Paul Andrews
Hydra starts as four complete strangers wake up in a dark room chained up, they quickly deduce that they have been kidnapped, are on-board a ship & the only thing they have in common is that they have all spent time in prison for serious crimes. It soon becomes clear what is going on, a guy named Vincnet (Alex McArthur) & US army Captain Sweet (Michael Shamus Wiles) have organised a hunting trip for four ultra rich businessmen who have had some aspect of their lives ruined by criminals in some way & the four kidnapped cons soon find out they are what the rich blokes are going to hunt & kill for sport & satisfaction. The four unwilling hunt participant's are dropped off on a seemingly deserted & uncharted island but they & their hunters quickly realise that the island is home a huge multi-headed Snake like creature from Greek mythology know as the Hydra & it has a liking for human flesh...Directed by Andrew Prendergast I have to say that Hydra turned out much, much better than I thought it would & is actually the first half decent Sci-Fi Channel 'Creature Feature' that I have seen in absolutely ages & I've seen quite a few of the things. Don't get me wrong, Hydra is no masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination but I did actually find it quite enjoyable. For a start the plot has slightly more to it than usual & plays out like a cross between The Most Dangerous Game (1932) & Turkey Shoot (1982) with it's organised hunt with human prey plot, an Indiana Jones film with it's fantasy archaeological angle & your typical Sci-Fi Channel 'Creature Feature' with the title beast which is a lot better & cooler than most. In Hydra we get a giant multi-headed Snake like creature that rips people to pieces on sight which is good enough for me although it's never given any sort of back-story & is merely presented in the film 'as is'. The character's are alright, the dialogue serviceable & it moves along at a decent enough pace with enough kills & action to keep ones interest. I didn't like how this giant Hydra creature could just appear out of nowhere without anyone hearing or seeing it coming, the story could have been more developed & more could have been made of the hunt & the cons fight for survival since that aspect of the plot seems to just be there to get a group of people on the island & not much else.The production values are alright, it looks a little cheap at times but it's not too bad. Usually these Sci-Fi Channel 'Creature Features' serve up some of the worst CGI computer effects imaginable & while the effects in Hydra aren't exactly amazing they are better than usual with a fairly fearsome & cool looking central monster. There's some gore here, several people get ripped apart, there's a severed hand, someones head is bitten off & there's a decent amount of blood.With a supposed budget of about $700,000 this looks quite good compared to a lot of low budget horror out there. The acting is alright but nothing special.Hydra is yet another Sci-Fi Channel 'Creature Feature' with a CGI central monster, an isolated location & various character's for it to kill but the main difference with Hydra is that it works quite well & is fairly watchable if you know what to expect. Better than I had anticipated & actually quite good.
slayrrr666
"Hydra" is an incredibly fun and exciting Sci-Fi Channel original creature feature.**SPOILERS**Traveling through the ocean, Vincent Camden, (Alex McArthur) takes his friends Clarence Elkins, (William Gregory Lee) Alex Williams, (Paul Rae) and Sean Trotta, (Roark Critchlow) on a cruise to a deserted island. Eventually finding a small island, they bring out captives Tim Nolan, (George Stults) Gwen Russo, (Dawn Olivieri) Ronnie Kaplan, (Texas Battle) and Bob Crick, (James Wlcek) who have all been involved in inflicting personal tragedies with the gang in the past and are now using the island as a place to hunt them down as revenge for those crimes. While running from the hunters, they manage to stumble upon Dr. Valerie Cammon, (Polly Shannon) the lone survivor of an archaeological expedition surveying the island who claims a huge, multi-headed snake known as a Hydra is stalking the island and killing them one-by-one. Unsure of how to defeat the creature, they try to find a way to kill it before being taken out by the hunting party after them as well.The Good News: This was a pleasantly surprising and quite enjoyable creature feature. One of the best features is that the creature's look here is absolutely great. This is an imposing force, as it's a multi-headed snake that has huge, ferocious-looking jaws that are lined with gigantic teeth in each head, which makes it deadly enough on it's own before the other factors are considered. With the head-chopping bringing in more good stuff, as it allows the creature to spawn more heads with each swiped one, there's a never-ending amount of heads that can come, each one with those features coming along, and along with it's size there's a lot to like about the creature. It also has one of the more unique stories for these kinds of films, with the captured people being used for a hunting party by those who have been burned by them in the past, and now have a chance at retribution being quite a novel idea and offering up plenty of good stuff. The first is that it's unique and hasn't been done before, as the motives are well-reasoned and logical, only just in that it's the villains which are given that opportunity to do this, which is new and not really done that often which makes it that way from the start, but that also allows for some fun to be had later on at the island during the actual hunting. From some nifty traps being set-up to a lot of action scenes coming from them being chased, this here is a fun start to the film and allows for a lot of fun to be had. The rest of the action scenes, which are mostly encounters with the creature, are a lot of fun. The first encounters, where the lone crew-members stumble upon it are a lot of fun, and the hunter's attacks are just as good. The ambush in the cave is also well-done here, offering enough fun to be concealed in a small, enclosed location that it's held in and comes off rather well. The finale, held on the ship, is just as good with the creature rampaging through the different corridors and using the surroundings well, making for a good time. Even the official conclusion to this one works well and it's a rather fun time overall. The last big plus is the film's blood and gore, which is quite nice. It's quite gory, as there's a multitude of bodies being bitten open with vicious abandon and letting the blood splatter everywhere, a couple limbs are torn off, bites to the chest, face and the head, being ripped in half at the waist, a wooden spear impaled through the leg and another is swallowed whole, among other kills. These here make this one quite bloody, and are overall the film's good points.The Bad News: There wasn't a whole lot of flaws to this one. One of the film's only flaws is that the Hydra's origins aren't given at all. The creature is a complete mystery as to where it came from or even what it is, and nothing at all is explained about it. There's nothing about how it can regenerate it's heads or even why the sword is needed to kill it and how it works against the creature. All that's said about it comes from myths and that they worked then, but even that is just a couple of lines here and there about it and not much else, which is quite disappointing and not really all that useful. The only other big flaw here is the usual Sci-Fi Channel original standard, the atrocious and utterly unconvincing CGI used for the creature. Not only does the size change for the creature based on the shot required, but the pixilated nature of skin is given away quite constantly. It's not in the slightest bit good looking, makes the film look much cheaper than it should be and not all that much good stuff comes from it. That it's also used for the blood and gore does that no favors. These are what's wrong with the film.The Final Verdict: An incredibly enjoyable and entertaining Sci-Fi Channel original, this one definitely manages to feature enough good stuff to be worthwhile. Recommended for those who have an appreciation of these films or find it interesting, though those who aren't big on the these films should heed caution.Rated R: Graphic Violence and some Language
Elswet
This will never be Emmy-worthy, nor will this enjoy record-breaking DVD sales later when it is released, but this is superior for a Sci Fi Channel Original. Like Wyvern, the story and dialog is more involved, better detailed, and runs much more fluid than your typical Sci Fi Channel fare. The long shots and scenic vistas are new for Sci Fi Channel releases, and I have to say they add a great deal to the overall feel and effect of the work. But moreover, the CGI has been amped up a bit and looks like something in which you can suspend belief, for a change. That has been the greatest problem with Sci Fi Original movies, thus far...the horrible CG, trite dialog, and terrible acting ruin the possibility of enjoying a good suspension of belief, thereby negating its own work. Thus is not the case with Hydra. At least, not to the extent as is typically present.It's not as bad as some say.It rates a 5.5/10 on the Made 4 TV scale.It rates a 4.2/10 on the Movie Scale from...the Fiend :.
