, "Sabretooth" chronicles events when a saberetooth cat, cloned via fossilized DNA, is unleashed into the Big Bear Valley wilderness where it preys on vacationers and a group of trainee guides (led by Jenna Gering & Josh Holloway). The two responsible for creating the creature (Vanessa Angel &John Rhys-Davies) hire a great white hunter to capture it (David Keith).The beginning introduces the main cast and it's too goofy for its own good, particularly in regards to the trainee program group. But the story surprisingly gets compelling, despite the goofiness, and there's a great romantic scene between Holloway's character and Lola (Nicole Tubiola). The cast is likable (rounded out by Lahmard J. Tate and Phillip Glasser) and there's a nice assortment of females but, for me, they all lacked genuine sex appeal, except for maybe Steffanie Busey (Kara), who is overlooked because her part's so peripheral. It's a fun flick and the locations are great, but the creature is too cartoony to suspend disbelief when its head or body is clearly shown. They should've limited views to quick, partial looks, like they did in the first half. THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hour & 30 minutes and was shot in Big Bear Lake area, San Bernardino National Forest, California. WRITERS: Scott Vandiver (concept) & Tom Woosley (script). GRADE: C/C- (4.5/10)

Sabretooth is set in the remote Californian mountain wilderness where Senior camp counsellor Casey Ballenger (Jenna Gering) has the task of training up some Junior camp counsellors in readiness for a big camping trip, Casey takes them deep up into the mountain terrain to give them hands on experience & training. Meanwhile a flatbed truck crashes nearby on a mountain road & the container it was carrying breaks open releasing a five foot high genetically created Sabretooth Tiger into the mountain wilderness, hungry for food the unlucky Casey & her charges end up at the top of it's menu. Genetic scientist Catherine Viciy (Vanessa Angel) who created the Sabretooth, her boss Anthony (John Rhys-Davis) & big game hunter Bob Thatcher (David Keith) are on the Sabretooth's trail but will they find it in time & even if they do can they take it down?Directed by James D.R. Hickox who also has a cameo in the film as 'Silent Bob' whoever that is Sabretooth is yet another genetic experiments gone wrong 'Creature Feature' of the sort that the Sci-Fi Channel play all the time & to be blunt it's absolutely terrible in every way, shape & form. Sabretooth is nothing more than the usual collection of 'Creature Feature' clichés strung together around the (very) basic central concept of a Sabretooth Tiger on the loose, there's the genetic experiments gone wrong, there's the cold scientist who doesn't care about anything but the experiment, there's a big game hunter brought in to track & capture the beast, there's the cardboard cutout collection of teenage victims who constantly find obscure reasons to split up including a macho hero, a strong female, a black dude, a good looking but shallow chick & some annoying comedy relief nerd, there's plenty of running around doing nothing in particular & the storyline here is really poor. There's no background given to the experiments at all, there isn't even a token explanation about how the Sabretooth Tiger was created (other than it was a genetic experiment) or why (why not clone a friendly animal?) & the constant wandering around a forest with noting in particular happening gets very boring very fast. Although Sabretooth only lasts around 90 odd minutes it feels a lot longer as the plot really does drag, virtually nothing happens apart from some Sabretooth Tiger stalking some teens in a forest & even that is done in the most tedious way possible with no pace or flair or humour or surprises & it's just a terrible film that I don't even want to think about anymore.Usually these low budget 'Creature Features' have terrible CGI computer effects & Sabretooth doesn't buck the trend at all, when the Sabretooth is finally seen in all it's CGI glory you'll probably laugh out loud at how bad it looks & how badly it's animated. It just looks terrible from the colour to it's movements to it's interaction with it's live action surroundings. There are a few shots of a Sabretooth puppet animatronic head which looks better than the CGI effect but still doesn't impress & doesn't really match up with the CGI effects either. So the CGI special effects are terrible but is there any gore or nudity? Well no there isn't which makes Sabretooth even more of a chore to sit through, there's no pay-off as any of the (awful) character's are killed & there's no nudity either so what is the point of this awful, awful film? Anwers on a postcard please because I can't think of one.Production wise remove the awful CGI effects & Sabretooth is competent yet forgettable, filmed on location in Big Bear Valley National Park in California the stunning forest mountain locations are totally wasted & Sabretooth looks as if it could have been shot in my local woods. The cast features once respected actors David Keith & John Rhy-Davis slumming it & the ever awful Vanessa Angel who as expected is awful.Sabretooth is a terrible 'Creature Feature' that encompasses everything that is awful about the genre, terrible CGI effects, a lame predictable by-the-numbers plot, clichéd character's, no nudity or gore whatsoever despite an 'R' rating & awful logic & plot holes galore. Sabretooth is terrible in every way & that's all I can really say about it.

It's hard to decide which aspect of this movie is worst, effects, cast, dialogs, camera action, script, direction, they're all competing so hard! Especially worth mentioning is Vanessa Angel, who must have just left the botox studio before this flick was shot. We had a lot of fun guessing who'd die next and who we wanted to die soonest. Unfortunately the body-count stopped at about ten. Why this film was rated 16+ here in the Netherlands beats me, it wouldn't scare my four-year-old nephew and there was not even the accidental nipple showing. Films of this caliber always leave me wondering who on earth voluntarily invest in waste like this, one can't imagine the revenue ever breaking even with costs, even with as low a budget as this one must have had. Waste of time, watchable only with alcohol and a lot of friends. (2/10)

A Sci-Fi Channel Original directed by James D.R. Hickox. CGI that fails as much as it works. Hackneyed story that is watchable to the end. Cloning with remarkably fertile DNA, scientists create a vicious sabretooth tiger that escapes in transit. John Rhys-Davies fantasizes about being president and Vanessa Angel aspiring a Nobel Prize hire hunter deluxe David Keith to find the deadly animal before it rips more people apart. Jenna Gering and Josh Holloway are conducting an outdoors clinic that is interrupted by the ravenous predator. The tiger is to weight between 300 and 500 pounds, but the CGI placement has the creature various sizes. And by the way, what color is this sabretooth? Also in the cast: Nicole Tubiola, Lahmard J. Tate and Phillip Glasser. Keith is his usual cool and steady. Holloway appears to always be modeling.(Take him or leave him). But I found Tubiola to be the most exciting thing about this movie. Rhys-Davies and Tate are just plain obnoxious. And Angel most deservedly needed a rap across the chops.