At a museum in a small town, a frozen mammoth is on display. One day, something that appears to be a meteor crashes into the museum. It turns out to be a small UFO, and the alien inside takes possession of the first thing it encounters — the mammoth. Now it’s up to Frank, a mammoth expert, and his team to stop the rampaging creature before the government wipes the town off the map. Frank has just ten hours.
This is a made-for-TV film produced by the Sci-Fi Channel — and like so many other TV movies made on a shoestring budget, it really shows.
The film is essentially a chaotic mix of genres. Comedy, science fiction, drama, and horror are all thrown together into a repulsive stew — with none of them working. The comedy isn’t funny, the alien subplot is just ridiculous, the “touching moments” feel more like stomach-turning clichés, and the horror is about as frightening as a wet sponge. The entire film feels like it’s in slow motion, all while bombarding the viewer with painfully unfunny jokes that don’t even come close to raising a smirk.
It also throws in a slew of movie references that are so clumsily inserted into the plot that it’s just embarrassing. And the mammoth? Brought to life with some of the worst CGI ever put on screen — it’s genuinely painful to watch. The effects honestly look like they were made on a PlayStation. No, that’s not an exaggeration.
Directed by Tim Cox, the film seems like it’s trying to be a cool teen sci-fi series — and fails miserably even at that. The cast includes some familiar faces from TV shows, like Tom Skerritt (the sheriff), Summer Glau (Firefly), and Leila Arcieri (Son of the Beach), among others. Some of the acting is passable, but others are downright awful.
It’s hard to think of a single reason why anyone should watch this film — unless you have a morbid fascination with so-called “creature features” and a tolerance for terrible humour. Otherwise, steer clear.
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