Ogre

source: Ogre

I only watched OGRE on the Sci-Fi channel because JOHN SCHNEIDER was in it and I hadn't seen any of his work in a long, long time. Always thought he was an interesting actor. And he doesn't disappoint here. He's very good as the corrupt leader in a small town where each year a villager is sacrificed to keep the dreaded OGRE from killing them. To them, he is "that which must be fed." And feed he does, in a frenzy. But he's a CGI Shrek look-alike who is never too convincing. In addition, there are insufficient special effects and some bad acting by the younger members of the cast. KATHARINE ISABELLE has to be singled out as the most offensive. She's a shrieking, whining and moronic girl who gets annoying after three minutes of screen time. Bad acting from a few others almost makes the film unwatchable in spots. But through it all, JOHN SCHNEIDER takes his sinister role seriously and gives an eloquent performance that comes off as Shakespearean compared to some of the lesser players. A talented man, caught trapped in some bad material but doing his best to elevate it. The backstory of a village threatened by a vicious ogre is interesting and it does get off to a good start with some fine atmospheric photography. But it soon becomes apparent that this is just another low-budget Sci-Fi Channel film that needed better dialog for its below-par cast of young thespians.

aside from the stupid name the plot was average and full of clichés. but the absolute worst thing about this movie is by far the CGI. i truly was amazed when i saw it was released in 2008. i've seen better CGI in movies from the 60's. i only watched it hoping for another Legend of Earthsea but unfortunately SciFi really messed this up. you want a good ogre movie? go watch Shrek...that's a good ogre movie. the actors were kinda' bored. at times the acting reminded me of good * actors. and also the props were...let's say insulting. in the final "kill the ogre" scene the 1800's arrows are anything but straight and although they hit the ogre they somehow fail to be seen...so just a piece of warning: BEWARE this is a BAD movie!!!

A village that is supposedly myth does exist just never found until now. 4 college students go out to find the village of Prestonville only to release an OGRE who is served a human sacrifice once a year to leave the town in peace. What does become apparent is that time has stopped in the town and no-one has aged since the 1800's. There is an invisible barrier around the town and none of it's residents can leave without dieing. The towns leader uses black magic and a staff to select the sacrifice for the ogre and his daughter finds out that the selection is not coincidence but in actual fact fixed by her father. When the outsiders, (college students) stumble upon this town and find out was is happening, they escape and report their findings to a local sheriff who laughs in their faces. They steal a police car and drive back to the village where they convince the elders daughter to help them kill the ogre and prove once and for all, that the ogre can be killed and the people released from the pact that was signed many years ago. Once freed, the people disappear in a glowing light where they pass on to the afterlife and are free. Generally the movie is low to medium budget but does carry a reasonably good story line. The ogre is well presented and some computer graphics well detailed. The gore is quite moderate and the action average. If your into full on horror this movie would not interest you. However, if you enjoy a cheap budget horror with a ' hold your own ' story line, then the entertainment value will keep you watching to the end. Well worth watching at least once in order to give a fair report. I would watch this movie again for it's entertainment value but would not class it as a top notch movie. Made for TV indicates that this movie was not high enough budget or story to do the cinema runs. It does not appear to be released on DVD either.

The computer graphics for the ogre himself weren't bad, but the costumes were closer to 1600's than mid-1800's. The plot line was predictable and ridiculous, with many unexplained holes: why does opening the ogre's door allow him to freely attack the villagers? When two villagers are confronted in the woods, why do they stand and wait to be killed instead of running from the slow ogre (presumably in different directions)? Why does a shotgun blast fired one-handed with no visible recoil knock the ogre back several feet while three or four fired in quick succession barely phase him? Unlike Brigadoon, there's no suggestion that the village only appears infrequently -- in fact, there's a road leading to it -- so why is the local sheriff unaware of its existence? And why didn't he pursue his stolen police car? You can't convince me anyone watching didn't know that some idiot was going to extinguish a candle for no good reason and break a protective spell. Sorry, unless you enjoy gore for its own sake -- and there's not much of that, considering the presumed carnage -- this movie has no redeeming value.

Actually, not bad for a Sci-Fi channel movie. Essentially, it's 1857, and a small town in Pennsylvania is beset by a plague, and makes a Faustian bargain with the town's magi to cure it. They all get to live forever, but they have to sacrifice one of their number every year to a bad CGI ogre and can never leave the town, lest they disintegrate. They never get cable. Oddly, no one ever finds this town for 150 years, until four college kids find it. Two wander into town while two others release the Ogre early. Well, the Ogre goes on a rampage, and hilarity ensues. But this is a little better than most of the 100 similar movies that Skiffy buys from the Direct to DVD discard bin. The performances are okay, and it's better than the usual "dead teenager" horror movie. The weakest element is the ogre itself. It looks like it was made by some Warcraft Nerd on his computer.

Other than John Schneider starring as the village leader, there's not much to recommend OGRE. This TV movie looks like it was put together by the same people who worked on that incredibly bad Nazi Frankentein monster flick a few years ago. In fact, the monster here is virtually identical to that one. A group of teens stumbles across an 18th century village stuck in time. Once a year, a villager is offered up to the title character to keep it appeased. The teens accidentally let it loose and all hell breaks loose. The goofy plot is right out of M. Night's THE VILLAGE, which itself was pretty shabby. Katharine Isabelle of GINGER SNAPS fame plays one of the teens, and I wish the ogre had killed her first. She was that annoying. The CGI is atrocious as usual, which is par for the course with a SciFi Channel flick. The monster walks around with no sense of weight or mass, and most of its kills avoid combining the actors in the same shot with the creature, a sure sign of a very low budget. Sad.

This was an attempt at an M N Shayalaman type film and it just doesn't work for me. The acting was poor in most cases and the special effects were really not special. I've seen more convincing ogres given away with breakfast cereal! Someone commented that the fact you saw the Ogre almost straight away in the film, and continuously throughout was refreshing... well, I think the film would have been better if we hadn't seen the thing at all and kept some mystique around the creature. The story was as week as the rest of the film. Given a new script, mainly new cast, new director, new effects department, this film could have been decent... as it is, it's rubbish.

As a fan of monster movies and not opposed to a little gratuitous gore, I was fascinated by the title and the brief synopsis in my programme guide, so decided to watch this movie. I confess that I missed the beginning so did not see what happened to the two teenagers who let the ogre out of his lair. I presume they were eaten but I didn't witness this. I started watching from when the other two were in jail along with the "chosen one" for the ogre's next dinner. I particularly liked the acting of Katharine Isabelle who played Jessica, the female of the two teenagers. I thought she hammed up her lines a little but that she gave the plot a bit of realism and down to earth-edness that was missing from the whole surmise. The programme guide listed this movie under "horror." I would think that is a bit strong for the mild violence and terror generated by this film, most of which could easily be bettered by an average computer game aimed at teenagers. The ogre himself is a bit of a joke to put it mildly. Extremely juvenile computer graphics, comic-book roars, (why do all dinosaurs and monsters have exactly the same roars, I wonder?) and slow enough plodding that left me wondering how he caught anyone that wasn't tied to a stake as a sacrifice. Anyone who wasn't actually in a wheelchair could have outrun him, I would have thought. Then of course there is the ever-present disbelieving police. Where would a good monster movie (or even a bad one) be without a couple of coppers laughing their heads off at the idea that there's a monster in them thar woods? Despite all of this, and suspending disbelief whenever the star of the show appeared on screen to gouge and maim those unfortunate locals who stood still for the required ten minutes waiting for him to reach them, I found this film enjoyable, particularly due to Katharine's natural performance. Whoever did the CGI ought to be allowed early retirement, but otherwise it was an enjoyable romp...hardly horror though.

I was surprised they showed us the Ogre in the first 15 minutes, pleasantly. That was ballsy considering shrek looks about as real as this CGI discount special. That all said, I decided to suspend belief and judgment and just enjoy the movie. There is a bit of titillating gore to keep us gore people happy and some of the acting is decent. The ogre is in thew movie often and its not dark out...a refreshing change. None of this movie is bad but then again none of it is all that good. Besides the below par CGI (which was forgivable) I have to say the editing was the worst I have seen in some time. The characters were likable and the story fun. Worth while for B movie fans and those who like your Shrek "R" rated.