Mongolian Death Worm

Mongolian Death Worm (2010)
Directed by: Steven R. Monroe
Written by: Kevin Leeson, Neil Elman, Steven R. Monroe
Starring: George Cheung, Sean Patrick Flanery, Victoria Pratt

(No trailer available)

Mongolian Death Worm (2010)

(15) Running time: 84 minutes

Director: Steven R. Monroe

Writers: Steven R. Monroe, Kevin Leeson

Starring: Sean Patrick Flanery, Victoria Pratt, George Cheung

Reviewed by: Matt Wavish, official HCF critic

You would never believe for a second that this made for TV sci-fi was directed by the same chap who directed the I Spit on Your Grace remake, but it was. I don’t mean that in a bad way, and I suppose these films made for the SyFy channel will always look a bit tacky, but that their charm and Mongolian Death Worm is full of it. Granted this film will not break any new grounds ,win any awards or even be remembered in a years time, but for now, I’d like to recommend it. This won’t be to everyone’s taste, but those who enjoy a dumb, over the top, crap acting and even worse effects type of creature feature, Mongolian Death Worm has it all.

You know, I have read somewhere that this has some of the worse special effects ever, but in all honesty, and considering the obvious budget restraints, the effects are actually pretty good and seem to get better as the film goes on. There are a number of plots going on here to keep you interested: firstly there is an oil rig company who have set up in the Mongolian desert to both find oil and some ancient ‘treasure’, they are a little on the dodgy side, if you get my drift. Then there’s the subplot of a village suffering from disease, and aid workers and Doctors are attending to help them, two of these Doctors have become stranded in the desert on their way to the village, and this allows local tough but good guy Daniel (Flanery) to come into play. The female Doctor,Alicia, played by the gorgeous Victoria Pratt, accepts his help to take them to the village, but he charges because he a bit of a wheeler and dealer, and she aint happy. A wonderful relationship blossoms! Add to this some local gangsters who are after Daniel, who himself is hunting the lost treasure said to be guarded by Mongolian Death Worms, and the stage is set for all the stories to intertwine and for a whole load of fun to take place.

The worms make an appearance every ten or so minutes, sometimes they look pretty well designed, others they look awful and actually appear to miss their target as they suck them up into their mouths. The film suffers, as do all the SyFy channel film, with victims standing still rather than running away, but I have come to accept this as quite comical now and actually find it rather amusing. There are double crossings, fights, chases and even some fairly obvious plot twists along the way that actually drive the film along at a fast and comfortable pace. It never gets boring, the characters are actually quite like-able, and even though you can pretty much guess how everything will pan out, there is a real sense of adventure here. The main aspect to this film though, is its sense of fun and humour. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, knows where to draw the line and for some God forsaken reason, is very very like-able.

I enjoyed this film a lot, it is the perfect cheap and tacky creature feature that will easily pass 90 minutes and may even raise a few laughs along the way. Forget what people say about the effects being crap, they’re supposed to be crap! Out of all the SyFy channel films I have seen this year, Mongolian Death Worm is one of the best, hugely enjoyable and a film that will no doubt be gracing my DVD collection.

Rating:

[pt-filmtitle]Mongolian Death Worm[/pt-filmtitle]