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While on a
dig in Persia, Dr. Harrison and his team
discover a statue of a large snake-like creature. On
the night of the grand unveiling at the museum however,
they quickly realize that the statue that they found,
really wasn't a statue. All hell breaks loose when the
mythological Basilisk snake start killing anyone in
its way. It's now up to Dr. Harrison and his new
colleague, Rachel, to stop the gigantic creature,
but will they succeed?
Look everybody, it's the horror version of Night At
The Museum! The Sci-Fi channel's original productions
are usually lackluster with poor CGI and generic
stories so I was pleasantly surprised to see that
Basilisk not only had above average CGI-effects but
also had a quite decent story.
Harry, or Dr. Harrison as he's also known, is on an
archaeological expedition in Persia when he discovers
a statue of a giant serpent. Together with his team,
he brings it home for a big unveiling at the museum
that he works for. The unveiling just so happens to
be held at the same night as an eclipse - the one
thing that can bring the giant serpent back to life.
Panic spreads among the visitors when the statue
comes to life and starts killing them off - either
by spraying acid on them, or by turning them to stone,
or simply by eating them. What the giant snake was
trying to achieve by doing all this, I have no idea,
but man was it ever so entertaining to watch.
Basilisk isn't a clever creature feature, on the
contrary, it's actually a rather stupid one (aren't
they all?) - but for once it's deliberate. The fact
that it doesn't take itself very seriously probably
helped me enjoy it even more. The problem is that it
almost goes a bit too far and becomes TOO silly for
its own good. The jokes almost feel forced at times.
Still, watching Sci-Fi originals is a brave thing to
do and for once it actually paid off. Basilisk is
an entertaining creature feature for people who can
enjoy goofy horror flicks. Everything about it is
better than the usual stuff that you see on the Sci-Fi
channel (acting, CGI, directing etc) so if you're
into killer snakes, give this one a try.
It did lack gore though, and the gore effects were
quite poor as well. We get a head chopped off, and
a person gets split in half. Not as gory as it sounds.
Standard stuff, no point in reviewing the soundtracks
for Sci-Fi originals since they seem to recycle the
same old stuff in every movie.
Surprisingly entertaining creature feature from the
Sci-Fi channel and definitely worth checking out if
you're into creature features. Naturally, it's no
Frankenfish (I'm sorry but I loved that movie) but
it's still worth a shot if you're in the mood for
a silly horror flick with a killer serpent on the loose.
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