Moviecut—Reign of the Gargoyles

source: Reign of the Gargoyles

Powerful science fiction film from gifted director Ayton Davis, this is not the usual SyFy production. With careful attention to period detail and the creation of strong characters, Davis brings both the era and atmosphere of the Second World War to life. The special effects are extraordinary and some sequences are absolutely haunting in their imagery. The scene where an ME-109 is challenged with only a mortar is one of the most exciting ever filmed. Joe Penny gives one of his most effective performances in years as the battle hardened Gus, a man who has seen far too much combat but still answers the call of duty. The Germans are depicted as more than an enemy in this motion picture and it is made clear they regret deeply they have unleashed and uncontrollable and ultimately unholy evil.

Personally i applaud the SyFy channel for putting out B movies. I haven't enjoyed this many rainy Sunday afternoon movies since the 50s and 60s. This movie I have seen a few times and I actually like it. To bad it isn't in one of the three movie sets the SyFy channel has released on DVDs. A group of WWIi soldiers find a secret Nazi weapon that has brought Gargoyles to life. These soldiers must figure out a way to destroy them. They use all weapons they can find and even a German Heinkel bomber to try and destroy the demon controlling the gargoyles. I hope this becomes available on DVD.

I'll admit it and say that I dislike, even hate, most of the movies from the Sci-Fi Channel, with a couple of exceptions. If you're wondering why I keep watching them, it is mainly because there is something compulsively watchable about them in how awful they are. I also try and watch any movie of any genre and age regardless of the critical and audience consensus. I was expecting very little from Reign of the Gargoyles, and in the end I got very little. It does have a good idea, and the acting from Joe Penny, John Ashton and Wes Ramsey is alright but not great. However, that is it for any redeeming qualities. The editing is very choppy, the lighting dull and the sets too scaled-down. But on a visual front it was the special effects that fared the worst, the movements of the gargoyles are very stiff and in their design they look very crude. Considering that they do feature prominently in the movie, that is a major issue. The dialogue is as unnatural as the effects with a lot of talk but no flow, and apart from Penny, Ashton and Ramsey the rest of the acting stinks with the accents laughably fake. The story is energetically told I suppose, but much of it is unsurprising and veers into the face-palm-inducing ridiculous far too much. True, there is some conflict here but executed in a very clichéd way. The flying sequences have a great concept and not so bad in the action, but I would have enjoyed them more if the editing was better than it was. The characters are little more than walking cardboard cut-outs, in particular we learn absolutely nothing about the gargoyles. Overall, I have seen worse from the Sci-Fi Channel, but that doesn't stop Reign of the Gargoyles from being very bad. 3/10 Bethany Cox

Some hot shot WWII pilots are flying around, rattling off some old 40's movie dialog. Suddenly, some flying creatures with sticky feet attach themselves to the planes' wings. Then they destroy the planes and go away for a while. Then they come back and do it again. Nazis have unleashed a bunch of gargoyles, in some cult legend practice nobody ever heard of before. They want to use the monsters to conquer the world but the things just croak them too. Oh, and meanwhile, Allied and Nazi forces have battles. This film tosses around bits and pieces of war and horror genre stuff, and loosely fits it all together. Some attempt is made to tell a creative story; there is an evil-encounters-evil motif about the modern Nazis and their ancient cultist counterparts. Acting is strong enough, but character development is minimal. Lots of violent action, but little explanation of why the gargoyles are so anti-social. CGI looks to have been done by students in a "Computer for Dummies" class. The ending is unintentionally funny. Overall; about average for SyFy channel; good fast food fluff if you're in the mood for some cheap entertainment.

Sci-Fi Pictures has such an incredibly bad track record that I am amazed that they are still churning out movies. This effort by them does nothing to break their long streak. In fairness, I will admit that not everything was badly done. The locations were pretty convincing, and some of the sets were okay. And... uh... ...well, that's about it for what's decent here. Everything else is REALLY badly done. I won't get into details like the uniforms, which were clearly wrong to this viewer who isn't an expert on World War II details like this. I will rip into the movie's really bad CGI special effects. These poor special effects may explain why the killer gargoyles stay absent for most of the movie - hard to build terror when you don't see what is causing the terror. The characters were also pretty weak. Maybe I could excuse the East European actors for not having convincing British accents, but I could not excuse the movie for having not one memorable character. They all seemed to blend together. Must I go on? If you have seen one Sci-Fi Pictures movie, you can guess just how awful this one will be before watching it.

Recap: A thousand years ago, some pagans summoned Vorthorn, lord of the gargoyles, and unleashed his terror on the world. They managed to defeat him, but now a secret Nazi commando has awoken him again. Now it is up to some American flyers and British airborne rangers, trapped behind enemy lines to defeat him once again. Comments: The only thing that saves this movie is the realization that it must have been a low budget production designed to fill time on a the Sci-Fi Channel. Because otherwise, this was seriously bad. The idea behind the story is ridiculous, evil Nazis summoning flying demons that are even more evil. Which naturally leads to that the American Bomber flyers happen to find themselves in the middle of it. Unfortunately they don't have any good CGI to support the story, or distract the audience with some spectacular scenes. The monsters are very plastic, moving stiffly and just looking awkward. What is worse is that now and again the actors interaction with these CGI monsters are completely out of sync. Sometimes they face the completely wrong way, when a two meter monster stands behind them screaming. Some few known faces surprisingly appeared. It was a long time ago Joe Penny and John Ashton where in the big titles. And it shows why. But it was nice, maybe the best part of the entire movie, to remember their prime days. Otherwise, Stay clear. 3/10

I'm afraid that like most Sci Fi original series this movie is mediocre at best. It just doesn't have any spark. I wish that I could point out some major flaw, but there really isn't any. Stock characters; evil Nazis's,nasty monsters, valiant ally soldiers and partisans. Whee! But the characters just spin their wheels. They practically have labels stamped on them. The VALIANT FLYING FORTRESS PILOT mouths a few words about how he idolizes Lindberg thereby establishing that he's a good egg and an all American joe. I'd love to see Sci Fi channel try to have subtle, nuanced characters for once. There's so much unbelievably good Sci Fi out there. Heinlein, Brin, Asimov, LeGuin, Niven, I could go on. Still, I hope that they keep trying.

I guess it could've have been worse. The straight-to-TV presentation 'Rein of the Gargoyles' mildly entertains, but artificially dodgy CGI effects and pompous dialogues really do shoot it down. Bad computer visuals are one thing, but that script had me giggling and groaning at the same time. Too many random inspirational speeches, than explanations about the topic at hand or that of the Nazi's involvement in the occult had me wincing. The concept behind the film (An American airborne crew involved in WW2 in Eastern Europe find out that they have more to worry about than Nazis when they encounter Gargoyles, and join forces with resistance fighters to achieve the sacred spear that vanquished these gargoyles centuries ago) has something strong to go on, but alas it's given weak treatment and slaps in a stew of war clichés. Soon the mythological side is drowned out, and the interest begins to peter out. I can't knock its spirit though, and the locations and time period was well-shaped in presenting a dreary, war-torn backdrop. Performances fair up with no-one really standing out or overplaying it. However those accents (namely the Germans) were terrible, as if they were straining too hard. Joe Penny was dependably stalwart and Wes Ramsey is fine as the go-getter. No one really takes it entirely serious (even the script), but it doesn't fall away for any cheap laughs or a lighter tone of self-consciousness. The action is slight, and small. Sadly the gargoyles cop the brunt of it. Too little screen time, same for those Nazis who brought them to life. Sometimes the vigorous activity felt like something out of a video game, as the camera bobbed up and down. Moments do work, like atmospheric imagery in a graveyard. But really it's non-effective and flaky, despite its efforts. An okay time-waster… nothing more.