"Cerberus" is a rather routine Sci-Fi Channel original creature feature.
**SPOILERS**
As Dr. Samantha Gaines, (Emmanuelle Vaugier) begins preparing a special exhibit for Attila the Hun, her brother Zach, (Brent Florence) runs afoul of gang leader Kul Jae Subg, (Garret T. Sato) who has become obsessed with finding the fabled sword in possession of Attila. Teaming up with Jake Addams, (Sebastian Spence) a mercenary, to track down the sword. When both teams arrive to take the sword, the three-headed dog Cerberus is unleashed and begins to hunt down everything in it's path. Using her historical knowledge, Samantha and Jake struggle to save the local village from the monster's rampage.
The Good News: As bad as it seemed, there's still some great moments in here. First of all, the concept for the creature this time is pretty neat. Having a mythical creature from Greece , Cerberus, strikes as a very fearsome opponent. With three vicious, growling dog heads and an expanding snake for a tail combine into a very memorable creation, even if it doesn't strike the necessary fear buttons. The use of mythology used here is actually pleasant, allowing for some intelligence rather than the traditional toxic chemicals or experiments that create the majority of creature features. There's an extremely huge body count here, allowing for tons of deaths. Several are eviscerated, one has both legs bitten off, several limbs are bitten off, a head is bitten off in the best shock in the film, and there's also an assortment of gunshots and sword wounds as well. There's plenty of deaths involved. There's also the odd impressive sequence, such as the three heads slowly appearing behind a group of unsuspecting victims through a roaring fire or the initial appearance of the creature that are pretty decent, and the final half hour of the film is non-stop action. It's not all that bad of a film.
The Bad News: As per usual with these types of films, the CGI effects completely ruin the credibility of the monster. It looks horribly cheap and never for once gives the impression that the creature is actually on-screen during it's scenes. It's a common problem for the Sci-Fi Channel's films, so this really shouldn't be a problem for it's fans, but it's disheartening to see them have so many films and yet not fixed this glaring problem. The amount of disregard for logic in here is staggering at times. The most obvious is the entire plot-line, which combines one of the most famous Asian conquerors in history with the Christian concept of Satan and a three-headed dog from Greek mythology is one of the most illogical and mind-numbing exercises around. It doesn't make sense that to cross that many different cultures and pull them off is pretty hard to swallow. Also hard is a scene where a Romanian peasant was able to recognize the significance of a satanic sword once owned by an Asian warlord that's now guarded by a monster from Greek mythology. This is just so hard to believe that it can't be passed up. The fact that the title monster has so little screen-time and actual kills among the huge body count is another big crime against it. He really needed to be around more to give more of a threat to the characters. This was a really disappointing effort.
The Final Verdict: A rather typical Sci-Fi Channel original, this one at least uses a historical backdrop for the creature rather than some bio-engineered creation or over-grown insect. It's decent fun at the very least, but they've done a lot better and a lot worse, so take it from where you stand with their films.
Rated R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language
**SPOILERS**
As Dr. Samantha Gaines, (Emmanuelle Vaugier) begins preparing a special exhibit for Attila the Hun, her brother Zach, (Brent Florence) runs afoul of gang leader Kul Jae Subg, (Garret T. Sato) who has become obsessed with finding the fabled sword in possession of Attila. Teaming up with Jake Addams, (Sebastian Spence) a mercenary, to track down the sword. When both teams arrive to take the sword, the three-headed dog Cerberus is unleashed and begins to hunt down everything in it's path. Using her historical knowledge, Samantha and Jake struggle to save the local village from the monster's rampage.
The Good News: As bad as it seemed, there's still some great moments in here. First of all, the concept for the creature this time is pretty neat. Having a mythical creature from Greece , Cerberus, strikes as a very fearsome opponent. With three vicious, growling dog heads and an expanding snake for a tail combine into a very memorable creation, even if it doesn't strike the necessary fear buttons. The use of mythology used here is actually pleasant, allowing for some intelligence rather than the traditional toxic chemicals or experiments that create the majority of creature features. There's an extremely huge body count here, allowing for tons of deaths. Several are eviscerated, one has both legs bitten off, several limbs are bitten off, a head is bitten off in the best shock in the film, and there's also an assortment of gunshots and sword wounds as well. There's plenty of deaths involved. There's also the odd impressive sequence, such as the three heads slowly appearing behind a group of unsuspecting victims through a roaring fire or the initial appearance of the creature that are pretty decent, and the final half hour of the film is non-stop action. It's not all that bad of a film.
The Bad News: As per usual with these types of films, the CGI effects completely ruin the credibility of the monster. It looks horribly cheap and never for once gives the impression that the creature is actually on-screen during it's scenes. It's a common problem for the Sci-Fi Channel's films, so this really shouldn't be a problem for it's fans, but it's disheartening to see them have so many films and yet not fixed this glaring problem. The amount of disregard for logic in here is staggering at times. The most obvious is the entire plot-line, which combines one of the most famous Asian conquerors in history with the Christian concept of Satan and a three-headed dog from Greek mythology is one of the most illogical and mind-numbing exercises around. It doesn't make sense that to cross that many different cultures and pull them off is pretty hard to swallow. Also hard is a scene where a Romanian peasant was able to recognize the significance of a satanic sword once owned by an Asian warlord that's now guarded by a monster from Greek mythology. This is just so hard to believe that it can't be passed up. The fact that the title monster has so little screen-time and actual kills among the huge body count is another big crime against it. He really needed to be around more to give more of a threat to the characters. This was a really disappointing effort.
The Final Verdict: A rather typical Sci-Fi Channel original, this one at least uses a historical backdrop for the creature rather than some bio-engineered creation or over-grown insect. It's decent fun at the very least, but they've done a lot better and a lot worse, so take it from where you stand with their films.
Rated R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language