This is a hateful little movie, confused about what it is, although it is perfectly clear why it was made. Give the folks at SciFi a half-baked idea, throw in some frat boys and stick girls, alcohol, sexual innuendo and a bad guy of some kind (space alien, psycho killer, genetically altered bat, shark, ogre) and - voila! - another cellu/digital monsterpiece is, er, born. And why is it always so obvious that these movies are filmed in either Canada or a former Soviet bloc country? Moving on...
The story begins in 1859 Ellensburg, Pennsylvania, a town that has magistrates and lords, an odd premise for a setting in post-Constitutional America where there are no magistrates OR lords and the term "sir" is not a formal title, as it apparently is here. Are these descendants of Crown loyalists or are the writers completely oblivious to their own history? The movie doesn't really tell us. All we know is that Bo Duke is a "magi" - who wheedles himself the job of "magi"strate (ha ha) - who can save their town from destruction by sacrificing one person per year to save the lives of all the others. "One life for all life" is apparently the town motto. How feeding one person per year to an ogre - and what's an ogre doing in Amish country, anyway? - will preserve the town is not quite explained, either, especially since no one in the town ages, marries, gives birth or changes clothes over the course of the next century and a half. Their numbers dwindling, they're still letting Magi Bo brand one poor sod a year to give up to the ogre.
In present day, four "kids" head out on a camping trip to the Pennsylvania woods, ostensibly to find the mysterious town of legend - Ellensburg. Doofus finds it, promptly breaks his ankle and then sets about opening the door to the ogre's lair. Fittingly, he is eaten within minutes of breaking his ankle, as is the screeching, shrewy girl along with him. The other pair, Scrawny and Second Shrew, go off in search of help, which, of course, leads them right into Ellensburg, the town that doesn't exist. One thing follows another, the CGI ogre - green and broody, the Hulk crossed with a sea turtle - rampages, roars and attacks, people are eaten, certain truths hinted at but not really revealed and no one changes clothes.
Ogres might work better in a European setting, considering that the lore - of which there is plenty - places them there. Ogres in America, it just doesn't play. It's like Dutch cowboys - who would believe it and why? What for? Even Bo Duke and his magic zappin' stick can't do anything with this one, not even as a laugher. Another major bonk for SciFi Channel Originals...now there's a shocker!
The story begins in 1859 Ellensburg, Pennsylvania, a town that has magistrates and lords, an odd premise for a setting in post-Constitutional America where there are no magistrates OR lords and the term "sir" is not a formal title, as it apparently is here. Are these descendants of Crown loyalists or are the writers completely oblivious to their own history? The movie doesn't really tell us. All we know is that Bo Duke is a "magi" - who wheedles himself the job of "magi"strate (ha ha) - who can save their town from destruction by sacrificing one person per year to save the lives of all the others. "One life for all life" is apparently the town motto. How feeding one person per year to an ogre - and what's an ogre doing in Amish country, anyway? - will preserve the town is not quite explained, either, especially since no one in the town ages, marries, gives birth or changes clothes over the course of the next century and a half. Their numbers dwindling, they're still letting Magi Bo brand one poor sod a year to give up to the ogre.
In present day, four "kids" head out on a camping trip to the Pennsylvania woods, ostensibly to find the mysterious town of legend - Ellensburg. Doofus finds it, promptly breaks his ankle and then sets about opening the door to the ogre's lair. Fittingly, he is eaten within minutes of breaking his ankle, as is the screeching, shrewy girl along with him. The other pair, Scrawny and Second Shrew, go off in search of help, which, of course, leads them right into Ellensburg, the town that doesn't exist. One thing follows another, the CGI ogre - green and broody, the Hulk crossed with a sea turtle - rampages, roars and attacks, people are eaten, certain truths hinted at but not really revealed and no one changes clothes.
Ogres might work better in a European setting, considering that the lore - of which there is plenty - places them there. Ogres in America, it just doesn't play. It's like Dutch cowboys - who would believe it and why? What for? Even Bo Duke and his magic zappin' stick can't do anything with this one, not even as a laugher. Another major bonk for SciFi Channel Originals...now there's a shocker!