SnakeHead Swamp (2014 TV Movie)
9/10
Highly impressive and enjoyable killer fish effort
9 July 2014
Trying to get over his ex, a woman invites her friend on a rafting trip into the nearby bayou only to run across released snakehead fish prowling the area and must find a way to survive the onslaught from the creatures.

There's a lot to like with this one as it generates plenty of positive remarks. One of the best elements at play here is the rather innovative story, which manages to do a lot more than the typical cheesy schlockfest might do, and most of that is centered on the somewhat arduous connection of the creatures' appearance and the culmination of a voodoo curse on the town. Far-fetched in origin, but certainly one that has a rather creepy undertone to what transpires in this, with the voodoo ceremonies taking place, the strange flashes of the local witch who ushered it years ago continuing throughout the entire movie and the strange way the creatures always seem to show up at just the right opportunity to follow-through on the promise of the curse's truth, as if there's a supernatural force motivating them to carry through with their mission of vengeance, and all of these elements make this a lot creepier than just a normal creature feature. As well, the continuous presence of the fish means that there's a large amount of action at play, bringing about some rather fine moments including the initial attack on the boat that strands the friends, the chase through the woods which leads into the assault on the house and finally the charge down the river taking on the swarms of creatures head-on which really sells this nicely as an action-packed offering when combined with the one-shot attacks throughout the bayou. This provides enough gore to really work nicely, even though it does bring about some problems. Even though there's a ton of action in this, the majority of the special effects are handled with the same cheap-looking CGI that usually permeates these films. There's no sense of realism or believability in the special effects here, as the fish themselves look woeful despite a rather cool-looking and imposing design, nearly all the blood and gore is done through CGI which really takes out the effectiveness of their use and the main action scenes are all handled in this manner as well so there's a lot of disappointment here through the special effects. While the central premise of the film is rather cool, from a logic stand-point it really doesn't make a lot of sense so there's some head-scratching moments to come from that as well, and from a believable standpoint it really fails as well. Otherwise, there's a whole lot to like with this one.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Language and violence-against-animals.
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