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Lunch » Tags » Movies » Reviews » Manticore

Manticore

1 rating: -3.0

A movie directed by Tripp Reed

Army soldiers search for a missing news crew in Iraq, but instead discover the Manticore, an evil creature invoked by the enemy to drive them off their land. Now, they'll have to fight for their lives in a deadly battle none of them were prepared … see full wiki

Tags: Movies, Horror, Suspense, Horror Movies, Suspense Movies

Director: Tripp Reed

Release Date: 2005

MPAA Rating: Unrated

1 review about Manticore

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Manticore - 2005

Jan 5, 2009

by SusiDee34
posted in Movie Hype

Rating:

-3

Pros: it only lasted 88 minutes

Cons: start with the beginning and follow that for 88 minutes

The Bottom Line:
“Well I saw the thing comin' out of the sky
It had the one_long_horn, one_big_eye
I commenced to_shakin' and_I_said "ooh-eee"
It looks like a purple_people eater to me”
~Sheb Wooley

Well, someone has finally done it; capitalized on the battle in Iraq. I knew it wouldn’t be long and thanks to UFO International Productions, we have been treated to Manticore. What an abysmal mess.

The film opens with Iraqis looting art treasures and being chased away by a squad of American soldiers. In the midst of it all we have the demur female reporter with her sidekick camera man. The gang of looters were successful in obtaining what they wanted, a rare amulet, that is used to … guess what? Awaken the sleeping Manticore. Not only one of these creatures, but twin Manticores are available for our treat.

It appears, in a time long, long ago, the creatures were created as weapons of mass destruction. No explosives needed here folks, we have maneating beings that cannot be killed. They were designed only to kill and have no other goal in their pea-sized brains.

They are huge lion looking creatures with wings. They have a variety of powers; belching radioactive vomit on you, tearing you limb from limb, flying, gamma-ray like eyes … oh, I’m sure I’m missing something vital about them but who cares. Their only downfall is that they cannot look directly into each others eyes. If they do, they return to their former rock like state. Sort of a beast version of Lot’s wife, I guess.

Ok, dumb and dumber, oh, sorry, the reporter and camera man get caught in the town where the creature is wrecking havoc. They are bundled away in some inner sanctum of someplace. Why they haven’t already been eaten, I don’t know. These things seem to be able to go through anything to get to their prey. It could be because they have been busy eating the rest of the town.

Orders come down from headquarters and this rag-tag bunch of soldiers are given the task of finding said reporter and returning her safely to home base. Of course they know nothing about the beasts. As the trek across the desert in their little jeep or truck or whatever they had, they manage to descend on the town which is now pretty much sans people. A young boy, recognizing they are ‘USA’ brings them to the place where the reporter is secreted away. Then the creatures hit. It ain’t pretty folks.

To top it off - oh yes, there is more drama - a giant sandstorm is coming and headquarters cannot send rescue to the stranded squad. Turns out, if they wait long enough, they won’t have to send much more than a VW Beetle to pick them up since they are foolishly getting themselves killed off right and left. This is possible because, although they are supposed to be a trained rescue mission type squad, they are about as sloppy and inept as a bunch of kids playing Army in the vacant lot.

I’ll just leave the balance of the movie to your own imagination.

This piece was written by John Werner, directed by Tripp Reed. It carries a general rating of 15 years+ but no real MPAA rating was shown. It’s rather gory but a lot of appendages flying around. Surprising, I know, but no awards were even nominated on this tragedy. I didn’t recognize a soul in the film which doesn’t necessarily mean anything. I think a couple of them were former Star Trek actors but I didn’t bother to search it out.

The monster, uh, sucked big time. Seriously. Poorly made, extremely bad graphics. Overall, a film hardly worth the printing. Another great release on the Sci-Fi channel.

Thanks,
Susi

Recommended:
No

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