Waste of time

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

The poster for this film does not shy away from showing you the actual monster up close. In fact, it's what the poster solely is, an image of the beast or 'Animal' for it's title. Most horror films want to keep you in the dark for a good thirty to forty-five minutes before you get a glimpse of whatever monster they throw at you, but that's not the case with this film. That being said, this very low budget monster movie has a very cool looking monster. It's one of the better ones I've seen in recent years, however, that is about the only thing this film has going for it.I was shocked to see that Drew Barrymore was a producer on the film. Maybe it's because she starred in several horror movies in her career and wanted to give back to a new generation. Or maybe it's because she owed someone a big favor, but trust me, you wouldn't want your name associated with this movie. And then there is actress Joey Lauren Adams who shows up for a good chunk of the movie too. The rest of the cast, you may or may not have every heard or seen before. But for the low budget that this film has, Barrymore and Adams are huge names and assets to market this type of movie.Unfortunately, the film doesn't really go anywhere, nor is that exciting, as it's the same horror film we've seen one-hundred million times before. 'Animal' centers on a group of five co-ed teens who decide to have a long weekend trip together. Instead of going to a city or beach, they head out to the deep dark woods to a cabin for a little rest and relaxation. I sense you can see what happens next. Well, as their luck would have it, there is a hideous monster living in the woods, whose sole purpose is to eat and brutally kill anything or anyone that just happens to be in the woods. And that my friends, is the story of 'Animal'. No more, no less.With so many movies that have the same story lines and similar characters, it becomes a game of how fresh or different you can make the film fit in the genre. That's not the case here. Director Brett Simmons (The Monkey's Paw), doesn't want to keep things fresh here. Instead, he keeps the same exact flow and story from each film, prior to this one as each character is picked off one by one. Again, the one thing going for this film is the look of the monster. The monster was built and is not CG, which is cool. And even though it looks fairly cheap, Simmons knew how to shoot it to make it look like a scary and thrilling monster.It's just too bad he didn't focus on the script or story line. As for you gore-hounds, the blood and guts fly all over the place, and should be up to your twisted standards. For a monster movie that you've seen a thousand times before, 'Animal' does the job, but other than that, this horror film is a stinker.

Director Brett Simmons steps way over the line with this disgustingly horrific film. Shattering any boundary of good taste or cinematic restraints, he graphically depicts the slaughter of living human beings by a creature so terrifying it's beyond all description. The images shown in this film will haunt anyone who sees it for a lifetime and may even result in serious emotional trauma. This viewer was repelled by such visions of bloody mayhem and find the thought of a child ever being subjected inadvertently to them repugnant and immoral. There are simply limits to what should be shown as entertainment and directors have a responsibility to the general public to spare them undo and gratuitous suffering.

"Animal" is simplistic, nonsensical, juvenile, and extremely unoriginal. The acting is average, at best.Rating this movie a 10, you'd have to have low expectations as to what constitutes an outstanding movie with superb acting performances and an awesome story accompanying an even better script. There is nothing true about those sentiments in this movie, whatsoever! People go into woods. Monster in woods. Monster chases people. People find cabin. People hole up in the inexplicably impenetrable cabin , blockaded with flimsy pieces of wood, a 5 year old could break through, now people have to figure way out! But people are scared, ooooo. The monster was the only thing that was slightly cool and put together extremely well but the kills were lame and monotonous. Why this movie garnered an NR is beyond me. Some blood thrown around here and there, some superficial wounding, a little monster chomping, but nothing to rave about. Pretty bad,actually. After the opening sequence, we see a Jeep full of people driving on a desolate dirt road, who happen to come upon a blockade, across said road. They park and proceed to hike in the direction from whence they just drove. It makes no sense. Keke Taylor was very good in her role. The other characters stood around and stared a lot and blabbed stupid lines, some of which had no reason to even be in the script. There are no frights, no scares, and no tension. Overall, it was very boring and a complete waste of time.

Granted I wasn't expecting much after the first fifteen minutes. but its new to netflix streaming so what the hell right? Well the reviews do not lie, the bones of the film are solid, the cinematography, audio and the special effects were good. End of list. If you have seen any form of creature feature film, or monster movie even, you've seen this movie. If you haven't seen anything like this, stop and look up The Host, (korean) Grabbers, honestly so many more. The leads were consistent with most creature feature horror flicks, bad decisions were made, someones past is delved into and little attempt is made at working together, albeit for the commiserating silencing of the token villain..the dude from prison break. Yet, unlike many of its predecessors, to a fault - our protagonists reject any form of defense against the monster, save for a wall in between them. How long was that initial group there? i may have missed it but it seemed like the lay down and die approach was taken. Another issue i had was the lack of discussion regarding what the hell the creature is!? Everyone seems fine with believing it to be some woodland creature, common to the woods of wherever the hell this film takes place. While this device could have served as a commentary to the genre, in that a trope of creature features is the initial utter denial of the apparent danger or supernatural/otherwordly presence...the film chose to not really address it at all. overlooking the obvious opportunity for parody, the film instead sticks to its roots and merely chocks their insistence to denial up to stupidity and ignorance.Don't waste your time, with a little research there are some worthy genre pieces from which Animal borrows heavily.