Lockjaw: Rise of the Kulev Serpent

2008
2.5| 0h30m| en
Details

In the countryside, the boy Alan and his friend Becky steal a creepy wooden box with a powerful voodoo stick inside from his voodooistic neighbor. When the boy draws with the stick, his drunken father is attacked by a snake and vanishes. Years later, Alan and Becky are married to each other; while planting some flowers to celebrate the death of Alan's mother, Becky finds the box buried in the garden and she keeps the stick in her pocket. Meanwhile, five friends are traveling in a monster truck, drinking beer. The driver accidentally runs over Becky, but believes he had hit an animal. When Alan witnesses the hit-and-run and sees his wife dead, he uses the stick seeking revenge against the youngsters.

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Redwarmin This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place
Micransix Crappy film
Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
Delight Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.
Wuchak I guess I'm the only person here who enjoyed "Carnivorous," also titled "Lockjaw: The Curse of the Kulev Serpent." Not that it was great or even really good but it delivered pretty well as an entertaining Grade-B creature-on-the-loose flick in the "Friday the 13th" mold (Jason was definitely an infernal creature btw or he at least became one as the series progressed).THE PLOT: A serpent-with-an-alligator-head is released in rural Louisianna via a Voodoo pen that's formed into a serpent/alligator with red glowing eyes. This is unique, but the main plot is the same as most creature features based on "Friday the 13th": A group of youths go out to the boonies to party while the creature takes 'em out one by one. The kids who have sex die, the ones who don't live. So, although the way the monster is released is original (and nigh incomprehensible), the main story is standard.I should also point out that rapper DMX appears as a black Rambo-type, but it's not a significant role until the 3rd act.You'll note that everyone else here only gives the film a very low rating so they all obviously think it's a total piece of excrement. However, despite this being a low-budget monster flick it delivered quite well in a handful of requisite areas: The film was shot in the cane fields of rural Louisianna; any time you get a modern flick of this ilk shot anywhere other than B.C. Canada it's a plus.Most here comment on how unlikable the youths are, but they act precisely as youths would act on vacation at a party cabin in the sticks. Most of us acted this way when we were that age, at parties anyway. Regardless, at least two or three of them aren't obnoxious in any way that I can detect.The heroine of the tale, Lauren fain who plays Sam, is good. She's not ultra-sexy or anything but she's likable with a uniquely pretty face.Victoria Vodar, who plays Ashley, is the sexpot in requisite skimpy attire. She has a dance sequence that's worth the price of admission. One reviewer referred to this sequence as "exceptionally poor;" all I can say is he has no eye for exceptionally gorgeous women or tantalizing dance sequences.The first half of the film highlights a married couple (Louis Herthum & Debra Arnott) who genuinely love each other and clearly show it. This is so rare today, particularly in these types of films, that when you observe it it's not only pleasant, it's actually shocking.The CGI creature isn't seen too often but it's serviceable, if not remarkable.WHAT DOESN'T WORK: As noted above, some aspects of the plot concerning the voodoo creature are nigh incomprehensible, but you'll get the gist of it. (What I was wondering is: What if the person with the occultic pen drew something other than a big serpent-creature killing the people? Would the curse still work or does s/he HAVE to draw a serpent-like creature? If so, how did the little boy at the beginning acquire this knowledge?).The film's not all that compelling; the storytelling could have been better.The absolute worst part of this picture is the hit-and-run scene where the kids hit a woman in their vehicle IN BROAD DAYLIGHT and NOT ONE OF THEM EVEN NOTICES! They dismiss it as possibly hitting an animal or something. Why sure! This sequence is so bad that there's no way I could possibly give the film anything above 5/10 Stars (for what it is) in good conscience.The film runs a short-but-sweet 76 minutes.BOTTOM LINE: With the exception of the lame hit-and-run sequence the film delivers pretty well as a fun low-budget creature-on-the-loose flick, nicely shot in the cane fields of Louisianna. Lauren Fain is a solid heroine with a uniquely attractive face and Victoria Vodar's awe-inducing scenes are worth the price of admission.GRADE: C+
Claudio Carvalho In the countryside, the boy Alan and his friend Becky steal a creepy wooden box with a powerful voodoo stick inside from his voodooistic neighbor. When the boy draws with the stick, his drunken father is attacked by a snake and vanishes. Years later, Alan (Louis Herthum) and Becky (Lisa Arnold) are married to each other; while planting some flowers to celebrate the death of Alan's mother, Becky finds the box buried in the garden and she keeps the stick in her pocket. Meanwhile, five shithead friends are traveling in the monster truck drinking beer. The driver accidentally runs over Becky, but believes he had hit an animal. When Alan witnesses the hit-and-run and sees his wife dead, he uses the stick seeking revenge against the youngsters. Later Alan regrets the use of the Kulev stick to bring Lockjaw to seek revenge and decides to help the teenagers to kill the serpent. The lame "Lockjaw: Rise of the Kulev Serpent" is a terrible movie, with a story that is a rip-off of the storyline of "Pumpkinhead" (a redneck that seeks revenge after the death of his wife (instead of son) by reckless teenagers from the big city) with a snake that recalls "Anaconda" with "Aligator" head. Most of the lines are laughable and near ridiculous and the CGI effects are very poor. My vote is three. Title (Brazil): "Magia Negra" ("Black Magic")
wshumake Lockjaw: Rise of the Kulev Serpent is also marketed under the title of Carnivorous. While there is no denying that this is a low-budget movie, low budget doesn't mean that the movie is not fun. It does have all of the traits of a Sci-fi channel movie, such as the monster appearing early on in the movie (a sci-fi channel requirement as I understand it). Still, I enjoyed it. While the writing and plot had some holes, none were any worse than what I witnessed when I watched the big-budget Angels & Demons. The acting, while not brilliant, was adequate. Nothing about it caused me to be removed from the story. The plot and writing were probably the weakest points. Still I would argue that the writing was no more predictable or formula based that what is seen every week on such hit TV shows as 24, House, or Prison Break. I think it is nice to be able to watch a fun light horror/sci-fi story without having to be heavily invested in the characters. A big budget movie would have played up the loss of the husbands wife and dwelt on his heart-ache and pain after her death. It was nice to not have to have such an emotional entanglement, and simply be able to set back and enjoy what was clearly meant to be a light fun movie. It reminds me of the type thing we used to watch at drive-in theatres. Never too much drama, just lots of light-hearted fun. I would recommend this to anyone who just wants to watch a fun movie.
Paul Andrews Lockjaw: Rise of the Kulev Serpent starts as a young boy named Alan (Brendan Aguillard) & his friend Becky (Abby Rao) steal the 'Kulev Stick', a powerful ancient Voodoo relic from a house nearby. Back home & Alan uses the stick which is actually a pencil to draw a giant Kulev Serent which comes to life & kills his abusive drunk father (Tony Senzamici). Jump forward a couple of decades later & Alan (Louis Herthum) & Becky (Lisa Arnold), now all grown up, are married. While collecting the post Becky is hit & killed by a huge 4x4 driven by five out of town teens who are on their way to a camp, incandescent with rage Aan uses the Kulev Stick once more to draw the Kulev Serpent who once more comes to life to wreck revenge on those who has wronged him. As the Kulev Serpent sets out to kill the teens only rocket launcher wielding local Voodoo guy Nick (executive producer DMX) can save them & stop the Serpent for good...According to the IMDb this had a working title of The Corn Patch even though character's mention that the setting is in fact a Cane field on several occasions, directed by Amir Valinia I was going to describe Lockjaw: Rise of the Kulev Serpent as the sort of 'Creature Feature' that even the Sci-Fi Channel would be embarrassed to show but then I realised that the Sci-Fi Channel will show anything without any embarrassment but I will say it's pretty much right down there with the worst 'Creature Features' the Sci-Fi Channel has screened. The script is a bit of a mess really, for a start I don't care what anyone says I do not believe that you could hit a woman with a car & not one of the five people inside notice. How did Alan know what to draw? At the start he seemingly stole this Kulev Stick which is in fact a pencil & drew the Kulev Serpent in intricate detail with his father in it's mouth which actually happens in reality but how did Alan know this would happen? A lucky guess or just bad plain dumb plotting? You decide. Then there's this 'camp' that the teens apparently drive to, it doesn't look anything like a camp at all, it's a farmhouse in the middle of a Cane field! Then there's the DMX character who is a bad-ass Voodoo dude with a rocket launcher, I can see an Oscar nomination coming his way... The pace isn't too bad & at least it's short lasting not much more than 80 minutes but as a whole the silly plot, the clichéd & often annoying character's, the lack of horror or gore, a poor climax (what it that lamp with forks stuck on the end all about that Sam carries about?) & a lack of originality means you can skip this one.At least the director keeps the camera still & steady as well as not using any annoying colour filters or bleaches so it looks alright if a little cheap. The CGI effects are quite poor by they are used sparingly & don't linger on screen for too long which does help. I think this is the only film I have ever seen where the first credit on screen is the 'directed by' one, even before the title of the film & the cast the 'directed by' credit comes up which is odd because it's almost always the last. It really doesn't make any sort of difference but it's so unusual I thought I would mention it. There's next to no gore, a brief impalement & a decapitation but nothing else. There's no nudity or scares either but then you probably guessed that already.According to the IMDb this had a budget of about $4,000,000 which I find impossible to believe, this is not a $4,000,000 film & if it is where did all the money go? It looks cheap, there are few effects, no big name actors & no set-pieces either. Apparently shot in Port Allen in Louisiana. Despite DMX getting top billing he barely features & only really appears at the end while Wes Brown is not the same as the current Manchester United & England international footballer Wes Brown.Lockjaw: Rise of the Kulev Serpent is a pretty rock bottom 'Creature Feature' with the usual poor CGI, an even sillier than usual plot, lack of proper blood, gore or action & a highly annoying teen cast who you pray will all get killed off by the twenty minute mark. This is just poor all round really & is right down there with the rubbish the Sci-Fi Channel usually put on.