Snakehead Terror (2004)

Pretty Good

One of my all time favorites.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Honestly, with the movie going on I'm becoming more and more speechless. How in the world could someone produce a movie like this other than being completely drunk.So please do not watch this one unless you really don't have anything else to do and/or are drunk - I guess it could be somewhat enjoyable in that case xD------------------------- Spoiler alert!!! -------------------------It all begins with the never ending stigma of a sheriffs daughter that isn't getting enough love from daddy. Of course his wife had died a few years before and he doesn't like his daughters boyfriend. Well - Some mega-mutant snakehead-fish kill both the boyfriend and some other dude with + his dog. Not that they're just killing them, they're completely lacerating them. So far so good. The good sheriff goes to visit the city's major to convince him of sealing the whole lake off. Which seems to be kind of a good idea given the fact that it looks like there's some pretty feisty little animal out there. The completely ridiculously appearing major whatsoever sends him away, saying that it would be bad for the economy of the city to do so. The sheriff isn't happy with that but moves on. Understandably, cause, I mean what could possibly go wrong, right? Some days and corpses later it all becomes a public event. Hundreds of fishermen come cheerfully into the little city to see what's behind that story of the Mutant-Snakeheads. They even hand out T-Shirts ("I survived the snakehead terror")As a matter of course, the sheriffs daughter - who doesn't seem to be that broken-hearted after all - decides to go hunt for the Snakeheads. The next hour is pretty simple to describe. Some dude had punched growth hormones into the see for months to help the fish grow for economic reasons. Little sheriff's daughter gets in trouble. More and more people die - "epic" fight in the end of which I must admit, that it's outcome really leaves the viewer happy...-> ...cause it meant the movie was finally over.

A struggling lakeside community is thrown into turmoil when after a plague of ecologically harmful snakeheads thought to have been eradicated, re-surfaces with a mutated appetite for live meat. Local sheriff Bruce Boxleitner and expatriate biologist Carla Alt set about trying to prevent the deadly spawn from reaching the river system, where there accelerated maturity would result in uncontrollable breeding and eventual national disaster."Snakehead Terror" wades into the obscure but no less menacing spectre of snakeheads, which ultimately begs the question: what is a Snakehead? If you said something akin to a lung fish equipped with the jaws of a barracuda and attitude of a rabid mongoose, then you've evidently seen "Snakehead Terror". After the initial corpse (or more specifically, severed limb) turns up, and the first hero is quickly dispatched, various local identities are introduced and then casually pulped by the voracious Snakeheads, forcing Boxleitner and his beautiful boffin into action.Despite the usual absurdities (discovery of a container marked "Human Growth Hormone") the script is by no means unintelligent and the acting and characterisations realistic and not over-played. Fans of the X-Files will relish the appearance of William B.Davis in a key supporting role, while genre director Gary Jones has a small role as the key perpetrator, unwittingly connected with the infestation. Bloody is the operative word here; there's a whole bagful of body parts on which to piece together the mystery, including the obligatory severed head, and even a thorough examination of reverse digestion. Very graphic. Predictable formula, but nonetheless taut and involving with likable, balanced characterisations, "Snakehead Terror" is a better than average "monster-in-the-lake" movie that's definitely got teeth.

Rather funny looking fish turn up in a small American town, where the local population are literally dying to be eaten in the silliest of ways. Examples are the dude who crawls towards a hissing monster with a camera and gets eaten, the twit who, noticing a monster sitting next to him in his car, tells it that he's dropped his spectacles before getting eaten, and the particularly stupid duo who manage to crash their boats into each other before getting eaten.The monsters, realising that they're winning too easily, try to help the humans by moving incredibly slowly and hissing a lot to advertise their presence, but this doesn't stop the locals from getting devoured.Bruce (Babylon 5) Boxleitner presides over this piece of hokum, as a Chief (Jaws) Brodie-style Sheriff, befriending an implausibly young and attractive female scientist, while his daughter takes a group of annoying teenagers out towards the lake at night, looking for particularly hilarious ways to get eaten.At least this film explains one thing, why aliens and other dangerous monsters prefer small town America. The locals there make particularly fast food!

For a Sunday afternoon cable movie, this was actually pretty good. Nice scenery. Bruce Boxlietner (who looks more and more like Bill Clinton...spooky) and former supermodel Carol Alt gave decent performances. And there were a few clichés that were avoided. Doc (the actor who was the Cigarette-Smoking Man on X-FILES) was behind the whole mess but he wound up arrested instead of being fed to the fish. The sheriff and the scientist didn't fall in love. Best of all, the sort of dopey deputy who had a crush on the scientist didn't get fed to the fish either. The mayor (who had really neat eyebrows) channeled Murray Hamilton long enough to give his little speech about how the town needs the tourist business so the beach must not be closed) and then vanishes from the plot.Sure, this wasn't that original. The writer and director have obviously seen JAWS many times. The scene with the upside-down boat proved that (and there's no way I'd ever fire a gun while standing on an overturned boat but I guess a good guy's gun doesn't have recoil). There were some major plot holes in that this seemed to be a rather tiny town but people like the guy from the local newspaper and his photographer could go missing and people didn't think it strange. The final siege in the house was very much like THE KILLER SHREWS, but that may have been coincidence. And the ending was lifted whole cloth from JAWS 2 except the electricity went to the critters instead of one critter chomping down on a bazillion watt power line.But in its own way it was fun. And compared to the usual Sci-Fi Channel movies it was a work of brilliance. With the exception of TERMINAL INVASION most of their original movies haven't been just tired, they've been exhausted.Maybe with this one the actors had a nice vacation and got in some boating and fishing on their days off. And for a made for TV movie there's a surprising lot of blood and gore, both fish and human. The shot of the headless corpse spurting blood on the windshield was memorable, to say the least.Best of all, this wasn't so dependent on computer generated effects. I've seen too many movies on that station that looked like video games.Look for the appearance by the singing wall-mounted fish in the house where the final siege takes place. It sings "Don't Worry, Be Happy," and is a very nice touch.Turn your brain off, get some snacks (or some sushi if you really want to get into it) and enjoy.