Reign of the Gargoyles (2007)

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

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

I have seen worse, much worse, in SyFy channel original movies.What I don't understand is the DREARINESS in every minute of all of these movies. Special effects cost money, but does decent lighting and even a little comedy or even some light hearted-ness cost that much extra money? Making every minute of a horror movie or creature feature DARK AND GREY AND WET elevates it in NO WAY. It just makes for a dreary movie. You've got a passel of young hot male actors playing fighter pilots and not one shirtless scene. Top Gun, for all if its special effects, is often remembered by many fans mostly for one shirtless volleyball romp. The guys are not even shirtless for one second while working out in their bunks. I like Wes Ramsey quite a lot, but his hair cut and overly plucked and arched eyebrows do not make for an even slightly realistic WWII air gunner in this movie. I wish SyFy would try harder on the inexpensive stuff in its B movies. They would be more watchable and feel less stupid than most of what the channel cranks out.

Sci-Fi Pictures has such an incredibly bad track record that I am amazed that they are still churning out movies. This effort by them does nothing to break their long streak. In fairness, I will admit that not everything was badly done. The locations were pretty convincing, and some of the sets were okay. And... uh......well, that's about it for what's decent here. Everything else is REALLY badly done. I won't get into details like the uniforms, which were clearly wrong to this viewer who isn't an expert on World War II details like this. I will rip into the movie's really bad CGI special effects. These poor special effects may explain why the killer gargoyles stay absent for most of the movie - hard to build terror when you don't see what is causing the terror. The characters were also pretty weak. Maybe I could excuse the East European actors for not having convincing British accents, but I could not excuse the movie for having not one memorable character. They all seemed to blend together.Must I go on? If you have seen one Sci-Fi Pictures movie, you can guess just how awful this one will be before watching it.

The animation here is HORRID, and the story is lacking, but the performances are what drives this Sci-Fi Channel original. The dialog is hokey, but the delivery is about as good as it gets. These guys at least make you believe they and their situation is meaningful ... at least to them. Most of these movies are done with an almost tongue-in-cheek delivery as if the film not only does not take itself too seriously, but the actors are making FUN of it while, at the same time, drawing a check for doing it.This dreck-fest at least showed some heart. There are a couple of places where the performances made you forget (if only momentarily) that this was a typical "B" flick.All in all? It was enjoyable, in spite of itself, and showed some real heart. Tom Penny was an asset this time. While it is NOT fit for Friday/Saturday night viewing, it is still more fun that first imagined.It rates a 7.2/10 on the "B" scale, which is around a 4.6/10 on the "A" Scale, from...the Fiend :.

Actually, this had an interesting and little-used premise-that of the Nazis using sorcery/black magic to help them win World War 2. Yes, done in Raiders of the Lost Ark and Hellboy, but not much else, so I had slightly good hopes for it. I was wrong. The Nazis bring stone gargoyles to life, but are unable to control them, and the creatures begin to multiply and kill Germans as well as Americans and European freedom fighters. One of these days I'll get it through my head that 95% of Sci-Fi Channel's original movies are cheesy garbage, but I guess I'm not quite there yet. The cheesiest CGI I've seen in years, some of the worst direction , the worst acting, and stereotyped Nazi villains with bad accents abounded. The old TV movie GARGOYLES from the 70's was head and shoulders above this, so I'd imagine that should tell you something. What a comedown for an actor I always liked, Joe Penny (once of JAKE and the FAT MAN), who must have needed a new car or renovations to his house or something. I've already given it a one, only because I'm not allowed to give it a zero.