Creature (2011 film)

Creature
Directed by	Fred M. Andrews
Produced by	Sidney Sheinberg Jonathan Sheinberg Bill Shineberg
Written by	Fred M. Andrews Tracy Morse
Starring	Sid Haig Mehcad Brooks Serinda Swan Amanda Fuller
Studio	The Bubble Factory
Release date(s)	September 9, 2011 (2011-09-09)
Running time	93 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Creature is a 2011 American horror film, based on a screenplay written by Fred M. Andrews and Tracy Morse. The film is set in the Louisiana Bayou, where a group of friends discover a local legend and are in a fight for their survival. The movie has an MPAA R-rating in the United States with a running time of 93 minutes, it is in Dolby Digital SRD and is also available as a digital cinema print (DCP). The film opened in theaters on September 9, 2011, in the United States and Canada and was directed by Fred M. Andrews. It stars Mehcad Brooks, Serinda Swan, Amanda Fuller, Dillon Casey, Lauren Schneider, Aaron Hill, Daniel Bernhardt, and Sid Haig. In its first weekend in the USA, Creature earned only $327,000 from 1507 venues. It was the lowest grossing first weekend ever for a film appearing on over 1500 screens, and the second worst per location average ever.^[1]

[edit] Synopsis

An ex-Navy seal (Mehcad Brooks), his girlfriend (Serinda Swan) and their friends head out on a road trip to New Orleans. The group decides to stop at a roadside convenience store owned by Chopper (Sid Haig), who tells them the tale of Lockjaw, a fabled god-like creature who is half-man, half-alligator with a deadly disease called squaids.

The legend has it that an inbred local man by the name of Grimley (Daniel Bernhardt) lost his family to a monstrous white alligator, which then drove him to madness and some believe he was transformed into that very creature that now haunts the depths of the swamps. Their curiosity piqued, the group decides to play along with the local tourist trap and journey deep into the backwoods to find the old dilapidated cabin which is supposed to be the birthplace of the creature.

As they set up camp for the night, their faith is put to the test when Lockjaw turns out to be more than just a myth and they realize the locals are hiding a horrifying secret that jeopardizes them all.

[edit] Plot

A group of teenagers; Oscar and Karen, Beth and her marine infantry boyfriend Randy, and the latter's sister Emily and her boyfriend Niles who is an ex-Navy Seal are traveling through the backwoods town of Fort Collins, Louisiana when they pull over at a rundown gas station. While there, Oscar discovers a shrine to a local legend Lockjaw. They give the boys directions to a house built by "Grimley" himself, a local tourist attraction that they are hesitant to explore, only Oscar and Beth seem interested and convince the others to go with them. En route, Oscar tells them all the legend of Lockjaw:

A long time ago, Grimley Boutine and his sister Caroline were the two remaining members of their clan. Incest was a part of their family and heritage, so it was no surprise that she was carrying his child and the two were madly in love, due to be married until one day an albino alligator dragged Caroline off into the swamp. Grimley sought out the gator in the hopes that he would find her alive, but instead he came across her being devoured. Going insane with rage; Grimley killed the gator with his bare hands and began to eat its flesh, then moved on to eat his sister and every other piece of flesh in the cave, slowly devolving, becoming half man-half aligator himself.

The others disbelieve the story, and when they finally arrive at Grimley's house, unaware they are being stalked by something in the swamp. They set up camp for the night near the Grimley house for an evening of drinking and having fun. Meanwhile one of the shop patrons Grover is slaughtered by some beast by the river after getting warnings by not defying Grimley which he ignores. Randy leaves the group to get more beer from the truck, and returns to catch Karen trying to take advantage of a drunken Beth and interrupts them. Emily and Niles, having gone off on their own admit their love and devotion to one another before making love as Oscar secretly takes photos. Karen comes and helps him climax, but when he refuses to return the favor, she walks off and is knocked unconscious by Chopper, the owner of the store they'd come across. It is revealed that Oscar and Karen are both his children, and subservient to Lockjaw himself, he takes Karen away and Randy witnesses this and sees Lockjaw before running off into the woods, coming across a highway that they had supposedly gotten far off track from earlier. Oscar collapses on Emily and Niles, claiming that Randy had attacked him; Niles leaves Emily to treat Oscar's shock as he goes off in search of Randy. Randy and Niles both encounter Lockjaw and run, only to be stopped by one of the shop workers who holds them at gunpoint. They are able to kill him, but Lockjaw gruesomely murders Randy.

Afterward, Beth awakens from her drunken unconsciousness, her tent having been moved into a deep dark cave. As she emerges from it she discovers Lockjaw eating one of his victims and lets out a horrified scream and is presumably killed by him. Karen, having been set up as a sacrifice to Lockjaw has her feet cut off by her father to lure Lockjaw from the underground saying that it must be done for the family; after he leaves Lockjaw emerges from the cavern below the shack and seems to recognize her by the necklace Chopper put around her neck. Niles finds Karen dead when he comes across the cabin, he is attacked by Oscar but quickly dispatches him with a machete and sneaks into Lockjaw's cave to save Emily, when they emerge they manage a brief escape before she is taken by Chopper and his followers, Lockjaw throws Niles into the river to drown or become food to the gators. Instead he follows the party to a gathering ritual that will allow Grimley to impregnate Emily. Niles attacks and after receiving a brutal beating from the overpowering Lockjaw, he manages to knock him into a sinkhole to drown. He unties Emily and they start to leave, but Lockjaw attacks again, pulling Emily into the hole and Niles follows. Later, Emily and Niles; who is holding the jaw of Lockjaw emerge from the sink hole alive. They manage to make their way back to their truck and ride off into the rising sun.

Some time later; Chopper comes to his store which is hopping with family and friends in a huge celebration, it is revealed that Beth had survived her ordeals with Lockjaw and now has a baby who Chopper seems sure is going to "grow up to be as strong as his daddy". It reveals that the baby's face is somewhat mutated and the screen goes dark.

[edit] Cast

• Sid Haig as Chopper - The leader of Lockjaw's cult and patriarch to his clan.
• Mehcad Brooks as Niles - An ex-Navy Seal who left the forces to be with Emily.
• Serinda Swan as Emily - Niles' girlfriend and a tough resilient girl in her own right.
• Dillon Casey as Oscar - Chopper's son, Karen's brother, a jokster and sarcastic fun seeker.
• Lauren Schneider as Karen - Tough and fun loving sister to Oscar and Chopper's daughter.
• Amanda Fuller as Beth - Soft spoken and sweet who is Randy's girlfriend, taken by Lockjaw
• Aaron Hill as Randy - A resourceful but strict grunt soldier of the US Army
• Daniel Bernhardt as Gimley/Lockjaw - A man-turned ravenous half-alligator beast who feeds on human flesh.

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

This section includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (December 2011)

• Big Hype, Big Creature in This Trailer on Shock Till You Drop [1]
• Don't Get Out of the Boat in this First Trailer for Creature Starring Sid Haig on 28 Days Later Analysis [2]
• Creature Proves Blood is Blood and Gets a New One-Sheet and Trailer on Dread Central [3]
• Sheinberg to self-distribute indie horror Creature on Screen Daily [4]
• It Came Out of the Viral Media Swamp in the New York Times [5]

[edit] External links

• Official website
• Creature at the Internet Movie Database