Why so much hype?

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

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

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

ROADKILL, a SyFy Channel-style giant monster flick complete with CGI beastie and some horrid acting, offers something a little different for B-movie fans. This one's set in Ireland for a change, and sees a group of American vacationers going on a road trip in their RV (or camper van for Brit viewers) and finding themselves at the mercy of an ancient curse.It's all preposterous nonsense of course, and the film's cause is little helped by the cheesy, sloppy execution. The writing is equally poor: there's a fairly large cast and yet none of the main characters is in any way memorable or indeed stands out from the pack. When the token black guy shows up you know that the calibre of the writing is sub-par and totally clichéd to say the least.And yet, and yet...ROADKILL has a certain atmosphere that I found highly charged and plenty of fun. The effects are cheesy, yes, but the giant bird creature is good fun, although more than a little out of place (I'd expect it in an Arabian Nights adventure, not a rural Irish horror). There's plenty of action, and Irish actor Ned Dennehy chews up the scenery with relish as the primary antagonist. Watch out for Stephen Rea's shame-faced cameo as a copper. ROADKILL may not be high art but it does offer plentiful amusement and, for me, that's what counts in a B-movie.

Yeah I gave it 7 of 10, what of it?! I enjoyed this movie the first time SyFy ran it a couple years ago and I've been looking for it ever since. I found it for free today on an online free movie site. (legal) I like B movies IF they are done with decent acting (this was) decent plot without too many holes ((check) and most importantly NO horrible CGI. The CGI in this movie was decently done for what it is and for the budget they probably had to work with. I didn't once roll my eyes at the monster bird. Honestly, who really knows what a truck sized bird would look like in real life? I imagine a bit unreal! I love B movies, I love creature features and I loved this movie. I offer no apologies, it was great!

If you can't handle bad CGI (and I mean the worst kind), than do yourself a favor and do not watch this movie. It actually has many things that would make me want to rate this 2/3 out of 10. But this is the Ned Dennehy show. You might have seen this man before in other movies and he always has some interesting characters. But he really shines in this crazy role right here.So while most of the other actors (mostly the young ones) are not up to the task (e.g. might want to stick to their day job), Ned really goes all out. I really enjoyed him, he made the rest of the movie look better than it actually is ...

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