Hydra

Plot synopsis:
Young archaeologist Dr. Valerie Cammon (Polly Shannon) and her colleague Dr. Kim (Philip Moon) go by ship to a volcanic island in the Mediterranean sea. While she seeks relics in a cave, a seaquake sinks their ship without survivors. At about the same time all archaeologists except for Dr. Cammon get eaten by the re-awakened ancient Lernaean Hydra.
During the tempest, a whole island disappears. Two months later, Vincent (Alex McArthur) and Dixie Camden (Jana Williams) intended to organize a man-hunt for cranky millionaires. Their Captain (Michael Shamus Wiles), unaware of the Hydra, suggests the nearby, aforementioned island as a substitute.
Four ex-convicts, Tim Nolan George Stults), Gwen Russell (Dawn Olivieri), Bob Crick (James Wlcek) and Ronnie Kaplan (Texas Battle), are marooned at the shore and given 24 hours' headstart.
The following day the rich hunters (played by Paul Rae, Roark Critchlow, Ricco Ross and William Gregory Lee) arrive, but attract the Hydra's attention and get eaten. The same fate befalls some of the fugitives.
Dr. Cammon runs into the surviving fugitives and helps Tim to find the magic sword of Hercules. As Dr. Cammon tries to distract the Hydra, Tim gets the sword so he can now fight the beast, but, sadly, he retrieves the sword too late and Dr. Cammon is torn apart and eaten by the Hydra. Tim manages to cut off its heads for good, but fails to cut the last head completely off. With Dr. Cammon dead, the remaining fugitives are forced to go on without her help.
Eventually, the only ones left are Tim and Gwen and they return to the ship, not knowing that the Hydra has recovered and is following them. Now only one-headed, it can move like a snake and makes its way into the belly of the ship.
Gwen wants to use the radio for calling SOS but the microphone is damaged. Mr. Camden blindsides her and blackmails Tim. The Hydra kills Camden from behind, then devours Dixie. Tim grabs the magic sword again and this time, he really kills the monster.
Tim and Gwen reach Sardinia and use the $10,000,000.

Tags: revenge

Review:
Well, the good news is that Hydra is not the worst SyFy's done, and it's not quite bad enough to be down there as one of their worst.
Also the hydra itself actually looks good, not amazing, but compared to the cheap-looking and stilted-moving effects before and since this movie it is a considerable improvement.
The bad news is that Hydra is still not a good movie, I have seen worse by all means but it was still lame.
The main problem here was the story, a good idea on paper and is better paced than most SyFy movies but on film it was predictable and could have been developed much more than it was.
The hydra was not bad in look, but like the rest of the characters, you don't really feel threatened partly because the killings and gore lacked tension and had a you've-seen-it-all-before vibe and also that Hydra makes little to no attempt to expand on the hydra's origins and the like.
This will never be Emmy-worthy, nor will this enjoy record-breaking DVD sales later when it is released, but this is superior for a Sci Fi Channel Original.
Like Wyvern, the story and dialog is more involved, better detailed, and runs much more fluid than your typical Sci Fi Channel fare.
The long shots and scenic vistas are new for Sci Fi Channel releases, and I have to say they add a great deal to the overall feel and effect of the work.
That has been the greatest problem with Sci Fi Original movies, thus far...the horrible CG, trite dialog, and terrible acting ruin the possibility of enjoying a good suspension of belief, thereby negating its own work.
Cheesy monsters, wooden dialog, D list actors with porn names, military units outfitted in Cabella's catalog costuming, "Soldiers" with hair styles from the 1980's disco era, spurting blood, single camera/single take cinematography, re-used sets, cliché stereotyping, and an amazing array of Hooters waitress types who are geologists, physicists, astronauts, biologists, etc.For a fan of the original B movies these low budget, filmed in a week and written in a day formula pieces are true movie magic.And Hydra is just exactly as awful as you would expect.May God forgive me, I do love these so!.
Four incredibly wealthy men with more money than common sense, and whom all had lost a loved one due to murder, charter a yacht to an abandoned island where they will hunt 4 alleged criminals.
Yup, that must mean that it's SyFy Original picture time again.This creature-of-the-week meets "Most Dangerous Game" may be a tad better than the typical SyyFy flick but it still wears out it's (admittedly forced) welcome with cardboard characters that you don't really care what happens to & a monster that seems cool enough at first but gets more and more boring with each subsequent attack.
This is very much par for the course for the channel, a cheesy CGI-filled slice of monster mayhem in which various assembled non-actors are bumped off one by one on a remote island by the titular creature.The ridiculous set-up of the narrative is particularly amusing here.
At the same time, and most bizarrely, there's a MOST DANGEROUS GAME-style hunt going on too, where some big game hunters are tracking down convicted criminals and get cash prizes if they manage to murder them.Inevitably the stories all combine but in the most ordinary way imaginable.
HYDRA is for the most part a repetitive production in which almost the entire cast is bumped off before the survivors finally figure out a way to combat the monster.
The acting is poor and the CGI effects typically awful for a Sci Fi Channel production.
Originally scored for the SyFy channel on television and released on DVD, this film is embarrassing.
The Hydra monster is a critical piece in the story and falls off the grid in originality.
A better than average SCI-FI channel creature feature..
HYDRA begins with four rich hunters that have paid a large sum of money to hunt people on an uncharted island, but unknown to everyone there is something on the island that has a taste for human flesh, a creature of myth know as the hydra.Although I reckon this is not part of SCI-FI's man eater series, if it is its certainly one of the best ones I've seen, the film is actually really good when I look at the last few SCI-FI channel originals I've seen, because you get YETI which was a quickly slammed together mess, there was VIPERS that was a complete rush job and you had GRIZZLY RAGE that was neither of the aforementioned but it was crap anyway.This film was the exception to other SCI-FI monster yawns, it had better CGI effects, it had a good story to it, even though there was minimal character development and no real back story as to where the HYDRA came from or how it ended up on the island, the dialog was actually pretty sharp and not as ridiculous as in other SCI-FI channel films.My only complaint I have is the score, despite that it sounds similar to the score of another SCI-FI original called KOMODO VS.
COBRA, its very loud and sometimes it almost muffles the dialog, you can also hear the sound of really noisy trumpets that tend to make you cringe, just to give an idea of how loud the score is.Otherwise its a better than average SCI-FI original creature feature..
The plot is OK for a TV movie, but the movie could've been more amusing if the creature was something more ghostly or mysterious, instead of the bad CGI and his rapid inorganic movement speed.The characters buildup was not that properly orchestrated, makes sense to me with all these characters around, but at least the lead character must have got special treatment, there.
I wish most of the killing were done by the hunted, which may have made the movie more plausible.Also I don't know how the scientist survived the bare island that long.
I don't know how long she had to endure this monster chase and the island conditions.Will guys I watched this flick till the end for one reason: the ladies were nice to watch acting :).
"Hydra" is an incredibly fun and exciting Sci-Fi Channel original creature feature.**SPOILERS**Traveling through the ocean, Vincent Camden, (Alex McArthur) takes his friends Clarence Elkins, (William Gregory Lee) Alex Williams, (Paul Rae) and Sean Trotta, (Roark Critchlow) on a cruise to a deserted island.
Eventually finding a small island, they bring out captives Tim Nolan, (George Stults) Gwen Russo, (Dawn Olivieri) Ronnie Kaplan, (Texas Battle) and Bob Crick, (James Wlcek) who have all been involved in inflicting personal tragedies with the gang in the past and are now using the island as a place to hunt them down as revenge for those crimes.
While running from the hunters, they manage to stumble upon Dr. Valerie Cammon, (Polly Shannon) the lone survivor of an archaeological expedition surveying the island who claims a huge, multi-headed snake known as a Hydra is stalking the island and killing them one-by-one.
Unsure of how to defeat the creature, they try to find a way to kill it before being taken out by the hunting party after them as well.The Good News: This was a pleasantly surprising and quite enjoyable creature feature.
With the head-chopping bringing in more good stuff, as it allows the creature to spawn more heads with each swiped one, there's a never-ending amount of heads that can come, each one with those features coming along, and along with it's size there's a lot to like about the creature.
It also has one of the more unique stories for these kinds of films, with the captured people being used for a hunting party by those who have been burned by them in the past, and now have a chance at retribution being quite a novel idea and offering up plenty of good stuff.
The first is that it's unique and hasn't been done before, as the motives are well-reasoned and logical, only just in that it's the villains which are given that opportunity to do this, which is new and not really done that often which makes it that way from the start, but that also allows for some fun to be had later on at the island during the actual hunting.
The first encounters, where the lone crew-members stumble upon it are a lot of fun, and the hunter's attacks are just as good.
It's quite gory, as there's a multitude of bodies being bitten open with vicious abandon and letting the blood splatter everywhere, a couple limbs are torn off, bites to the chest, face and the head, being ripped in half at the waist, a wooden spear impaled through the leg and another is swallowed whole, among other kills.
These here make this one quite bloody, and are overall the film's good points.The Bad News: There wasn't a whole lot of flaws to this one.
One of the film's only flaws is that the Hydra's origins aren't given at all.
There's nothing about how it can regenerate it's heads or even why the sword is needed to kill it and how it works against the creature.
The only other big flaw here is the usual Sci-Fi Channel original standard, the atrocious and utterly unconvincing CGI used for the creature.
These are what's wrong with the film.The Final Verdict: An incredibly enjoyable and entertaining Sci-Fi Channel original, this one definitely manages to feature enough good stuff to be worthwhile.
An actual Sci-Fi Channel 'Creature Feature' that isn't terrible..
Hydra starts as four complete strangers wake up in a dark room chained up, they quickly deduce that they have been kidnapped, are on-board a ship & the only thing they have in common is that they have all spent time in prison for serious crimes.
It soon becomes clear what is going on, a guy named Vincnet (Alex McArthur) & US army Captain Sweet (Michael Shamus Wiles) have organised a hunting trip for four ultra rich businessmen who have had some aspect of their lives ruined by criminals in some way & the four kidnapped cons soon find out they are what the rich blokes are going to hunt & kill for sport & satisfaction.
The four unwilling hunt participant's are dropped off on a seemingly deserted & uncharted island but they & their hunters quickly realise that the island is home a huge multi-headed Snake like creature from Greek mythology know as the Hydra & it has a liking for human flesh...Directed by Andrew Prendergast I have to say that Hydra turned out much, much better than I thought it would & is actually the first half decent Sci-Fi Channel 'Creature Feature' that I have seen in absolutely ages & I've seen quite a few of the things.
For a start the plot has slightly more to it than usual & plays out like a cross between The Most Dangerous Game (1932) & Turkey Shoot (1982) with it's organised hunt with human prey plot, an Indiana Jones film with it's fantasy archaeological angle & your typical Sci-Fi Channel 'Creature Feature' with the title beast which is a lot better & cooler than most.
In Hydra we get a giant multi-headed Snake like creature that rips people to pieces on sight which is good enough for me although it's never given any sort of back-story & is merely presented in the film 'as is'.
I didn't like how this giant Hydra creature could just appear out of nowhere without anyone hearing or seeing it coming, the story could have been more developed & more could have been made of the hunt & the cons fight for survival since that aspect of the plot seems to just be there to get a group of people on the island & not much else.The production values are alright, it looks a little cheap at times but it's not too bad.
Usually these Sci-Fi Channel 'Creature Features' serve up some of the worst CGI computer effects imaginable & while the effects in Hydra aren't exactly amazing they are better than usual with a fairly fearsome & cool looking central monster.
There's some gore here, several people get ripped apart, there's a severed hand, someones head is bitten off & there's a decent amount of blood.With a supposed budget of about $700,000 this looks quite good compared to a lot of low budget horror out there.
The acting is alright but nothing special.Hydra is yet another Sci-Fi Channel 'Creature Feature' with a CGI central monster, an isolated location & various character's for it to kill but the main difference with Hydra is that it works quite well & is fairly watchable if you know what to expect.
Better than I had anticipated & actually quite good..
Yet another perfectly awful Sci-fi Channel CGI monster movie.
Yet another variation on The Most Dangerous Game has four unlucky human prey, selected by a millionaire because they had prior criminal records and were able to "escape the system", kidnapped and dropped on a supposedly uninhabited island with an actual living multi-headed hydra of Greek myth who follow the heat of their chosen victims, chomping down on those they catch.
Nolan is an ex-commando so he's a resourceful survivalist who can assist his fellow hunted, Gwen(Dawn Olivieri), Crick(James Wlcek)and Ronnie(Texas Battle)using his brains and skills in an attempt to evade both the hunters(..each wealthy paying their "supplier" millions so that they can hunt their prey)and the hydra.
Meanwhile, the hunters themselves find the hydra isn't effected by their superior weaponry..if you blow of one of the heads, it grows two more!
Nolan and the group soon discovers an archaeologist, Valerie(Polly Shannon)whose expedition found the island with her the only remaining survivor.
She informs Nolan that in order to truly defeat the hydra is to cut off the heads with a mythical sword of Hercules himself, buried in small lava pit!
The CGI for the film is as dreadful as you'd expect as the hydra chomps down on human heads and it looks unrealistic and laughable.
"Evil Elvis" director Andrew Prendergast and "Blind Injustice" scenarist Peter Sullivan have appropriated the venerable manhunt plot from "The Most Dangerous Game" and bolstered the danger by adding a Hydra, the chimerical, multi-headed snake from Greek mythology, to their contemporary horror epic.
In "Hydra," three unfortunate men and one woman serve as the hunted on an uninhabited island while four wealthy safari hunters, who've anted up $10-million a piece, stalk them for the thrill of the kill.
"I think whoever comes to this island is going to be in for real surprise," one of the four hunted observes with insight.
Not even seasoned performers can make much out of this gabble."Hydra" opens with four archeologists exploring an unknown island.
The scene shifts to a tramp freighter named the Aegeas somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea. Four egotistical big game hunters have paid Vincent Camden (Alex McArthur of the "Desperado" movies) $10-million dollars each to hunt convicted criminals.
When the island that Camden has plied the seas for disappears, Aegeas captain, Mr. Sweet (Michael Shamus Wiles of "Fight Club") and his second-in-command, Mr. Winters (Dwayne Adway of "Soul Plane"), plot a course for another island.The uncharted island that they locate and schedule the hunt on is the home of the Hydra.
They release the prisoners the night before the hunt commences on the island, and Nolan assures his companions that they have to work together if they hope to stay alive.Meantime, four of Mr. Sweet's hired help encounter the Hydra.
When the four hunted wander up, he shoots the worse one—Bob Crick--and then the Hydra appears and finishes him off.
Trotta smashes the radio with his rifle butt and Elkins tries to get back to the ship.Meanwhile, the archaeologist who survived the first attack tells the hunted that the island showed up on a satellite mapping three months ago and they launched an expedition "in hopes that this might be the location of a fabled lost temple." She adds that they were hoping to find the Sword of Hercules.
They can cut the heads off the Hydra and kill it permanently, but they have to use the sword.
When the Hydra attacks them, Valerie shields Gwen and dies when the snake eats her.
Nolan has to battle the snake again after it has eaten Camden and his sexy, show-off wife Dixie.The special effects are what you would expect from this Sci-Fi Channel entry.
What is it with the Skiffy Channel and giant snake like things?
The plot- We open with an expedition to a Greek Island where the male participants are all gruesomely eaten by the cheap CGI Hyrda.
The Hydra is on the Island, too.The encounter the surviving scientist girl, who looks pretty good considering she hasn't had a bath or change of clothes in two months.
She tells them she'll help them escape if they find the Sword of Hercules (and any good student of Greek Mythology knows it's Heracles, but never mind.) We get lots of shots of the Hydra eating heavily armed goons.Another observation.
Two female characters are killed in the course of the movie.
(Okay, bad CGI blood and gore, but never mind.) The chicks are killed out of frame.
Okay, this is better than MOST Skiffy channel snakes eat lots of people movies, but that isn't saying much.
It really doesn't take any chances, the people you expect to get killed are and the ones you expect to survive (the ones where the script has built sympathy for) do.Come on, Skiffy, come up with some original ideas!.
This film would have been better without the monster.An uninspired retelling of The Most Dangerous Game, it benefits from attractive locations and technically competent film-making - good lighting and frame composition etc.