Perfectly adorable

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Rather than use his scientific genius to benefit mankind, a genetics expert creates a vicious synthesised life-form that uses its forked tongue to drain the spinal fluid of its victims. Why? I dunno… must've seemed like a good idea at the time, I suppose. Cop turned novelist Ted Lonergan (John Stinson) helps his police pal Lou (David Moses) to investigate.This one starts out in classic B-movie monster mode with a naked blonde babe slipping into sexy, silky red underwear before becoming another victim of the Syngenor (Synthesised Genetic Organism). Its a fun, trashy way to kick things off, but the rest of the film offers very little to get excited about: lots of dull chit chat, a few gore-free deaths, and some roller-skating, all leading to the inevitable showdown between Ted and the incredibly slow moving H.R.Giger-style creature in a factory (an ending that might possibly have influenced The Terminator!).Missable stuff, unless you absolutely have to see every movie inspired in some way by Ridley Scott's Alien.

Genetically created asexual lifeform(syngenor), whose tongue enters into the victim's throat removing spinal fluid(..and in turn causing epileptic seizure and rendering the person comatose if not dead), is using LA as a hunting ground, lurking in the dark, moving undetected by police(..who believe they are seeking a dangerous psychopath) through the underground sewer system. It leaves behind a slimy residue at the crime scenes and has reproduced creatures(..in cocoons)which are being housed in an area within the sewers, feeding from the spinal fluid of living humans. The syngenor, at times, lets out a high pitch squeal which signifies it's presence. A trash novelist, Ted(John Stinson), once a detective before alcoholism stifled his career, is pulled into the case by long time pal, Detective Lou Capell(Jonathan David Moses) who is puzzled by the strange circumstances surrounding these peculiar deaths. Ted, through a chance encounter thanks to an accidental crash, has found love with a sophisticated business woman, Jennifer(Diana Davidson). Jennifer begins getting involved with Ted's everyday life, finding herself at a crime scene after he decides, thanks in part to Lou's constant pleas for help, to assist his friend in such a baffling mystery. Jennifer finds herself in the clutches of the syngenor when a woman who has information on the killer flees the scene in fear leaving her to a possible death. Jennifer, unconscious and comatose, with what the medical staff considers a brain tumor, lies in a hospital bed in grave condition as Ted seeks out the monster with the help of Sherry Carpenter(Toni Jannotta)..Sherry was the woman who was supposed to meet with Jennifer and chickened out. Informing Ted and Lou of her former(..now deceased)employer, a geneticist who had planned on killing the beast before it could escape onto a world with no knowledge of it's existence, they will have to search for it without the police's assistance. Lou explains to Ted that his superiors have closed the case after a shootout with a suspect they believed was the psycho on the loose. Ted and Jennifer will brave the darkened, cold sewer system in search of the syngenor hoping to stop it so that the killing will cease.I will admit that I was hoping for Monster carnage, but director William Malone(feardotcom;House on Haunted Hill;Creature)opts for building suspense instead. I was hoping to see the creature's tongue inserting into a victim's mouth, enabling the viewer to see just how it removes spinal fluid, but Malone's budget(..as obvious from the dark, gritty cinematography)was perhaps just too small to elaborate such grisly details. And, perhaps to prevent us from realizing the fact that the creature is merely a monster suit with a stuntman inside, Malone doesn't allow true visibility of the syngenor lifeform until the very end..and even at the end, Malone carefully blankets it in darkness. But, we get to see those slobbery, sharp teeth with a serpentine tongue as it slithers from the mouth towards a poor female victim, face clutched within it's long fingers, feet high off the ground, frightened out of her wits. Malone spends a great deal of time showing potential victims unaware of what's in store for them(..one girl is actually attacked in her home). The creepiest scene, besides a well executed jump scene concerning a missing construction worker, takes place in the sewer when Ted and Sherry discover that innocent people have become life-support for the syngenor's cocooned offspring, drinking their spinal fluid through a type of umbilical cord! The search through the sewers is probably Malone's greatest triumph because he's able to build a dread in such a hostile environment where the monster considers home. There's a Carrie-type of jolt sequence at the end to cap off Malone's nightmare scenario of a creature hiding in the dark. Malone moves the pace rather slow in the early going, developing his small group of characters, while also establishing the prey, at night oblivious to their predator. The lack of gore was really what bummed me out, but Malone was making a different kind of film than the one I was expecting. A bit ugly and rough-around-the-edges(..a bit too murky for it's own good), Malone's film shows he was a pup learning his craft, but the final chase through the sewers into a machine shop displays potential. I've seen a lot worse shot on a shoestring budget, and this film certainly shows promise..a promise, I don't feel he's capitalized yet, despite the visual polish of his nightmarish urban hell of "feardotcom". The syngenor itself favors the alien walker in ALIEN quite a bit, perhaps fueling the mockery of those who detest filmmakers who attempt to cash in on the success of another.

An ex-cop who's a writer now, gets brought back on the job after a string of weird murders with the killer leaving a web like substance… Is it human or not? Really this is nothing but cheap (and that's very cheap) z-grade trash, but still 'fairly' amusing… well that's if you're in the right frame of mood. This is no more than a "Alien" rip-off, but set on earth. There are certain shots that resembled some of those from "Alien" and as well the creature looks very similar too.The story is extra ordinary. The usual scientific creation that's on the loose killing victims and an ex-cop who's the only one that can stop it. So don't expect anything special or original. Sometimes the pacing is a bit tedious; like a slasher film.The acting is not that bad from a bunch of nobodies... with a pretty charming and gawky heroine. Although there is one or two annoying characters which you have to deal with. Added to the film's script is some sharp humour and witty one-liners, especially from the geeky lead. A very gritty and grim atmosphere is found throughout the picture, with a lot of the film taking place in dark and dim lighting. While the special effects are hilariously shoddy and cheap, which gives it a sort of charm... well I think so.I found this more enjoyable than the glossy, but bland "Ghost Ship (2002)" I watched before it.This film is unoriginal, campy and cheap... but I found this schlock watchable and rather fun.3/5

This film was a very typical monster movie that incorporated all of the usual dumb cliches. It's got a slow moving, fake looking monster, really stupid victims who deserve to die, and a lame story about the monster resulting from a genetic experiment gone awry. (Why did the professor even make the monster in the first place? It never really says why. I guess that's just what scientists do.) Still, this movie is an okay time-waster if you happen to enjoy bad sci-fi or horror. It's certainly not the best, but I have definitely seen worse. I give it a 5/10 rating.