Writer/Director: Mark Stouffer | Rated: R | Review date: 24-March-2010

Mark Stouffer’s Creature of Darkness is a science fiction monster movie much reminiscent of the Predator. It differs in that this time around, we don’t have a group of rag tag commandos, but rather college-aged friends out for a good time in the woods. The story follows Andrew (Devon Sawa) who’s suffered nightmares of a creepy and murderous alien. Andrew’s friend Heather (Fernanda Romero) convinces him to overcome his fears and join a group on an off-road adventure. It’s only a matter of time before Andrew’s nightmares start to resemble reality.

At this point the film turns more into a slasher as members of the group begin to be picked off. As things start to get shaken up, Andrew reveals the stories once told by his lunatic uncle, relating them to what’s currently happening. Naturally the group can’t believe what they’re seeing or hearing, prompting tempers to flare. As they start to put the pieces together, Andrew believes the ghastly creature hunting them down is the Catcher, an alien sent to collect human specimens for scientific studies. From here out, the film turns into a classic survival tale as the remaining people in the group attempt to outsmart their hunter.

The story of Creature of Darkness is an exciting one. It manages to blend great elements of science fiction and horror (more specifically, slashers). Perhaps what this film suffered most from was that it’s visions exceeded it’s budget. The Catcher’s face looked realistic, creepy, and original. However when a scene called for the monster’s full unclothed body to be seen, this was done in CGI. The transition between the sculpted face and the animated critter was blatant. There were additionally some scenes where the Catcher was able to manipulate objects which called for animation, which also did not look too convincing.

Low-budget CGI aside, the film did have some good things going for it. Of course the standout was Devon Sawa. Where has he been? He’s by far the most experienced talent in this film, which may have made the rest of the cast seem worse than they were by comparison. The cast was decent for this type of movie. Matthew Lawrence (Boy Meets World) also does a great job and shows promise. Aside from Sawa however there were no really outstanding performances, and I even found occurrences where I was cheering the Catcher on due to the annoyance of some characters.

My biggest gripe with the film is not the use of CGI or inexperienced acting, but rather with the dialog. There are some truly cheesy lines that took away much of the film’s credibility. These lines made the characters unlikable at times and pushed the film further into b-movie status. Whether or not that was the intent, I found it to be the major downfall of an otherwise decent and action-filled sci-fi story. I enjoyed much about this film, but the aforementioned flaws ended up making it just okay. The film will be fun for cheesy monster movie fans, but probably won’t hold much with many others.
IMDb | Trailer (YouTube)

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