Chupacabra: Dark Seas

Chupacabra Terror
DVD cover
Written by	Steve Jankowski John Shepphird
Directed by	John Shepphird
Starring	John Rhys-Davies Giancarlo Esposito Dylan Neal Chelan Simmons
Music by	Penka Kouneva
Country of origin	US
Original language(s)	English
Production
Producer(s)	Charles Arthur Berg Paul Colichman Steve Jankowski Stephen P. Jarchow Scott Putman Jeffrey Schenck
Cinematography	Neal Brown
Editor(s)	Lawrence A. Maddox
Running time	89 mins.
Distributor	Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Regent Worldwide Sales
Release
Original release	January 29, 2005

Chupacabra: Dark Seas (released on DVD as Chupacabra Terror) is a 2005 Syfy channel original film directed by John Shepphird and starring John Rhys-Davies, Giancarlo Esposito, Dylan Neal, and Chelan Simmons. It was filmed on location in the Turks and Caicos Islands.^[1]

Plot

Dr. Peña (Esposito), a cryptozoologist, manages to capture El Chupacabra on a remote Caribbean island and smuggles it aboard the cruise ship Regent Queen, commanded by Captain Randolph (Rhys-Davies) with the assistance of his young daughter, and ship fitness instructor, Jenny (Simmons). The Regent Queen has been experiencing a rash of burglaries, and Federal Marshal Lance Thompson (Neal) is brought on board to investigate.

Unfortunately, crew members sneak into the cargo hold on their break; their curiosity getting the better of them, they accidentally unlock the contained holding the creature. It kills them and escapes into the ship. When bodies start turning up, all passengers are ordered back to their cabins. However, an old woman is trying to catch her Shih Tzu; she follows it into the casino, where she finds, to her horror, El Chupacabra devouring her dog. Seeing the woman a better meal, the beast attacks and eats her.

U.S. Navy Seals are called in to help stop the creature, but their efforts are hindered by Dr. Peña, who believes the creature's life is more valuable than the lives of those aboard. The Navy Seals are killed off one by one by the beast and Dr. Peña resorts to using Jenny as live bait to recapture El Chupacabra. However, he is foiled when the beast outsmarts and fatally wounds him. Jenny is saved by Lance and they meet up with her father, who has set the engines to explode as all the other passengers have been evacuated. They flee on a lifeboat moments before the ship blows up and sinks the ship, taking the beast with it. As the group watches the ship sink, Captain Randolph tells Jenny and Lance that he has decided to retire and write his memoirs.

Cast

• John Rhys-Davies as Captain Randolph
• Dylan Neal as Lance Thompson
• Chelan Simmons as Jenny Randolph
• Giancarlo Esposito as Dr. Peña
• Paula Shaw as Millie Hartman
• David Millbern as Rick McGraw
• Luke Darnell as Ensign Peters
• Mark Viniello as El Chupacabra

Home media

The film was released on DVD by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on May 3, 2005.

Reception

Critical reception for the film has been mostly negative, with critics criticizing the film's monster design, and over-reliance on cheap thrills.

TV Guide panned the film, awarding it 1 out of four stars criticizing the film's reliance on cheap thrills and parodistic laughs stating, "[though] the gore may satisfy die-hard monster mashers, but the cheesy-looking creature isn’t fit to touch the gills of the Creature from the Black Lagoon".^[2]

References

External links

• Chupacabra: Dark Seas at the Internet Movie Database