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Necessary Evil
Led by the nefarious Capt. Frank Sanders
(Gary Hudson, Resident Evil), a team of mercenaries are foraging
in the caves ‘ just outside ancient Babylon.’ Only a select few members
of the troupe know the real reason for the mission; to locate an
ancient, evil being that enjoys interacting with humans. As long as the
interaction involves eating their faces.
Enter said monster, which despite being all
powerful and rather cantankerous is quickly bundled into a truck and
hauled off to Dr Neil Fibrian (Lance Henrikson, Alien vs. Predator),
a medical man of such dastardly bent he makes Josef Mengele look like
Albert Schweitzer. Fibrian is conducting human experiments at an
isolated psychiatric hospital (kind of like Josef Mengele come to think
of it) and is hellbent on fusing the DNA of the creature with that of
the creature in order to creature a Master Race. Hey, just like Josef
Mengele! It’s up to reporter Deborah Fielding (the always excellent
Kathryn Fiore of Mission Impossible III fame) to blow the whole
story wide open. If Fibrian and his mutant cronies don’t subject her to
an old-fashioned face-eating first.
Now I’m not a geneticist and I don’t know a
great deal about genomes and the like, but even I would have liked a
little more pseudo-science and a little less in the way of glowing green
eyes and exceedingly poor CGI effects. I know it was made on a budget,
but even The Asylum can do better than this. The references to ancient
Hebrew texts and the like were a little half-hearted, and at 83 minutes
the film races through its subplots and ensemble characters.
It also is far from the inimitable Trejo’s
finest hour. He growls in all the right places, gets his shirt off and
chomps on a cigar in his best Schwarzenegger fashion, but it’s largely a
waste of an actor who showed in the recent Machete he’s more than
capable of carrying a film of this ilk.
Necessary Evil won’t win any
awards. It doesn’t really deserve any. But it does try hard, bless it,
and when watched through a sci-fi channel, straight to video, B-movie
kind of filter it’s actually kind of fun. I’m not sure if the whole
multifaceted subtext about the continual encroachment of pharmaceutical
companies on our daily lives really holds up, but if bad monster movies
are your vibe then look no further!
Audio & Video
A solid transfer and an anamorphically
enhanced 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio ensure the film looks a treat.
The 2.0 DD English audio is likewise solid enough, and more than up to
requirements.
Special Features
A Theatrical trailer. |
