Polymorph
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I am not really a fan of space alien movies. I tend to find aliens boring. Flying saucers, tiny green men, conspiracies, anal probes…not interested. Don’t get me wrong though, if the said alien was a hulking monster, that tears apart all that come into contact with it one by one, then we’re in business. I guess you can say I am a monster movie fan. I like the man in the rubber suit effects. Those never grow old. Why am I telling you all this? Well, for two reasons really.


The first reason is, I am opening up to you fellow Bums out there. Let me give you a nugget of who I am. I’m trying to slowly unveil the mystery that is Rufus. We are bonding, can you feel it? I know you do.


The second reason is just recently a movie crossed my desk called Polymorph. I read what the movie was about, and it’s pretty much this:


“Alien ship crash-lands on Earth and the creature inside starts taking over people's bodies.”


Hmmm. A little like Invasion of the Body Snatchers, or The Thing. I loved both of those movies, but those are rare alien movies. Body Snatchers was a deep psychological film (especially the 70s remake), and The Thing had some of the greatest FX ever. Wait a minute. This is a low budget movie. Before I got too excited I stepped back, and remembered that an alien film that I like is few and far between. Let me watch this without comparing it to anything else.


** Side note. When watching a low/no budget film, never compare it to a big budget film. Majority of times you will be disappointed. The more you know……


I popped in Polymorph, and guess what………………no really, guess………… fine… I liked what I saw.


Let me try to explain the movie to you all, without going into detail. Interns working for Doctor Lester (Pete Jacelone) are called to check out a meteorite that has splash landed in a swamp in Ohio. (Go Buckeyes!) Naturally going on a camping trip for the weekend, Bill (Joseph Daw) invites his girlfriend Alice (Jennifer Huss) to come along. He is also trying to set up his best friend Ted (James Edwards), with one of Alice’s friends Donna (Ariauna Albright). They both come along also.


What they do not know is that while they’re heading out to the woods, so are drug runners Carlos (Tom Hoover), Franco (Leo Anastasio), and Regine (Pam Zitelli). Why are they headed there? Well, Tarper (Sasha Graham) is holding fort at a cabin that is in the woods. Tarper is one of Carlos’ drug runners. This is where the coke transfer will be taking place. Dr. Lester and his security guard escort Wolmeldorf (Michael Raso) are dead. They had found the meteor, and it’s glowing “blob” like insides. After calling his interns, Doc Lester’s phone dies. Seeing how contaminated the swamp now is, he and the security guard went looking for a phone. They were shot by the coked up paranoid Tarper, when they stumbled onto the cabin asking to use her phone. Tarper had seen the gun that Wolmendorf had, and he saw the coke she had. Shoot-out!! The security guard is now dead, and Tarper took a shot in the leg. With the help of the good doctor (not his choice) the guard’s body gets tossed into the swamp. Then of course the doctor is shot, but not until he tells Tarper that more people are on their way. (Way to go doc) As Tarper pushes the doctor’s body into the swamp the “blob” jumps into her wound. She calls Carlos to tell him about the two dead bodies, and also about something jumping into her leg. Carlos decides to head there, and take care of his investment. By investment I mean his coke.


Soon we end up with the interns, and their dates, arriving at the cabin, finding Tarper dead. At the same time Carlos, and crew, arrive to find Tarper dead, his coke on the table, and these kids. This starts the drug runners vs. the interns. Oddly, Tarper “wakes” up, and we have a whole different story. This starts the drug runners and interns vs. the body jumping alien.


Well, that is the best I can do to vaguely give you the synopsis. Obviously that doesn’t do the story justice, but let’s see you try to sum up the plot in one sentence. I guess if I read my own review I would have summed it up the same as above:


“Alien ship crash-lands on Earth and the creature inside starts taking over people's bodies.”


Oh well; to each their own. For such a low budget movie the story is quite good. It is a little deeper than the normal “armed people against an alien” fare. Who do you trust when the alien can jump into any body, when more importantly you already do not trust each other even without the alien? Sadly, the story does not dive into the alien assuming bodies, causing mistrust between them too much. There are some scenes of this, but mostly the alien just growls and attacks, so they know who the alien is. Putting that aside though, again the story is great. The dialogue between the characters makes this not only an above average movie, but one that is quite enjoyable. I would have enjoyed this movie even if the alien presence was not featured. Hell, sometimes I wanted the alien to take a breather, so the dialogue could continue.



The acting in this one is not really that bad. Hell, with some, it is even quite good. The two characters that stuck out the most to me were Carlos, and Bill. Their acting was enjoyable. Some of the scenes with Carlos actually made me laugh out loud. Bill’s lines never seemed forced. He just delivered his lines, like you were having a real conversation with someone. I am really surprised to have not seen these two actors in more movies. Donna, and Alice also did a great job. The whole intern bunch worked really well together. All is not perfect in the intern world though. Ted grated my nerves. His acting was not good, nor was it horrendous, but that character has got to be the most feminine, sorry excuse for a man that I have seen filmed. I really hope that James Edwards is a brilliant actor. Why do I say that? Well, if he is then he did a tremendous job transforming himself into, this sad excuse of a man. On the other hand, if he is not a great actor, then I hope he and his boyfriend are very happy together. No hard feelings James. I don’t want to beat James up too bad, because he co-wrote the script. For that you have won some major points with me.

The others in the film could definitely work on their acting skills. They had their moments of skill, but the bad outweighs the good. Sorry guys.

Since this is a Sci-Fi flick, let’s talk about the Special FX. Actually I’d rather not. While the practical special effect, like the alien getting a shotgun wound in the chest, or wounds in general are good enough, the computer effects just are not up to par. I know this is low budget, but for the alien to have green eyes, why not use contacts? Maybe some makeup effect on the individuals would be nice? With the alien being a glowing blob, where does green lightning coming from the fingers come into play? As an old school makeup effect fan I was a little disappointed in that.

The overall look of the film was that of a comic book. Scene breaks would sometimes be page turnings. It also had “Meanwhile” in the corner, even in comic book font, at some times. Very nice. With those added touches, and the dialog, this was a movie that you did not take seriously. I just sat back and had a good time.


A special Rufus moment ** The digital home video look may turn people off. I honestly am not a fan of the digital filming. I prefer film. No matter how bad a movie is, it just looks more professional with film. That is my opinion, and in this review that is the opinion that matters.


Feel the boom of my voice. Actually, feast your eyes on the font of my words!! There that makes more sense.


The reason I bring this up is this movie is filmed in the digital format. This filming method may deter some viewers out there, but with movies nowadays moving towards this, my suggestion is don’t let it. You may miss out on a lot of great films. If you watch the movie itself, and ignore the lack of “film”, then I’m sure you will enjoy this particular film as much as I did. Trust me. Have I ever steered you Bums wrong before?

The more you know……

Overall I will give his film 3 1/2 stars. While having the low budget hurt the film in some ways, the overall look, the great dialog, well above your normal low budgeted film acting, and story, makes this a great addition to my collection, and a movie that I will watch again. One last note: The ending was brilliant. While it made perfect sense, and I should have seen it coming, it still caught me off guard. Good one guys!

Added:  Thursday, May 26, 2005

Related Link:  Purchase the movie here
Language: eng[ Did you find this review helpful?  Yes  No ]
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