R
Scourge is about an evil parasite that had been imprisoned in a church until the destruction of the church allowed it to escape. Once it escapes, the Scourge transfers from one host to the next, killing all that it encounters.
The basic premise of The Scourge does not feel that far off from Slither, but with an evil parasite rather than an alien parasite. The cover of The Scourge even uses similar themes in its imagery as the cover of Slither. I loved Slither, so I knew that it was going to be hard to measure up to it, but I was hoping that The Scourge was still going to be an enjoyable monster movie. I was sadly disappointed.
It starts off feeling like a standard SyFy Saturday movie, with aspects such as cheesy acting and humor revolving around bodily functions (i.e. burping and over the top guttural noises). I tend to enjoy SyFy Saturday movies because they do not take themselves too seriously and just have fun with it. However, The Scourge forgot to have fun and it forgot to not take itself too seriously. There are plot holes, unlikable and unrelatable characters, excessive explanation of minor aspects and a lack of explanation of key plot points, and so on. Some of the visual effects are decent and when there are scenes of skin tearing, it definitely shows the potential of a good, gory monster movie. But, it never quite lives up to its potential. Not ridiculous enough to be a "so bad it's good" movie. Not gory enough to be a Troma film. Not funny enough to be a horror comedy. Decent special effects, but nothing that makes it especially noteworthy. There was a lot of potential for The Scourge to live up to any of the above areas, but it somehow fell short of all of them.
One of the things that took me out of the movie the most was the characters. Not only did they make horrible decisions (even bad decisions by horror movie standards), but I really did not care about what happened to any of the characters. If I do not care about any of the characters, I become much less invested in the movie. Not only did I not care about the characters, I actually started rooting for the evil parasite to just kill everyone off.
Rating and Recommendation: 1.5/5. This was not the worst movie that I have ever seen. And there is some potential for fun if watching the movie with friends who like to riff movies. However, riffing is basically the only reason that I would ever watch this movie again. Definitely pass. If you want to watch a parasite movie, just watch Slither instead. If you want a ridiculous SyFy Saturday movie, go with Sharknado. If you want a Troma film...well, just pick one at random and you will probably be fine.
Be sure to check back soon for more reviews in Halloween Movie Month! In the meantime, leave comments on this (or any other) review, follow me here and on twitter (@GargyleReviews), and let me know what movies you'd like for me to review for Halloween Movie Month!
- The Gargyle
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