Roadkill (2011)

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

I find this film to be remarkable in its ability to arouse a racist response in viewing it, to the degree that it is to some extent worth studying to see what techniques make this possible. From my perspective, as someone in the U.S., the anti-Gypsy sentiment in Europe is something alien; here, Gypsies may be presented as something of a fairy-tale concept, but I've never encountered any real sense of animosity toward them. But this presentation makes it feel very real - my feeling is, if you're not feeling by the end that those poor victims should shout out at their persecutors that the next time the Nazies are going to finish the job, you're not getting into the film. And of course, that's disturbing.Some of the techniques are obvious - the freaky appearance of some of the characters, the lovely white woman tied up as a sacrifice, the constant cheating. The way the Gypsies always and automatically side with each other, and above all, the sense that the innocent non-Gypsy bystander, and by extension, yourself, merely riding in the RV, becomes the victim of their murderous and unnatural wrath, and has no choice but to take up arms against them in a war of extermination which, one feels, should and must proceed until the last spawn of their clan has been strangled in its cradle. But I think for every technique I understand, there must be two I haven't apprehended.As a movie, it is not much, but as a sort of "Birth of a Nation" style propaganda, it is dangerously outstanding.

To be honest from the generic title and SyFy's usual dubious reputation, I was not expecting much from Roadkill at all. However I was pleasantly surprised. Although it is less than perfect, it is one of SyFy's better efforts. After seeing many SyFy movies made on the cheap and in an amateurish way, Roadkill for me actually looked quite good. The locations are atmospheric and look great, and the photography is mostly slick, giving it a Jeepers Creepers vibe. The effects are above average too, some do have a rushed look to them, but the Simuroc reminded me of the effects of Ray Harryhousen, something I loved as I grew up on the movies featuring his effects.What was surprising also was the story. From the title, you'd think it would be the usual monster-of-the-week movie, which I am starting to find unoriginal and dull in all honesty, but no. While the Simuroc is adequate enough, I found the gypsy clan, a big part of the story, even more menacing. On top of this, while some may take it as a not so good thing, Roadkill is darker than the usual campy feel I see from SyFy, which I found refreshing. Some parts of the movie don't hold that many surprises, but the change in pace was admirable, and I liked the intense scenes particularly in the earlier scenes with the friction between the characters mainly.Speaking of the characters, they actually manage to be interesting especially the leader of the gypsy clan, the characters in a lot of SyFy movies are stereotypical and underdeveloped, but while there is nothing especially new about some of the characters they do at least engage and are on screen longer than two minutes. The acting is pretty decent, again nobody amazing, but nobody awful either. The best of the cast is Ned Dennehy, who is chillingly effective as the gypsy clan leader. Roadkill does, apart from a couple of bad effects, have some problematic areas. The screenplay is the main one, not groan-inducingly bad but rather generic with some hilariously lame sex jokes and there are still moments where you have to suspend disbelief, particularly one scene where one characters smears the blood of her friend to her face.Plus the scene towards the end where they confess to cheating on the SATs and being inappropriately touched by a cousin was pretty cringe-worthy and had me reaching for the remote. The ending is somewhat routine, but I appreciated how tense some of it was. Overall, not a great movie by all means, but compared to what it could have, it is reasonably good and watchable. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Score one for SyFy Channel and the generically titled "Roadkill." A bunch of good-looking your people are on a road trip in Ireland when they accidentally hit an old gypsy woman, who places a curse on them. They also run afoul of her peculiar hillbilly-like family. The curse comes in the form of a most unpleasant flying beast, a roc from ancient Greek mythology, which picks the youths off one by one. The roc is of course a CGI creation, but is several steps up from most other CGI creatures that populate SyFy-made flicks. The kids themselves are nothing special, but the film has the advantage of having been shot on location. Very reminiscent of "Jeepers Creepers II," and any film involving killer hillbillies ("Wrong Turn," for instance) and gypsy curses ("Thinner" comes to mind). Worth a look.

It's a SyFy release so that must say enough. Most of those releases are pure crap but this here surprised me about how well it was made. The storyline is okay the only thing that was a bit stupid was of course or main actor, the bird. The bird just makes it unbelievable but it is so typical for SyFy like indeed Sabretooth to use CGI animals. I can't say that the CGI used was okay, the bird looked really prehistoric and sometimes really cheap. But as I said, it's the acting and especially those by Ned Dennehy that makes this flick. I agree with the other reviewer that it is a mix of Jeepers Creepers and Drag Me To Hell. Of course it has an open ending. The blood do flows sometimes and some shots are really CGI gory. Just replace the bird (the Roc) with a supernatural creature (like Jeepers Creepers) and it would have been so much better.