(NOTE: The following review was written by my b-movie partner in crime - and fellow Debbie Rochon maniac - Monica Puller. It raises the bar for quality here on GONZORIFFIC, but does contain a few spoilers. Enjoy.)
BOG CREATURES (A.K.A. THE BOG PEOPLE)
PLOT-A group of college students are sent to
discover the remains of the "Legendary Bog People".
Upon arrival to the medieval lands in question, they
embark on a voyage full of premature crushes, deceit,
reanimated bog creatures, evil magic, and the sounds
of crickets and a lot of hair tucking.
VIOLENCE-In the beginning of the movie there is
assault and insinuated rape of the women by the
Berserker cult. Also in the beginning is a medieval
brawl full of Vikings using swords and axes to impeach
terror among the helpless. Then a little sacrificial
knifing followed by some more stabbing and throat
slashing. Also a little bit of sulfur dioxide burning.
Got to have that SO2. I'd say all in all it's
conservatively gory. Not much in the flying bloody
organ department.
SEX/NUDITY-No sex in this movie! There's a little
boobie in the beginning as the women are being
pillaged, and their clothes conveniently ripped off.
But somehow they did find a way to give Debbie Rochon
a semi-topless scene where another girl (Lei Thompson)
gets to give her arms a nice sponge bath. Leave it to
the self-centered frat boy character (Jesse Steccato),
to watch enticingly from the outside window.
WHY I WATCHED IT-As if this isn't obvious already,
knowing Debbie Rochon is in a movie immediately makes
it worth watching. Even though her character in this
movie is not introduced until the middle, it's still
worth the wait because once again she gives sincere
affection towards each movement it takes to portray
this menacing character.
THE DOPE-This was the first movie I have seen that was directed
by J.Christian Ingvordsen. In my opinion the movie is
well paced and the dialogue isn't always forced
between the characters, which to me is a good thing.
Nice special effects for the walking dead bog people,
especially considering they have been dead for over
1200 years. Also there were a few gory well-hung dead
bodies. Good character development, you learn enough
about each person to decide whether you want them to
live thru the night or not. Aside from Debbie, I
haven't seen any of the actors before. According to
the behind the scenes commentary this was for many of
them, their first time acting. For the most part you
would never know, I think Leia Thompson who plays
Diana, did a wonderful job. She gave her lines with
sincere motive and I was definitely glad to see her
enthusiasm. The only thing I missed was when the
sister character (Laura Theodos) witnesses the suicide
of a bog girl, she just stares at her with such an
unaffectionate glare I found myself sympathizing with
the tormented 1200 year old bog girl. But I guess that
was the point. I would also like to mention the very
affectionate relationship between the Dr. (Jeffrey
Howard) and Kelly (Laura Theodus) who are supposed to
be brother and sister but come across as more of the
boyfriend and girlfriend type. Overall I think the
movie was good and it became excellent as soon as
Debbie entered the frame. Towards the end there is a
fight screen between Debbie's character (Tara) and
Leia Thompson where I found the overwhelming desire to
scream, "GET 'ER DEBBIE! GET 'ER!" at the TV. I guess
I was hoping if I scream loud enough her character
wouldn't die.
MEMORABLE SCENES-As if you didn't see this coming for me the foremost
memorable scene in the movie involves Debbie Rochon.
It begins at the part where the cast discovers that
Debbie's character is the culprit for re animating the
bog people. Since the introduction to her character we
were to believe that she was a scared and shaken
victim of the bog people and the cult that surrounds
their evil. But in this scene she is confronted by
Michael Mosley's character and he walks up to her in
anger shouting " What did you do?!" She then
immediately switches her persona from scared weak girl
to the wide-eyed psycho we all know and love and slits
his throat. Meanwhile Leila's character screams of
fright and seems to have trouble with the fact that
she was just fooled and attempts to pry Debbie for the
reason, then comes my favorite line in the movie.
Debbie looks at her with such a piercing stare and
says, " What's the matter? I'm not all curled up in a
ball weeping and clutching myself?" Absolutely
amazing, not to mention in the end of the movie you
get so see Debbie channeling evil spirits with blood
on her face, and that definitely qualifies as some
memorable shit.
DVD NOTES-"Making of" featurette is around 30 minutes long,
mostly director and technical details. There is not a
whole lot concerning the cast, but there are small
snippets of scenes every now and then.
(March 2003)