Movie Review: Mongolian Death Worm (2010)
Synopsis: An experimental American oil plant drilling in the Mongolian desert accidentally releases mythical giant man-eating worms that were rumored to be the guardians of Genghis Khan's lost tomb and treasure.
Who's in it? The movie stars Sean Patrick Flanery, Victoria Pratt, George Cheung, Drew Waters and Nate Rubin.
Review: When I first came across this movie on VUDU, I couldn't help but think it was nothing more than a bad ripoff of the film Tremors. But, my wife and I were having a hard time finding something that looked better and, wanting to watch a movie (any movie) before it got too late, we ended up picking this one anyway. As it turns out, it was actually better than I was expecting.
Yes, as I suspected, the movie really does seem an awful lot like Tremors. In fact, the Mongolian Death Worms even look a lot like the worms in that film. But, the movie still manages to be different enough to feel at least somewhat unique.
I think the thing I found I liked best about this film was the way the worms seemed to have a lot more mobility than you would expect them to have. This created a little more suspense in the film because they could attack from underground or, because they could also climb, could snatch you from up above. And, while they were a bit too easy to kill (most dropped from one gunshot wound), the fact there was an army of them made up for that.
The movie did have some flaws. For one, I'm still a little confused how the worms were causing an entire village to suffer from a disease or why they apparently had a radioactive quality to them that allowed them to be detected with an EMF detector. It feels like there was supposed to have been some sort of explanation that never made it to the final production. Either that, or it was so brief, I missed it.
I also found I wasn't a huge fan of the tie-in with Genghis Khan's tomb. It just seemed to be a bit forced, in my opinion, especially since the worms were released by the plant's efforts to get oil and not necessarily because the tomb happened to be discovered too. It's a good example of writers trying to do too much and include more stories than a film really needs.
Final Opinion: Tremors is definitely the better worm movie. Heck, even some of the sequels were better than this film. But, it was still an OK movie that I enjoyed watching and would recommend.
My Grade: B
Who's in it? The movie stars Sean Patrick Flanery, Victoria Pratt, George Cheung, Drew Waters and Nate Rubin.
Review: When I first came across this movie on VUDU, I couldn't help but think it was nothing more than a bad ripoff of the film Tremors. But, my wife and I were having a hard time finding something that looked better and, wanting to watch a movie (any movie) before it got too late, we ended up picking this one anyway. As it turns out, it was actually better than I was expecting.
Yes, as I suspected, the movie really does seem an awful lot like Tremors. In fact, the Mongolian Death Worms even look a lot like the worms in that film. But, the movie still manages to be different enough to feel at least somewhat unique.
I think the thing I found I liked best about this film was the way the worms seemed to have a lot more mobility than you would expect them to have. This created a little more suspense in the film because they could attack from underground or, because they could also climb, could snatch you from up above. And, while they were a bit too easy to kill (most dropped from one gunshot wound), the fact there was an army of them made up for that.
The movie did have some flaws. For one, I'm still a little confused how the worms were causing an entire village to suffer from a disease or why they apparently had a radioactive quality to them that allowed them to be detected with an EMF detector. It feels like there was supposed to have been some sort of explanation that never made it to the final production. Either that, or it was so brief, I missed it.
I also found I wasn't a huge fan of the tie-in with Genghis Khan's tomb. It just seemed to be a bit forced, in my opinion, especially since the worms were released by the plant's efforts to get oil and not necessarily because the tomb happened to be discovered too. It's a good example of writers trying to do too much and include more stories than a film really needs.
Final Opinion: Tremors is definitely the better worm movie. Heck, even some of the sequels were better than this film. But, it was still an OK movie that I enjoyed watching and would recommend.
My Grade: B
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