Movie Review: THE RIG (2010)

I guess an oil rig is just as good as any place to set a horror film which is the location of The Rig (2010) which stars William Forsythe as Jim Fleming, the chief operator of an off shore oil rig caught in the middle of a tropical storm that accidentally awakens and disturbs an aquatic monster that craves human flesh.  Now it’s only a matter of time before the rig becomes overrun by the monster all the while Fleming must try to save his daughter Carey (Serah D’Laine) and the rest of his crew.

Like most other monster films of its kind The Rig has a very simple CGI creature (for the most part) that stays off screen for most of the running time of the film until it is overused too much in the third act when all hell breaks loose.  Being a low budget film (approximately $3 million) the CGI is unconvincing and renders the monster shamelessly inadequate but the film is entertaining in a low budget way and has some laughs (which is only natural in horror films where the CGI is unconvincing).

Some people like to knock these low budget CGI heavy films because of their unconvincing CGI and bare bones story and plot (and sometimes even bad acting) but there is a case to be made for these types of films which is that it gives horror fans a constant supply of entertaining films with some of the genre’s most prolific character actors in different types of roles.  Forsythe has played many of villains in his diverse career with very few chances to be the good guy but in the film he plays the leader of a group of hard working laborers and an over protective father.  These films also allow young actors and crew to hone their talents and technical skill so that when they get the opportunity to work on bigger films they will be prepared.  I see these low budget films as this generation’s version of the Roger Corman produced films of yesteryears where many got their  start before moving on to bigger and better films (some of the people who first got their start on Corman films include Jack Nicholson, Jonathan Demme, Joe Dante, and many, many more).

A low budget monster movie doesn’t have to be the latest King Kong (1933) or Gojira (1954) but if it can at least entertain and provide a decent story then I can sometimes overlook the bad CGI.  The Rig may not have the most convincing CGI but it is at times entertaining and at least has a lot of gore and a little nudity (always a good thing for low budget horror films).