"Heatstroke" is a fine and acceptable Sci-Fi Channel Creature Feature.
**SPOILERS**
Flying over a deserted island, O'Bannon, (D.B. Sweeney) is accidentally shipwrecked near Caroline, (Danica McKellar) and several models there for a photo-shoot. After his project, a search for extraterrestrials is disbanded, the rest of the team, Al, () Jillian Grange, (Kelly Rice) Romeo, () and Waters, (Chris Cleveland) believes the encounter is actual. Going out to find it, a mysterious accident forces them into believing that an extraterrestrial force has invaded the island, and after capturing one of them, they finally believe the alien threat is real. Discovering that they plan on heating up the planet to allow for an undisturbed feeding ground of insects that are grown to gigantic size due to the heat, they call in a military team to take them out before continuing with their plan.
The Good News: This here wasn't really all that bad when it really trues and has some really good parts to it. There's a really nice back-story to this which makes for some really interesting ideas. To tie the creatures into an actual, timely occurrence, such as the depletion of the Ozone layer and rising heat temperatures in the world, is really unique and creative, and makes for some rather nice tie-ins to the actual world. Even better is that there's a real smartness to how it's played out, done in a logical manner that plays up perfectly with a logical reason for the creatures being there in the first place. That it leads to the recurring theme of the nightmares of the few characters, with the simplistic manner of alternating an extreme close-up of unsettling red eyes, static and glimpses of natural disasters strung together in brief glimpses, and it's hard to not feel sort of crept out by something like that. The setting in the jungle is great, being creepy without having to do anything other than the natural design setup, and there's several scenes in here which benefit from the creepiness, and altogether this has a lot of tension. The film also has some really nice action scenes which help to keep it interesting. The opening on the beach is great, the fist-fighting brawls are amazing to witness and there's a lot of confrontations with the creatures, especially the jungle battle and the conclusion on top of the mountain, which are part of the film's last big plus, it's gore. This one has some really nice kills, and all of them provide some nice bloodletting. There's a throat sliced open up to the mouth, a back scratched open, several normal slit throats, a clawed hand to the stomach that rips it open and acidic spray to the face, melting the skin off, among others. These here are what work for the film.
The Bad News: There wasn't much wrong with this one, and it's only one real flaw at that. That is the terrible CGI that is used. This here is ridiculous and really terrible, never once looking close to being realistic, is always painfully obvious that it's terrible and ruins many of those scenes. Watching scenes of the creatures not even come into contact with their surroundings, hovering over the background rather than doing anything a realistic creature would act like, are just painful to sit through and hard to believe would come from a finished film. It's also hard to believe that the design of the aliens is menacing enough to be frightening, which is due to the fact that the CGI makes their supposed-terrifying features too muddled to make out cleanly, diluting some of the power and fierceness. This, though, isn't a detrimental flaw as it's to be expected of these kinds of films, but it's a flaw nonetheless, and the only one in the film.
The Final Verdict: An above-average Sci-Fi Channel Creature Feature with a lot of good points, this one is a lot better than expected. Give it a shot if you're into cheesy creature features or have a strong attachment to the channels other works in the past, otherwise this one won't win over those who aren't.
Rated R: Graphic Violence and Language
**SPOILERS**
Flying over a deserted island, O'Bannon, (D.B. Sweeney) is accidentally shipwrecked near Caroline, (Danica McKellar) and several models there for a photo-shoot. After his project, a search for extraterrestrials is disbanded, the rest of the team, Al, () Jillian Grange, (Kelly Rice) Romeo, () and Waters, (Chris Cleveland) believes the encounter is actual. Going out to find it, a mysterious accident forces them into believing that an extraterrestrial force has invaded the island, and after capturing one of them, they finally believe the alien threat is real. Discovering that they plan on heating up the planet to allow for an undisturbed feeding ground of insects that are grown to gigantic size due to the heat, they call in a military team to take them out before continuing with their plan.
The Good News: This here wasn't really all that bad when it really trues and has some really good parts to it. There's a really nice back-story to this which makes for some really interesting ideas. To tie the creatures into an actual, timely occurrence, such as the depletion of the Ozone layer and rising heat temperatures in the world, is really unique and creative, and makes for some rather nice tie-ins to the actual world. Even better is that there's a real smartness to how it's played out, done in a logical manner that plays up perfectly with a logical reason for the creatures being there in the first place. That it leads to the recurring theme of the nightmares of the few characters, with the simplistic manner of alternating an extreme close-up of unsettling red eyes, static and glimpses of natural disasters strung together in brief glimpses, and it's hard to not feel sort of crept out by something like that. The setting in the jungle is great, being creepy without having to do anything other than the natural design setup, and there's several scenes in here which benefit from the creepiness, and altogether this has a lot of tension. The film also has some really nice action scenes which help to keep it interesting. The opening on the beach is great, the fist-fighting brawls are amazing to witness and there's a lot of confrontations with the creatures, especially the jungle battle and the conclusion on top of the mountain, which are part of the film's last big plus, it's gore. This one has some really nice kills, and all of them provide some nice bloodletting. There's a throat sliced open up to the mouth, a back scratched open, several normal slit throats, a clawed hand to the stomach that rips it open and acidic spray to the face, melting the skin off, among others. These here are what work for the film.
The Bad News: There wasn't much wrong with this one, and it's only one real flaw at that. That is the terrible CGI that is used. This here is ridiculous and really terrible, never once looking close to being realistic, is always painfully obvious that it's terrible and ruins many of those scenes. Watching scenes of the creatures not even come into contact with their surroundings, hovering over the background rather than doing anything a realistic creature would act like, are just painful to sit through and hard to believe would come from a finished film. It's also hard to believe that the design of the aliens is menacing enough to be frightening, which is due to the fact that the CGI makes their supposed-terrifying features too muddled to make out cleanly, diluting some of the power and fierceness. This, though, isn't a detrimental flaw as it's to be expected of these kinds of films, but it's a flaw nonetheless, and the only one in the film.
The Final Verdict: An above-average Sci-Fi Channel Creature Feature with a lot of good points, this one is a lot better than expected. Give it a shot if you're into cheesy creature features or have a strong attachment to the channels other works in the past, otherwise this one won't win over those who aren't.
Rated R: Graphic Violence and Language