MOVIE REVIEW: Ogre

I keep catching bits and pieces of this film and finally sat down to watch the whole thing when it aired on Showcase (the home of Kenny vs. Spenny and Trailer Park Boys!) tonight. I could tell from the beginning that it was a made-for-TV Syfy Channel movie - and made in Canada - but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I've had fun watching other Syfy films. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for this film.

Residents of a town make a deal with the devil in the 1800's to grant them immortality. The only catch is that they have to sacrifice one person per year to a hungry ogre. When two young adults stumble upon the community, the townspeople have a chance to save one of their own....

The plot is kind of like The Village meets Pissed Off Bloodthirsty Shrek. It is very convoluted and hard to follow. I don't understand what an ogre has to do with the devil. And the film didn't need the addition of a town magi and spells. Ogre had potential if it had simply been a film about an ogre eating people.

The CGI ogre is awful; it looks ridiculously fake. The ogre bears resemblance to Shrek in that it looks like it should be in an animated film. Oh, that and the fact it's wearing clothes. Can't leave his cave and stomp into town to eat people without getting gussied up in the finest loincloth. Here's a picture in case you don't believe it:

One aspect of Ogre that's good is the acting. It features one of my favourite scream queens, Katherine Isabelle (Ginger Snaps), John Schneider (who most people know as Bo Duke from The Dukes of Hazzard, but I know as the father of teen dramas - particularly Smallville and The Secret Life of the American Teenager) and Chelan Simmons (Final Destination 3).

I would skip this one, unless you want to see an ogre looking all fancy in his loincloth while killing people.

Rating: 2/5