Someone should ban the use of CGI in movies. What was once an innovative, realistic, and excellent tool for filmmakers has turned countless movies into schlock. Suffering the worst are those films that go direct to video or to cable. The Sci-Fi Channel's latest, "Gargoyle: Wings of Darkness," would have failed miserably with or without traditional effects, but here they just make an awful movie into an unwatchable one.
Romania, 1592: A town is ravaged by an evil entity. After a struggle, the creature is defeated and sealed in a tomb. Romania, 2004: A series of earthquakes breaks open the now ancient tomb, releasing the gargoyle onto a new generation of civilians. Investigating the crime are two CIA agents working out of the US Embassy, but they begin looking in all the wrong places while the demon begins an overdue feast.
Right in the middle of "Gargoyles," the CIA begins an investigation into a sort of vampiric cult. There is a scene here that could very well be stock footage from a cheap pornographic movie, complete with strippers and a buff male named Lex Slayer. It's at this point you know this movie has no hope of digging itself out.
The director here is Jim Wynorski. He's the one responsible for exposing the world to another Sci-Fi Channel original, "Curse of the Komodo," and a movie composed almost entirely of stock footage, "Raptor." He uses his talents here like he did in the latter two films. Actually, maybe "talents" isn't quite the word I'm looking for.
To its credit, the script here does manage to try something different. There's an attempt to add some religious and mythical qualities to the lead monster, but in the end, it only ends up creating more plot holes. There is no explanation as to how the creature survived 400 years in a hole, how it managed to lay over a hundred eggs (or when it did so), or why bullets effect it after a bishop clearly states the only thing that can phase it is "a priest pure of heart" using a special crossbow.
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Article comments
1 - Tony L
I agree, the Sci-Fi channel has been a major disappointment to me. I would rather watch the cheesy horror movies from the 50's and 60's than watch this CGI crap that is so prevalent today!
2 - Justene
This review was chosen for Advance.net. You will be able to find it on newspaper sites including Cleveland.com.