The Bog Creatures (2003)

User Rating:

2.5/10   

Director:

J. Christian Ingvordsen

Writer:

Matthew M. Howe (writer)

Release Date:

4 March 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

After 1200 Years ... They're Back.

Plot:

Five young adults venture into a bog to excavate some bodies. After a while they find that bodies that have been buried in the bog have risen from the dead and seek to pick them off one by one. |

Plot Keywords:

Sword Fight | Acid

Cast

T.J. Glenn	...	Max
Jennifer Lauren Grant	...	Maiden
Courtney Henggeler	...	Susan Beth
Jeffrey Howard	...	Professor Feneman
J. Christian Ingvordsen	...	Lord Voldhein
Michael Mosley	...	Nick Warren
Joshua Park	...	Steve Dyson
Alison Raimondi	...	Maiden
Debbie Rochon	...	Tara
Jesse Steccato	...	Ronald Teller
Lara Theodos	...	Kelly Feneman
Leia Thompson	...	Diana Oppenheimer

MPAA:

Rated R for some violence and nudity.

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | USA:R

Company:

Sultan Films

Glorified Home Movie

Bog Creatures shows exactly what can happen when very enthusiastic people get together with a little cash, some knowledge of movie making, a mixed bag of aspiring actors, and a lot of determination, yet all without the necessary knowledge and skills to pull off anything more than a fairly poor looking After School Special (in a bad way, not a nostalgic good way). I mean this is so-so quality home movie / student film stuff if you want to pass it around to family and friends for free. Thankfully, I found it in a discount bin somewhere. Sure, there may be some sort of market out there for this kind of thing, but it is a market that seems to only exist by default because there are so many poor B movies out there. Even more so now in this day and age.

The only people I would recommend this move to is aspiring guerrilla filmmakers. First, I would recommend that they watch the special feature MAKING OF thing included on the disc. See the film crews enthusiasm, their hard work, joy, and very high opinions of their own product. THEN watch the movie. Within a few frames you will hopefully understand what went wrong. Bored, I went through the whole thing and clearly the director and cinematographer tried, but just don't know enough about what they are doing. They knew enough to have fun, but in the long run, without necessary skills, this interprets to: They knew enough to be dangerous. This is like a bad Nickelodeon movie (as apposed to a more decent one I guess). A couple of the actors did ok, and the cool stoner looking dude with the tattoo (real or fake tattoo I know not) was probably the best and most natural and I hope he makes it. But their natural acting talent was what was coming through despite the bad movie, bad script, and so-so directing principles. If the director had spent more time helping these aspiring actors to develop their characters, studying successfully proven camera techniques and lighting principles to direct his crew better, and if the script had been actually worked on instead of written in a week or so (according to the very indulgent documentary) then maybe this could have been more of a film. Instead, it's a film that has a feeling of some potential, and has a few moments in it (due more to the genre than the film itself), but ends up showing nearly every frame, WHAT NOT TO DO. If you want to see what a decent low budget horror movie can really look like, watch Phantasm or even Laserblast. If you want a glorified home movie (no joke), get Bog Creatures.