by Psycho Soldier » Tue Oct 09, 2012 3:24 am
Managed to find it no prob on DM and gave it a watch. I feel okay about this movie overall. I wouldn't say it's an obscure gem, but it's a respectable kind of mineral. The thing to keep in mind is that this is no traditional monster movie - as Klen said above, it's more like a ghost story that happens to have a giant turtle.
Basically, a guy named Magnus returns to the island home where he and his family used to live. His friend Apollo Creed is part of a marine biology expedition in the area, and Magnus is also having memories of a girl he used to play with named Jenny. Well, Major Dillon figures there's a big sea creature ripe for harpooning, so he has a dispute with his colleague Dr. Paulus and goes to it. And Magnus is having trouble because almost everyone keeps telling him his girlfriend, the nymph (not nympho, which would really be something), never actually existed. Funny, because some of us wish our exes never actually existed.
I have trouble calling this a monster movie, because it's not exactly about the giant turtle with whom Jenny has a strange connection (although...). The characters are drawn a bit thinly here, but they're not awful. I think only Carl Weathers manages to elevate his character through his acting; everyone else is unremarkable. There aren't many miniature effects to comment on, but what's there is decently done. The turtle, though used with restraint, looks good.
I'd really like to see a better print of this movie before I judge too much. The VHS rip on DM isn't exactly ideal. Still, the movie's worth a look. It's about 90 minutes long, so it's no big investment of time, although it does take a while to get going.
"Available for your home in 1995, only on Nintendo Ultra 64!"
