Rating: 3/5
Hooptober 2.0 | 29/31 | Monster4/5
A Brazilian tribe performs a ritual around a fire. John Whitney, an anthropologist for the Field Museum in Chicago, photographs the ritual, his camera flashes jolting through the ritual. The tribe prepares a tea with red-spattered leaves. They hand a cup to John, who cheerfully drinks it.
John arrives at the dock by taxi, drenched in sweat. The merchant ship’s captain is sending out the last orders before departure. John begs the captain to remove the crates that John had loaded onto the ship for the Field Museum. But the captain is running late and has a manifest to abide by. So, John sneaks aboard the ship to find his cargo. It turns out the crates never made it on the boat.
Chicago, Illinois, USA — 6 Weeks Later The ship John snuck onto has inexplicably arrived in Lake Michigan. Homicide detectives D’Agosta and Hollingsworth investigate the boat. Blood streaks and handprints spatter the outer hull. No one has found any bodies yet, but the detectives smell something horrendous coming from the bilge. They open it up to discover the crew’s mangled and beheaded bodies.
1 Week Later Dr. Margo Green arrives at the Field Museum, meeting with her mentor, Albert Frock. They go through the crates John Whitney sent to the museum, which were airmailed after the mixup at the docks. In the crates are a bed of leaves and a stone statue of the Kothuga, a Zenzeran deity born of Satan to destroy their enemies. The leaves are red-spattered, just like the ones in the tea John drank. Frock suggests burning the leaves and crates, as it may be a fungus. But Dr. Green, the curious scientist, has a couple of leaves set aside for analysis.
That night, Frederick, a security guard, sneaks into the bathroom to smoke. A monstrous hand reaches under the bathroom stall, dragging him out. We hear a horrific growl as Frederick screams. The following day, D’Agosta and Hollingsworth arrive on the scene to find one eerily similar to what they discovered on the ship.
I went to Chicago a few months back and toured the Field Museum. So, this was fun to watch if only to see that same place nearly 30 years ago.
The script has pure Save the Cat energy, with characters whose sole purpose is to expound ham-fisted dialogue. You know what, though? It works. I liked folks I knew almost nothing about and wanted to see them live. Horror is rarely great at that. I’m not saying this movie excels at it — just that it’s using a formula effectively.
We get D’Agosta’s superstitions vs. Dr. Green’s aversion to anything unscientific. When a cat spooks Hollingsworth on the ship, D’Agosta checks if it’s black. It isn’t, so he softens. When they investigate Frederick’s murder scene, D’Agosta chastises Hollingsworth for almost stepping over the body, which is bad luck. Meanwhile, Dr. Green resents John Whitney’s work with South American folklore and myths. She wants the museum to focus on the science. But Frock and the museum curator, Dr. Ann Cuthbert, know that folklore brings in guests. Whose worldview do you think the movie challenges?
The lighting isn’t great in a couple of places. It’s not an enormous deal, but I couldn’t get my room dark enough to see some scenes.
The monster design looks pretty great when it isn’t moving. They use CGI for its running scenes, and it is… fine. The bad lighting helps that, I suppose.
The movie is a tad too long and doesn’t stay consistently exciting, but if you need some 90s action horror, you could do worse.