Basilisk: The Serpent King (2006)

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

This movie is very entertaining and should be added to every collection of excellent B-movies. This movie was intentionally made to be humorous as well as gruesome. Wonderful and hilarious dialogue and lovable characters are only a couple of qualities that make this movie so good. This film also includes some graphic and gory death scenes which every horror needs. The acting was perfectly fitting for any comedy-horror and every character was unique in their own way. The 'Geek Scene' remains one of my favorite scenes of all time and deserves to be famous. All in all, very well played and hit spot-on. CGI is only okay, but hey, it is a comedy-horror after all. A great flick that should leave a good impression in the movie world.

As a veteran aficionado of the SciFi originals, I had my usual expectations going into "Basilisk". Laughable special effects, transparent characters and formulaic situations clumsily stumbled into by unwitting victims of the CGI beast-du-jour; all comprising a solidly entertaining and heartily enjoyable experience. While "Basilisk" dutifully fulfilled many of my preconceptions, I have to say that it was a cut well above the standard Saturday night fare.This creature flick can rightfully take its place among such greats as "Hammerhead: Shark Frenzy" (Jeffery Combs can't make a bad movie), "Frankenfish" and many of the other SciFi offerings but I have to put "Basilisk" into its own category all together. The effects are of the same caliber as its worthy cousins, but I think that what lifts this one for me is the script. It is witty without being contrived and never leaves a slow moment or the feeling of awkwardness that comes with so many screenplays that try too hard to be hip (see: Lucky Number Slevin. Actually, don't see it, it's terrible). Cleavant Derricks does an outstanding job as the weekend warrior Colonel and his bantering exchanges with Jeremy London are the stuff of high theatrical art.So all in all, this one is not to be missed. Next time SciFi decides to air it, set the TiVo and prepare to be entertained. You will not be sorry.

This is the latest monster movie tromp from the Sci-fi channel. While many other sci-fi channel movies like "Kraken" were absolutely terrible, this movie is pretty good. But if compared to "Aliens" or "King Kong", this movie would be considered terrible. The plot centers on a basilisk running loose around a city and scientists trying to stop it. Also two bad guys steal a staff that has the power to kill the basilisk but at the same time find a great treasure. Of course the bad guys want the treasure. But with the basilisk following the bad guys, things get complicated. While the characters are like card-board cut-outs and the special effects not so special, this movie exceeds in is a story that moves along fast enough to keep people entertained and excited. This movie is fairly enjoyable and only moderately disappointing. If sci-fi keeps making movies of this caliber, than i will tune in on Saturdays much more often.

"Basilisk: The Serpent King" is an incredibly enjoyable Sci-Fi Channel original creature feature.**SPOILERS**On a dig in Persia, Professor Harry McCall, (Jeremy London) and his team Rudy Skeeters, (Griff Furst) and Sierra, (Sarah Skeeters) find a series of ancient statues depicting soldiers and a large unknown creature. Meeting up with fellow scientist Rachel Donegan, (Wendy Carter) they attend a party honoring the discovery, and during an eclipse, the creature statue comes to life as a Basilisk and goes on a rampage. While trying to escape, they find Col. Douglas, (Cleavant Derricks) and his National Guard unit fighting the creature. When they realize that the only way to fight the creature is a scepter held by thieves Hannah, (Yancy Butler) and Brock, (Doug Dearth) they race to get it back before it continues it's rampage.The Good News: This one really surprised me by how good it was. A giant snake loose in a major city is one of the few ideas left in this series, and here it works magically. Rather than just having out in the middle of nowhere with very few targets, the snake is loose inside an urban center, which holds the possibility for tons of damage and tons of fun, which this has plenty of. The snake itself goes on a major rampage, biting off limbs, decapitating a couple, having objects crushed when they collide with them, and even the requisite number of people turned to statues. Those are handled very well, not really looking very CGI at all and looking quite natural. The various action scenes are all nicely paced and quite exciting, keeping it moving forward and always on the move. There's very little down-time between pretty much anything, as the pace moves along very rapidly from once scene to another. The snake itself is out and about very rapidly as well, coming out very early and staying that way for most of the most of the movie. The reawakening is a great action set-piece, with tons of bodies flying everywhere and a general mass panic. The mall sequence features some great action parts as well, making it a real highlight. The fact that the mystical creature gets explained in here with some factual evidence gives this one some more weight to it that most don't really have in the science background, and really sounds quite credible. Though it does look quite fake, the snake does have a rather creepy look to it in certain scenes, with a snake-like body mixed with a crocodilian jaw and a set on horns along the side of the body. Far better film than it should've been.The Bad News: It's getting very tiresome to call these films on the very badly-done CGI, and this one is no exception. Here, the same applies. Very rarely does the CGI used to make the creature look anything close to being believable. The CGI is apparent on the creature whenever it moves for a period of time, but when it doesn't really move is when there's a believable appearance, but it's still pretty easy to tell it's not a real creation. This is a common problem, and one that really doesn't show a lot of signs towards ending, and must really be endured more so than most other films. However, this is the one main problem with this. It's really not all that bad.The Final Verdict: Far better Sci-Fi Channel original than it had every right to be, this falls into the upper echelon of their pantheon of films and features a lot to like about it. Sure, there's the fact that it doesn't look real at all, but that is becoming par for the course with these films and is now a given. Fans of the past films should see this one immediately.Rated R: Graphic Violence and some Language