Plot
Cryptozoologist Dr Peña has been
hunting the legendary Chupacabra for years. So when he finally traps one on
a remote Caribbean island, his name in the scientific community will be
assured for decades to come. He smuggles the creature aboard a cruise ship
but when some nosey workmen open the crate inside the cargo hold, the
Chupacabra breaks loose and begins to kill the crew and passengers.
Review
The Sci-Fi Channel pillages another monster to
add to their never-ending collection of creature feature films, this time
bringing to life the legend of the Chupacabra in a throwaway flick which
ranks up there with their usual output. So for those not familiar with the
Sci-Fi Channel's endless supply of low budget creature feature films,
they've brought to life all manner of CGI terrors including giant squids,
snakehead fish, the Loch Ness Monster, dragons and the usual suspects of
sharks, spiders and snakes. Brought to life in insipid, soul-destroying
fashion, the bulk of these films contain one or two 'named' actors from
bigger and better films, scripts which all play out the same way, terrible
special effects and are about as exciting as a blank piece of paper. No
surprise to find out that Chupacabra: Dark Seas is another one in the
time-honoured tradition, equally as inept as the previous one and no doubt
just as mind-numbingly predictable as the next twenty or so!
Think
of something like Deep Rising without the humour and you'll be
getting close to Chupacabra: Dark Seas. The 'plot' is paper thin and
basically consists of the creature being released onto the ship as soon as
is humanly possible so that it can then munch it's way across the crew and
passengers. And that's it in a nutshell. There's a vaguely sketched handful
of sub-plots involving a thief on the ship and the very vague attempts to
create some sort of romantic interest between the captain's daughter and an
undercover agent aboard. Not least the necessity for the film to contain
some form of human villain (as if a ravenous Chupacabra wasn't enough) as Dr
Pena walks straight into cliché mode by attempting to capture the creature
alive instead of killing it. If you can't guess what happens to him, then
you really have no business watching horror films! But being original isn't
high on this film's priorities as it churns out cliché after cliché with
reckless abandon. There's no comedy involved and you get the feeling that
things may have been a little more bearable had someone decided to throw in
some proper jokes or some light-hearted winking to the audience. Everyone
plays it straight and then struggles to get into the one-dimensional roles
they've been given. It must be hard for someone like John Rhys-Davies to go
from the Lord of the Rings series to this but he's shoe-horned into a
pointless role as the captain. Despite adding a touch of class to
proceedings, he hardly getting anything meaningful to do except bark out
orders to other people. Dylan Neal is the hero of the piece and Chelan
Simmons plays the role of the captain's daughter. As I've eluded to already,
there's a couple of very half-assed attempts to spark some sort of chemistry
between them but there's nothing. Giancarlo Esposito struggles with about
five different accents trying to bring to life the character of Dr Pena and
fails on every level.
Chupacabra: Dark Seas has production values
which are shoddy and very low budget, perhaps some of the worst I've seen
from Sci-Fi. The cruise ship seems to consist of the same handful of rooms
and corridors, all shot from different angles to give the impression that
you're looking at something new. You never really get the sense that these
characters are actually on board a cruise ship and the terribly-rendered CGI
shots of the ship will not do much to change your mind on that point.
Thankfully, and in what seems like a first for the Sci-Fi Channel, some
money seems to have spent on a realistic monster. The
Chupacabra is a guy in a suit for the most, save for some dodgy CGI when it
decides to scurry across the ceiling. But there's a nice physical menace to
the monster which is sorely lacking in other Sci-Fi creature features and
the suit looks decent, with a suitably scary face. It does get plenty of
screen time and it doesn't disappoint in that sense. When it attacks, it
attacks with brutality and the kills are gory and regular enough to keep
things ticking over nicely. Unfortunately after laying waste to most of the
crew and some passengers during the opening half, the captain decides to
evacuate the ship and the list of potential victims is dramatically cut
short leaving the film struggling to keep any sort of momentum during the
second half. It's just the same routine of the remaining characters to
slowly plod around the ship looking for the creature, stumble upon which
leads to the loss of one of the characters and then the survivors must go
off and find it again.
Verdict
Chupacabra: Dark Seas contains some
alright moments but it's not nearly enough to have to sit through yet
another bargain basement creature feature from the Sci-Fi Channel. With an
appalling script which goes through the motions from the opening scene right
up until the end credits, even the decent make-up effects can't save this
mess.
