Behemoth (2020)

Movie Name/Year: Behemoth (2020)
Genre: Horror
Length: 88 minutes
Rating: Unrated
Production/Distribution: ColourBleed Entertainment, Level 33 Entertainment, Première TV Distribution
Director: Peter Sefchik
Writer: Peter Sefchik, Derrick Ligas
Actors: Josh Eisenberg, Paul Statman, Jennifer Chruchich, Richard Wagner, Whitney Nielsen, Vadym Krasnenko, Nicole Krasnenko, Angela Nicholas, Hamilton Matthews
 
Blurb from IMDb: A desperate father will risk anything, even his soul, to save his terminally ill daughter
 

Selina’s Point of View:
When reviewing a film like this, I feel it’s important to keep one fact in mind. Behemoth was advertised not on the strength of its plot or acting, but on its low budget – high quality CGI. That tells me that the creative team knows that this film is a vehicle for the graphics, and not much else.
 
That’s how it was served to me, so that’s how I’m going to look at it.
 
As predicted, the acting is insincere and the plot is underdeveloped. (Though I did really enjoy the ending.) I’m going to ignore those aspects, though.
 
The CGI was where there was some serious promise.
 
It wasn’t perfect. There were some scenes where people got thrown and it looked like someone tossed a Stretch Armstrong into the setting. There’s also a moment where a horde of demons appears on screen and it looked like something from a 90s video game.
 

That said, when it did succeed – it was impressive. There were some demonic visuals that caused me to whistle in appreciation. At one point, the audience got a look into hell and that setting was just about flawless. There were also moments where the real-world rippled into something else, and those moments were almost always done phenomenally.
 
For most of Behemoth, I found myself shocked at how much the creative team managed to accomplish in a $65,000, self-financed, indie film. There are B-movies that I love that don’t hold a candle to this flick graphically. In that way, it is impressive.
 
Instead of giving Behemoth a score, I’m going to simply call it a pass. As a movie, Behemoth is a failure. There’s no escaping that. It accomplished what it set out to do, though. We now know what kind of quality can be accomplished on a tight budget with enough talent. I believe, with a bit more money and better actors – this could have been magical.
 
Maybe the next one will be.
 

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – None
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – None
Metascore – None
Metacritic User Score – None
IMDB Score – 4.1/10
 
Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – Pass
 
Trust-the-Dice’s Parental Advisory Rating: R
 
Movie Trailer: