User Reviews

Amphibious is a mess of a movie, but has some decent points, most notably a not-too-bad creature. However, little of the plot makes sense. The Tamal character seems to be a sorceress and apparently (it's never quite clear) summons the sea-based fiend to exact revenge on her tormentors, but she then kills the creature, only to have its babies. I didn't quite get it (could anyone?). The plot also meanders, with the Skylar character concocting bogus reasons to return to the fishing platform (that has no boat - not a very smart enterprise) to push the narrative along and she is not terribly convincing as a scientist, either. For example, the film opens with a couple's self-recorded video antics but who fall victim to the creature only for the video then is revealed as a YouTube-type 'Fact or Fake' feature, but given that the characters say their names and are missing US tourists, I doubt it would be hard to verify that they are indeed missing. For that matter, Skylar's actual research is fairly nebulous, too. Anyway, it's worth a Friday night viewing if there is nothing else on, but the Brian Yuzna label promises much more than it delivers.

I don't know why I keep doing this to myself. I get drawn in by these big bug or weird monster movies thinking that each one I see might be an improvement on the last, yet I'm let down each and every time.

Whereas movies like, Deep Star Six or Leviathan did so well, Amphibious is a very disjointed, poorly acted, poorly scripted and poorly funded piece of trash that had no business being put to celluloid. Parts of this didn't even make any sense. It starts as though it's some kind of found footage where 2 holiday makers are killed by an unseen creature and we learn that it's a YouTube video being being watched by a marine biologist called Skylar, who's doing research in Indonesia.

Most of the action takes place on a large ramshackle fishing platform somewhere off the coast of Indonesia and there is some kind of child forced labour situation going on as most of the work is being done by a handful of male teens, who get beaten and threatened regularly. One of the children, Tamal, who turns out to be a young girl, seems to have been sold as a slave there deliberately as people have been disappearing since she arrived.

Skylar arrives at the fishing platform by way of a small chartered boat and the captain and the fishing platform slave owner have unfinished business over a large sum of money. Meanwhile Tamal pleads with Skylar to take her away from there. Skylar tells Tamal's story to the local police, who of course are corrupt and pretend that kids will say anything to get what they want.

At some stage, Tamal cuts herself open and bleeds into the water. This summons some kind of deep sea creature who rises out of the water and as Tamal just lays there crying, the creature lays it's tail across her.

One by one, people are being attacked and pulled off the platform or being bitten in half and eventually the creature rises out of the water completely and makes its way onto the platform and we see that it is some kind of prehistoric marine scorpion. The creature is repeatedly attacked with axes, fire and pikes, but it's Tamal who finishes it off by putting a knife into it's brain. By the end only Tamal and Skylar are left alive.

Back on land, Skylar tries to track down Tamal as she found Tamal's necklace and wanted to hand it back. Tamal is holed up in a shack and when Skylar calls her, she turns and reveals the wound she cut into herself earlier and a baby version of the scorpion emerges from that wound. The baby creatures runs up to Skylar and she crushes it with her boot and then runs off as Tamal starts screaming. The movie ends with more scorpion babies running around the room and out through the door.

Amphibious makes very little sense and for a movie where nearly everyone dies, this is incredibly boring. I guess when the monster connected with Tamal back at the platform, it laid eggs in her but the purpose is never fully revealed. It is alluded that there is some kind of mysticism going on as an old man talking about power and magic at the start and gave Tamal the necklace in the first place, is the one hiding her in the shack at the end. So for some reason these creatures need a human host to reproduce but again, why?

To be honest, unless this movie is aired on some late night TV creature feature program there is really no need to sit through this at all. It's a rambling, plodding movie that never really kicks into gear and despite the exotic location, it's all in vain as 90 percent of the film is shot in and around the fishing platform. 86 minutes of pure tedium is the price I paid for this steaming pile.

AMPHIBIOUS is a cheap and cheerful creature feature from the once-great Brian Yuzna, who has since wasted his once considerable talents by making generic genre fare in Spain. This one's an unholy concoction, a collaboration between the UK, Indonesia and Holland, shot cheaply on a fishing platform in the middle of the sea. There a bunch of generic characters find themselves crossing with a giant sea monster which turns out to be a CGI scorpion at the climax. This was originally a 3D movie, so nearly all of the deaths feature victims being impaled from behind. The digital effects are generally poor but the acting is even worse, with Janna Fassaert in particular failing to convince. Only the reliable Francis Magee lifts the spirits, but he's not in it enough to make a difference.

I'm confused as to why this film has such a low rating. Yuzna nicely builds the the tension until the monster is revealed, the fishing platform in the Philippines is an unusual and claustrophobic setting, the main character Dr Skylar has an logical motivation to help the other characters, especially the children, the standard-issue romance sub-plot is cleverly subverted, and the end has an decent plot twist. In addition the mash-up of western-creature feature with Asian supernatural horror is at least a different take on both genres, at best something quite fresh. There's also some decent physical gore, albeit let down a bit by some obvious CGI towards the end as the creature appears in all it's fake splendour. Yes, it's never going to win any awards. Yes, some of the acting is a bit flat. Yes, there:s little character development. Yes, the CGI towards the end is a bit SySfy Channel. But it's a enjoyable and directing creature feature which is worth any fan's time.