Wyvern is a Monster Movie, Which is Good.
Unfortunately, Wyvern is not a good monster movie. Between the goofy script and silly CGI monster, it was all I could do to watch until the end.
Written by The Horror Czar
August 20, 2009
Release: August 18, 2009 (U.S. DVD)
Directed by: Steven R. Monroe
Written by: Jason Bourque
Starring:
Nick Chinlund as Jake Suttner
Erin Karpluk as Claire
Barry Corbin as Haas
Elaine Miles as Deputy Susie Barnes
Tinsel Korey as Hampton
Simon Longmore as Farley
Global Warming is the villain yet again in the Sci-Fi channel (or is it "SyFy" now?) to DVD horror monster movie Wyvern. Since this is a horror movie site and not a political analysis site, we won’t discuss the grab for political and societal control behind the invention by politicians of human-caused warming of the planet, or how annoying it is to have this theme crop up in American cinema again and again, so don’t ask me about that.
Melting Ice Caps in Alaska uncover a flying reptile that looks like a traditional dragon, minus the breathing of fire. No real build up or suspense here; a piece of an ice cap falls into the ocean, the face of a monster is revealed, the eye opens and then a fisherman is eaten by the beast, all in very short order. We do finid out later that this creature is in fact a creature of Nordic legend, blah blah blah...
We meet a group of characters living in a small Alaskan town, most of which seem to be taken directly from the television series Northern Exposure. I never watched more than a few episodes of this series so I don’t know if it also had a female radio D.J. like this film does, but she reminds me a bit of Adrienne Barbeau from The Fog, so that part is cool.
We also meet a waitress named Claire (Erin Karpluk) and an ex-trucker turned drifter named Jake (Nick Chinlund). It is clear from their first appearance that they will survive and become a couple brought together by shared trauma. We are not disappointed. Frankly, I’m not even giving anything away by telling you this… it is VERY clear from the beginning in this highly formula-based creature feature.
The monster is a CGI Pterodactyl with a lizard head, basically, and is completely non-scary. It was pretty cool when a hunter found a steaming pile of lizard poo though… in fact, that particular visual pretty much encapsulates Wyvern – a steaming pile.
I can’t fault the actors in this film as their performances were satisfactory considering the material they were asked to present. I can’t even blame the effects, as bad as they were, as this film is so generally goofy that the fact that the explosions look extremely fake doesn’t have significant impact either way.
I love monster movies, but I do not love Wyvern. Sci-Fi Channel films are historically hit or miss, and this one was most certainly a miss. Questions or comments about Wyvern? Discuss it in The Ossuary Forums!
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