Chupacabra Terror (2005)

Excellent, a Must See

Best movie of this year hands down!

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Oh dear god, what is this? Never in my life have I seen acting this bad...well, actually I have, but that's beside the point. The monster looks nothing like the creature of Hispanic folklore, or even the creature on the cover. The art shows the creature as looking like some type of dog, but the movie monster looks more like some kind of fish like demon. What's hilarious as well is that they use CGI effects to show the cruise ship the movie takes place on, and on the creature as well. However, it is only CGI when the creature moves quickly (though not quicker than an average person could move), and then it's not CGI at other parts of the movie. The captain is a likable character, but the rest of the cast can go down with the ship in my opinion.

There is really nothing new about this Sci-Fi horror movie. Basically, a creature known as a Chupacaba, which resembles a large lizard and ugly dog, is smuggled onto a cruise ship. Interestingly, this animal in real life has been debated as to its origins. Some say it is urban legend, some say it is an extremely rare mammal know as a carnivore that preys on warm blooded mammals. You decide what to believe.This story is predictable. This Chupacaba is about five times normal size with a lust for human flesh. It escapes on the ship, putting crew and passengers in danger. A scientist specializing in Cryptozoology wants to trap the creature, but to keep it alive for research studies. Everyone else wants it dead.The movie is very low-budget and has almost a cheesy MTV feel to it. There is plenty of violence and gore when the Chupacaba kills. However, what makes this movie bearable to watch is there is good suspense and momentum throughout most of the picture. Watch for the role of the ship's Captain. He is amazing good and professional in this movie, with a certain flair of sophistication that you would not expect from a B-grade movie such as this. His acting and the suspense on the ship maintained my interest.The special effects are also better than expected. Chupacabra Terror, while no horror classic, has enough good elements for a once around Friday or Saturday night popcorn suspense movie when nothing else is worth seeing during the time it is showing. Under these conditions, give it a view. You will generally find it on either the Sci-Fi or Chiller channel.

Apparently in early 2005, SciFi Channel threatened to release the incriminating photos they have of John Rhys-Davies and said, "We need you to star in another SciFi Original." The scary thing is, he's actually pretty damn good in this movie. That's really saying something since this is a silly SciFi creature feature; you've gotta put some feeling into it in order to be well-acted. Unfortunately, nobody else does. It's your stereotypical "moster-run-amok" movie on a cruise ship. The cryptozoologist wants to keep the creature alive, the Navy SEALs think they have everything under control but they don't know what they're dealing with and they all end up dead, a girl jumps into the "movie sexpot" role as Rhys-Davies' daughter and the creature mauls about 100 or so shipmates. What this movie has going for it is, it's VERY fast-paced and lively; you're never bored or waiting for another kill. Other than that, though, it does nothing to distinguish itself, and it's silly that this thing crawls all over the ceilings and can't be wounded by Navy SEAL machine guns, but can be karate-kicked into submission by Rhys-Davies' daughter. Kinda went back and forth on giving this bad boy a 5, but for the above silliness I'm giving it a 4.

Chupacabra Terror, or Chupacabra: Dark Seas as it's also known, starts as a cryptozoologist (someone who searches for mythical creatures) named Dr Pena (Giancarlo Esposito) & his bunch of hired South American mercenaries are on the hunt for a Latin American creature known as a Chupacabra, they set traps which capture the Chupacabra & Dr. Pena manages to bring it under control with a dose of special tranquiliser. The cruise ship the 'Venician Queen' is about to set sail as Captain Randolp (John Rhys-Davis) introduces himself to U.S. Marshall Lance (Dylan Neal) who has been brought aboard to try & unmask a thief. Dr. Pena also boards at this point with a suspicious looking wooden crate, the crate goes into storage & the Venician Queen sets sail. Two of the ships crew become curious as to what is in the crate & decide to open it, which in retrospect turned out to be a bad idea as the vicious Chupacabra jumps out brutally kills them both. It's not long before the mutilated bodies are found & Captain Randolph alerted, he tries to recapture the creature but as the body count grows Randolph has no choice but to call in the Navy Seals headed up by Commander Link (Matthew R. Anderson) but will it be enough to prevent the Chupacabra from slaughtering the entire ship...?Co-written & directed by John Shepphird I actually thought Chupacabra Terror was a fairly entertaining 'creature feature' type film. The script by Shepphird & Steve Jankowski (who has a small role in the film as Admiral Williams) moves along at a fair pace & at least it knows what it is & doesn't really try to be anything else other than a slimy monster-on-the-loose sci-fi/horror film. The character's aren't great, neither is the dialogue but it helps when there aren't huge chunks of time wasting exposition & unnecessary character development to pad the running time out, thankfully Chupacabra Terror sticks to the monster killing people which in itself wasn't a bad decision on behalf of the filmmakers since they obviously knew they weren't making high drama or an Oscar worthy epic. Chupacabra Terror reminded me of Deep Rising (1998) which itself was basically Titanic (1997) crossed with Aliens (1986) & while Chupacabra Terror definitely doesn't have the scope, scale or excitement of those films it's not a bad watch & is better than a lot of these Sci-Fi Channel films that I've sat through, I will take this opportunity to remind you of the cinematic masterpiece that is Python (2000), now look me in the eye & say Chupacabra Terror is a bad film.Director Shepphird does an OK job, it doesn't have much visual flair or style but it looks alright considering it's straight-to-video origins. I really liked the monster in this, sure it's just a guy in a rubber monster suit but I liked it & though it looked pretty good most of the time. Also I'm pretty sure throwing grenades around a ships engine room would cause more damage than is suggested. There is a fair amount of blood & gore here, while not particularly graphic there is plenty of bloodshed, there are various ripped throats, mutilated bodies, dog munching & a bit where someone is chopped in half & their intestines are splattered are all over the place.With a budget of about $1,200,000, filmed in the Turks & Caicos Islands Chupacabra Terror technically is a decent film, some of the special effects aren't the best but none are that bad, it can't really escape it's low budget made-for-video origins but it's certainly watchable. The acting is average, hey I'm trying to be kind here.While it's not going to win any awards for artistic merit or originality I thought Chupacabra Terror was a good, fun & entertaining monster film but going by some of the other comments here on the IMDb I think I'm in the minority with that opinion. Personally I think it's worth a watch & who cares what other people think anyway...