Carnivore (2000) review

(2/10)

   Generic, unintentionally hilarious, and overall a disaster, Carnivore fails to do anything as a horror movie but pass the time and inspire a few cheesy laughs.

PLOT: The legend of the old haunted house in town has been instilling fear and suspicion in the hearts of the local citizens, but what they didn't know was that the house was being utilized as a high-tech lab, housing a new genetically-engineered creature. The creature, called the Carnivore, or "Carnie", is under the care of a Dr. Westmont (Steven Walker). One day, Dr. Westmont puts too much confidence in the creature's trust, causing the creature to kill him and run rampant throughout the house. This prompts special visitors from the nation's capital to come down and attempt to contain the failed experiment before it gets out of hand. However, a foolish group of drunk teens decide that same night to have some fun and spend a night in the old haunted house. As predicted, none of this goes well. The plot is rather cheesy and underdeveloped. Had they added a bit more substance, character development, or film-making skills, this movie might have had a story worth watching. Sadly, this movie drifts into the zone where generic creature-features go to be forgotten, including others like The Relic. 

ACTING: All of the performances in this movie practically sucked. The acting is akin to scraping someone off the street and paying them a few bucks to do an impression of his or her character. The teenagers seemed to be a kind of the comedy relief and the generic "naughty teenager" types. The cops and government officials seemed over-angry and under-experienced. No one in this movie even takes a step in the direction of good acting.

SCORE: The score was nothing too special. For the most part, it felt cheesy and misfitting. The soundtrack contains some obscure metal songs that don't do anything for the movie.

EFFECTS: The effects in this movie were really disappointing. The "Carnivore" looks more like puppet with a Halloween mask on. The blood and gore, for the most part, was cheap to the point of hilarity. The worst part of the special effects would have to be the camera through the monster's point of view. This grainy, out-of-contrast "monster vision" is just kind of dizzying and lazily done.

OTHER CONTENT: This movie fails in almost every aspect of cinema. Aside from the horrendous acting and lackluster plot, Carnivore brings to the table bad script-writing, unfunny humor and unintentionally funny action scenes, and a complete ignorance of the creature. The movie should have been named after the fighting cops or the foolish teenagers, for they take up more screen time than the monster.The only victory this movie has is making me laugh. Carnivore is on the borderline of so-bad-it's-good territory, as its cheesy effects and moments of horror inspire a few chuckles of ridicule. Had the humor been intentional, this movie would have been alright. However, it takes itself way too seriously for the numerous amount of flaws it contains.

   Carnivore is far from a good horror film, but it's at least mindless entertainment to make the mindful laugh. Bad performances, an underdeveloped plot, a terrible script, and squandered potential are what this movie is all about. If you want a cheap laugh or to pass the time, by all means, watch this. You'll spend half of the movie wondering where the creature went.