![]() There’s a climactic ending, the lead characters get involved in a romance no matter how unbelievable it is, and there’s a coda that suggests a sequel that will never come, or if it does, will completely ignore the last scene of the previous film. There is a vague scientific explanation for all of this, though in the end, if you’d replace the random monster with a unicorn it would be defined as “fantasy” without the slightest hesitation. There are attractive young people in skimpy outfits wandering around doing stupid things. ![]() There are scientists and some government figures, and usually the latter is vaguely behind it. There are a number of stunt-casted stars fending off the beasts, usually reluctantly. ![]() There’s a monster concept brought to the screen via CGI that doesn’t look like it fully connects with the characters. SyFy-styled creature features, on the other hand, all feel the same. They’re the “reality television” of the genre fan world – hugely popular to vast groups of people that won’t admit to indulging in them, or if they do, they cop to it dismissively, passing off their behavior as succumbing to a “guilty pleasure.”īut I’ll defend reality television – there’s enough of a wide gap between something like “The Real Housewives of West Pewaukee” and “Face Off” for there to be a variety of different styles and takes on the idea. ![]() The internet storm that was last year’s SHARKNADO may have made more people aware of the “Syfy Creature Feature” and ignited a question as to the intentional creation of “bad” movies, but they’ve been around for years now, and their fans number in the millions, even if most of them are too polite to admit it. Via his American World Pictures, Lester has also produced the likes of PTERODACTYL, SAND SHARKS and GRIZZLY PARK, so it’s certainly a genre he’s used to, and there’s clearly some sort of committed audience for these film. POSEIDON REX is the latest film carrying Lester’s name on the director credit, but it’s strictly in the “familiar concept” mode, this time mimicking the SyFy Channel creature features regularly churned out by The Asylum. It makes sense that two of his best films, CLASS OF 1984 and the follow-up CLASS OF 1999, are two of the only films in which he’s had a hand in writing – they may not have the most polished screenplays, but they clearly embrace new and interesting ideas rather than just regurgitating familiar ones. Lester has dabbled in just about every genre out there, but he’s rarely ranked among the most notable of genre filmmakers because, while he’s certainly helmed plenty of entertaining flicks, his output never feels like a solitary voice as much as someone riffing off a concept for maximum familiarity to the audience. Satires of the Nixon administration featuring acclaimed drag troupe The Cockettes? Er… it was early. Arnold Schwarzenegger blowing crap up and making one liners? Definitely. Low-budget thrillers with solid B-list stars? In spades. Is there a demand for trucker movies with sex? Lester’s got you covered. In a career spanning over four decades, he’s been behind the camera for “B”-movie classics in virtually every genre, following the trends of what the action-craving public wanted to great effect. Lester is the Swiss army knife of exploitation filmmakers. They disturb a creature that’s been hibernating for over 60,000 years-a rampaging behemoth of death and destruction not only at sea but also on land.Īpril 18th, 2014 (Limited) by Anderson Digitalĭinosaurs, Dinosaurs in the Modern World, Creature FeatureMark L. Jackson Slate and his team of underwater cave explorers unearth much more than long-lost Mayan treasure while plumbing the depths of a world famous blue hole. A small, secluded island off the coast of Belize suddenly finds itself terrorized by a deadly predator from the planet’s distant past, when deep-sea divers accidentally awaken an ancient evil.
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