Basilisk: The Serpent King (2006) (TV)

User Rating:

4.0/10   

Director:

Griff Furst

Writers:

Wil McCarthy (writer)
Chase Parker (writer)

Release Date:

25 November 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Horror | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Colorado | Monster | Snake | Nuclear Power Plant | Splatter

Cast

Jeremy London	...	Dr. Harrison 'Harry' McColl
Wendy Carter	...	Rachel Donegal
Cleavant Derricks	...	Colonel Douglas
Griff Furst	...	Rudy Skeeters
Sarah Skeeters	...	Sierra
Stephen Furst	...	Professor Carlton
Yancy Butler	...	Hannah
Doug Dearth	...	Brock
Bashar Rahal	...	Bedoin leader
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Daniel Ponsky	...	Guard (voice)

Runtime:

Brazil:88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

USA:TV-14

Filming Locations:

Bulgaria

Goofs:

Factual errors: The US flag patches worn on the soldiers' sleeves are the wrong way around - the stars should always face the front, as if the flag was flying from a staff carried by the soldier.

Entertaining monster film

"Basilisk: The Serpent King" is an incredibly enjoyable Sci-Fi Channel original creature feature.

**SPOILERS**

On a dig in Persia, Professor Harry McCall, (Jeremy London) and his team Rudy Skeeters, (Griff Furst) and Sierra, (Sarah Skeeters) find a series of ancient statues depicting soldiers and a large unknown creature. Meeting up with fellow scientist Rachel Donegan, (Wendy Carter) they attend a party honoring the discovery, and during an eclipse, the creature statue comes to life as a Basilisk and goes on a rampage. While trying to escape, they find Col. Douglas, (Cleavant Derricks) and his National Guard unit fighting the creature. When they realize that the only way to fight the creature is a scepter held by thieves Hannah, (Yancy Butler) and Brock, (Doug Dearth) they race to get it back before it continues it's rampage.

The Good News: This one really surprised me by how good it was. A giant snake loose in a major city is one of the few ideas left in this series, and here it works magically. Rather than just having out in the middle of nowhere with very few targets, the snake is loose inside an urban center, which holds the possibility for tons of damage and tons of fun, which this has plenty of. The snake itself goes on a major rampage, biting off limbs, decapitating a couple, having objects crushed when they collide with them, and even the requisite number of people turned to statues. Those are handled very well, not really looking very CGI at all and looking quite natural. The various action scenes are all nicely paced and quite exciting, keeping it moving forward and always on the move. There's very little down-time between pretty much anything, as the pace moves along very rapidly from once scene to another. The snake itself is out and about very rapidly as well, coming out very early and staying that way for most of the most of the movie. The reawakening is a great action set-piece, with tons of bodies flying everywhere and a general mass panic. The mall sequence features some great action parts as well, making it a real highlight. The fact that the mystical creature gets explained in here with some factual evidence gives this one some more weight to it that most don't really have in the science background, and really sounds quite credible. Though it does look quite fake, the snake does have a rather creepy look to it in certain scenes, with a snake-like body mixed with a crocodilian jaw and a set on horns along the side of the body. Far better film than it should've been.

The Bad News: It's getting very tiresome to call these films on the very badly-done CGI, and this one is no exception. Here, the same applies. Very rarely does the CGI used to make the creature look anything close to being believable. The CGI is apparent on the creature whenever it moves for a period of time, but when it doesn't really move is when there's a believable appearance, but it's still pretty easy to tell it's not a real creation. This is a common problem, and one that really doesn't show a lot of signs towards ending, and must really be endured more so than most other films. However, this is the one main problem with this. It's really not all that bad.

The Final Verdict: Far better Sci-Fi Channel original than it had every right to be, this falls into the upper echelon of their pantheon of films and features a lot to like about it. Sure, there's the fact that it doesn't look real at all, but that is becoming par for the course with these films and is now a given. Fans of the past films should see this one immediately.

Rated R: Graphic Violence and some Language