Animal

Though it opens with a tremendous amount of promise, Animal ultimately devolves into just another forgettable straight-to-video horror flick that predominantly features characters hiding and running within all-too-dark environs. The thin storyline follows several friends as they head out into the woods for an afternoon of harmless hiking, with problems inevitably cropping up as it becomes clear that a vicious creature is stalking the characters – with the movie eventually detailing the survivors’ attempts to keep said creature at bay while hiding out in a nearby cabin. Filmmaker Brett Simmons kicks Animal off with an engrossing first act that’s engaging enough to compensate for the pervasively familiar narrative, with, especially, the strong performances and John Carpenter-like opening credits sequence setting the stage for a potentially above-average creature feature. It’s only as the film progresses into its increasingly stagnant midsection that one’s interest begins to seriously flag, as Simmons offers up a second half that seems to transpire entirely within the claustrophobic confines of the aforementioned cabin – with the movie, for much of its third act, following the dwindling survivors as they bicker and hide and attempt to evade the creature. The sporadic presence of brutal kill sequences notwithstanding, Animal‘s lack of compelling elements in its final stretch renders its few positive attributes moot and confirms its place as a thoroughly disappointing horror effort.

** out of ****

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