[Ogre]
Plot:Plot:A vicious Ogre rules over a town that has been stuck in time since the 1800's.

Cast:Ryan Kennedy, John Schneider, Chelan Simmons, Katharine Isabelle, Brendan Fletcher, Andrew Wheeler, John Shaw, Alex Zahara, Kyle Labine, Kimberley Warnat, Tyler Johnston, Shawn Reis, Ted Kozma, Chilton Crane, Sean Campbell.

My Thoughts:Surprisingly good.

Review:When one sits down to watch a horror film called "Ogre" on the SCI-FI channel, one expects to be sitting on the couch at 9:30 pm with an icepack on their heads from how shitty the film will undoubtedly be. However, that wasn't the case with this movie...which came as a huge shock to me. The pic follows a group of teens who end up stranded in a cursed town where a vicious Ogre rules over the human population. This is due to a pact being made betwene the townspeople and the ogre where they sacrifice an unlucky someone to the Ogre every few years, and it doesn't come into town to crush everything and devour everyone.

Seems like a fair trade no? Well some of the townspeople, particularly a young girl named Hope Bartlett (Chelan Simmons) are tired of the pact and the effect it's having on their town, as the people there do not age and cannot ever leave. With the newcomers now stuck in town, Hope tries to convince them to help her people come to the realization that they must kill the best in order to be free of the curse forever. The thing to like most about "Ogre" is the casting, as Chelan Simmons and Katherine Isabelle both make appearances in the movie.

Both are familiar with the horror genre, Isabelle having starred in "Disturbing Behavior", "Freddy vs. Jason", and "Ginger Snaps 1 and 2", and Simmons having done "Final Destination 3". Both are talented actresses, and talented actors always cuts down on the annoyance level of a film, even one with a CGI ogre involved. John Schneider appears in the film as the town leader and Hope's father. Weilding a pretty cool looking scepter, he channels the energy which chooses which townsperson will next be sacrificed to the vicious ogre. However, there's more to his character than meets the eye as we find out later on.

This film was written and directed by Steven R. Monroe, who is really making a killing with these indie horror pictures. But to tell the truth, Monroe plays well in this genre, as his movies have a pretty high batting average with me. I've liked most of them so far, and "Ogre" is no exception. Monroe seems to take the indie horror picture alot more seriously than other writer/directors. "Ogre" uncharacteristically has strong performances, a strong story, and a nice ending. The films story doesn't just break down around one or two plot arcs, but instead takes alot of different avenues to explore and open up to the viewer.

The film keeps a pretty decent amount of activity alive so the viewer doesn't get bored too easily. Not something often seen in films like this one. The Ogre himself, although CGI...is a pretty bad dude. He's huge, and violent, and ogreish, which shouldn't come as much of a surprise considering he is after all an ogre. But the movie doesn't skimp on the violence, entrenching itself into horror mode instead of cutesy fantasy mode which was what I was not expecting the film to do. The Ogre commits all the usual kinds of murders you'd expect a huge, angry green freak to commit. People have their heads ripped off, bodies stomped on, are ripped in half, etc.

Which is another thing that makes this movie work so well. The ogre isn't doing things outside of it's nature like some writers would have it doing. Instead...it stumbles around growling, snarling, and killing anyone it finds, and after it's done...it stumbles around through the woods looking for more people to do the same to. Simple as that, and it works really well for this picture to keep the monster within the realm of reality and not giving it the ability to talk, backflip, or any of that other crap some writers would have it doing.

You wouldn't believe the ridiculous liberties some writers take with these CGI creations. "Ogre" wraps up nicely, with Simmons character Hope taking center stage in the films climax, and showing more and more in each film how she's developing into a nice up and comign actress. "Ogre" is not on the level of a "Freddy vs. Jason", "Jeepers Creepers", or "Grindhouse", but on an indie horror film level, it ranks about an 8 on a scale of 1 through 10.

Positives:Talented cast, mostly Isabelle and Simmons. Cool monster even though he was CGI. Lots of blood and gore, and a strong story coupled with a good ending.

Negatives:The CGI Ogre is painful to watch in some scenes.

Overall:Surprisingly good indie horror effort.





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