Review of Hydra (2009) by Beaux C — 09 Jan 2010

EVIL EVIS director Andrew Prendergast and BLIND INJUSTICE scenarist Peter Sullivan appropriate the venerable manhunt plot from THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME and liven things up by placing a Hydra, the multi-head snake from Greek mythology that Hercules tangled with, for their contemporary horror epic HYDRA.

Three men and one woman wind up being hunted on an uninhabited island by four wealthy safari hunters who have anted up $10-million a piece for the thrill of the kill. Each of the hunters has suffered the heartbreak of losing a loved one to a criminal so this amounts to a form of payback.

Vincent Camden (Alex McArthur of the DESPERADO made-for-TV westers) calls it a higher form of justice. When so the Aegeas freighter captain, Mr. Sweet (Michael Shamus Wiles of FIGHT CLUB) and his second-in-command, Mr.

Winters (Dwayne Adway of SOUL PLANE) inform Camden that the uninhabited island scheduled the manhunt on has vanished, they set a course for another island that they find on an old map. The trouble is that this island with its numerous volcanic eruptions is the home of the mythical snake the Hydra.

Previously, three months before, the snake killed three men on an archeological expedition, but a woman managed to escape. Unfortunately for her, the ship that brought them to the island sank. The Hydra is a gigantic snake with three heads, but every time that any of the heads is destroyed, two more heads grow back to replace it.

Camden kidnapped three killers and Mr. Sweet added a fourth, Tim Nolan (George Stults of SUPER CAPERS), who happens to be a former Special Forces soldier. The special effects are marginal and the characters sometimes behave in an idiotic manner.

For example, Nolan, cuts off all but one head and it grows back and searches for him.