Tri 2

A Movie Review by Robert Long II ©2016

Starring Matthew Crawley, Steve Diasparra, Richard Lounello, Ken Van Sant, Erin Waterhouse

Music by Jon Greathouse & Greg Stanina

Special Effects by Brett Piper

Directed by Brett Piper

A Polonia Brothers Production

Released by Alpha Video

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Story Synopsis: Captain Glenn Edwards’s plane crashes over the mysterious Amarok Crater. When the government covers up his disappearance, Glenn’s fiancée, Samantha, assembles a ragtag team of misfits to find out what really happened. They are horrified to discover bizarre creatures created by the rays of a radioactive meteor. But not even these monstrosities can prepare them for Triclops, a 50-ft tall, three-eyed behemoth who rules this lost world with an iron fist. Samantha believes that the colossal beast is really her missing lover, mutated beyond human comprehension. Her affection may be tragically misplaced, however, when the monster picks the beautiful girl for his next dinner…

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This team that goes on the rescue mission is broadly defined but acted incredibly well. Matthew Crawley plays Tom Edwards, the brother of Glenn Edwards. Boy this guy is a real piece of work. Whiney, a liar, a trouble maker – yeesh! Samatha (Erin Waterhouse) is a driven fiancée that does well (though she has a scene where I wished they had dropped her from the plane). Rounding out the group are Carlton (Ken Van Sant) and Riley (Richard Lounello) play an air pilot  and loan shark muscle respectively – hired to take the other two to the Amarok Crater.

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This movie is very much a throwback to the 1950s monster movies and is a hoot. Besides the great acting, the highlight – the stand out – are the special effects done by Brett Piper. This guy does an INCREDIBLE job with the film. Just… wow. Brett is an old school type of guy that uses stop motion models for the monsters and scale models for vehicles, terrain and buildings. While he does not use 3D animation, he has become very adept at digitally layering the live action with the miniatures.

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(My heartfelt thanks for the exclusive cool model picture provided by Brett Piper above) Here is an example of how well the effects are pulled off. The production team had use of the small plane that appears in the movie. However – it NEVER leaves the airport location. Because of this, Piper mattes in – painstakingly – all the sky and terrain for all of the scenes where the plane is not at the airport. This is unbelievable! And I have to say that 95% of the time it is flawless. Kudos to Piper!

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And that is just the tip of the iceberg. In this movie there are a plethora of scenes with huge, creepy monsters attacking the group, lava flows, treacherous canyons, an iron gated prison, spooky caverns, a radiated man, and of course – the Triclops himself (played by and actor rather than stop motion). Piper is da pimp, da man of these sort of movies and I salute him for it.

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Bonus Features include: Commentary Track with Director Brett Piper, Cast & Crew, Outtakes and Bloopers. Overall I am a huge fan of commentary tracks and this one doesn’t disappoint. Brett Piper is joined by Anthony Polonia as well as a couple of the actors for a fun-filled chat.

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Final Rating: I’ll give this a 7.5 out of 10 monsters. This is fairly family friendly (there is some mild gore involving a couple of the characters) so maybe it might be too scary for younger children. I kind of still holding out hope that Piper and Polonia Entertainment go back to their harder, R-rated movies in the future. I do miss the nudity and gore of SPLATTER BEACH, etc.

You can pick up this fun DVD HERE.

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