Grimerlana Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

MusicChat It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

TheLittleSongbird Do you want me to start with the good news or the bad news? Well, the good news is that Hydra is not the worst SyFy's done, and it's not quite bad enough to be down there as one of their worst. The scenery is atmospheric, and the photography and editing are better than the choppy standard I have come to expect. Also the hydra itself actually looks good, not amazing, but compared to the cheap-looking and stilted-moving effects before and since this movie it is a considerable improvement. The bad news is that Hydra is still not a good movie, I have seen worse by all means but it was still lame. The main problem here was the story, a good idea on paper and is better paced than most SyFy movies but on film it was predictable and could have been developed much more than it was. The characters are the same, they are not as annoying as other SyFy efforts but still clichéd and you don't learn much about them. The hydra was not bad in look, but like the rest of the characters, you don't really feel threatened partly because the killings and gore lacked tension and had a you've-seen-it-all-before vibe and also that Hydra makes little to no attempt to expand on the hydra's origins and the like. The script is cheesy and doesn't feel like it's flowing naturally, and while they admittedly don't have much to work with the actors do nothing in their body language or their delivery to elevate the characters and script. For want of a better word, it all felt bland. All in all, a lame movie but I've seen worse. 3/10 Bethany Cox

Jan Strydom HYDRA begins with four rich hunters that have paid a large sum of money to hunt people on an uncharted island, but unknown to everyone there is something on the island that has a taste for human flesh, a creature of myth know as the hydra.Although I reckon this is not part of SCI-FI's man eater series, if it is its certainly one of the best ones I've seen, the film is actually really good when I look at the last few SCI-FI channel originals I've seen, because you get YETI which was a quickly slammed together mess, there was VIPERS that was a complete rush job and you had GRIZZLY RAGE that was neither of the aforementioned but it was crap anyway.This film was the exception to other SCI-FI monster yawns, it had better CGI effects, it had a good story to it, even though there was minimal character development and no real back story as to where the HYDRA came from or how it ended up on the island, the dialog was actually pretty sharp and not as ridiculous as in other SCI-FI channel films.My only complaint I have is the score, despite that it sounds similar to the score of another SCI-FI original called KOMODO VS. COBRA, its very loud and sometimes it almost muffles the dialog, you can also hear the sound of really noisy trumpets that tend to make you cringe, just to give an idea of how loud the score is.Otherwise its a better than average SCI-FI original creature feature.

JoeB131 What is it with the Skiffy Channel and giant snake like things? The plot- We open with an expedition to a Greek Island where the male participants are all gruesomely eaten by the cheap CGI Hyrda. The lone female participant survives to watch the ship that brought her there sink in an equally cheap CGI sequence.Okay, after the Opening Credits, we get to the meat of the story. Four rich guys have paid 10 million each to hunt down four convicted felons. Except three of them are actually NICE felons. One is an ex-Green Beret who organizes them into fighting back. Except a little problem. The Hydra is on the Island, too.The encounter the surviving scientist girl, who looks pretty good considering she hasn't had a bath or change of clothes in two months. She tells them she'll help them escape if they find the Sword of Hercules (and any good student of Greek Mythology knows it's Heracles, but never mind.) We get lots of shots of the Hydra eating heavily armed goons.Another observation. Two female characters are killed in the course of the movie. Is there some Hollywood rule that women have to be killed less graphically then men? All the guys are literally torn to pieces with lots of blood and gore. (Okay, bad CGI blood and gore, but never mind.) The chicks are killed out of frame. Not that I want to see that kind of thing, really, but why the double standard? Okay, this is better than MOST Skiffy channel snakes eat lots of people movies, but that isn't saying much. It really doesn't take any chances, the people you expect to get killed are and the ones you expect to survive (the ones where the script has built sympathy for) do.Come on, Skiffy, come up with some original ideas!

slayrrr666 "Hydra" is an incredibly fun and exciting Sci-Fi Channel original creature feature.**SPOILERS**Traveling through the ocean, Vincent Camden, (Alex McArthur) takes his friends Clarence Elkins, (William Gregory Lee) Alex Williams, (Paul Rae) and Sean Trotta, (Roark Critchlow) on a cruise to a deserted island. Eventually finding a small island, they bring out captives Tim Nolan, (George Stults) Gwen Russo, (Dawn Olivieri) Ronnie Kaplan, (Texas Battle) and Bob Crick, (James Wlcek) who have all been involved in inflicting personal tragedies with the gang in the past and are now using the island as a place to hunt them down as revenge for those crimes. While running from the hunters, they manage to stumble upon Dr. Valerie Cammon, (Polly Shannon) the lone survivor of an archaeological expedition surveying the island who claims a huge, multi-headed snake known as a Hydra is stalking the island and killing them one-by-one. Unsure of how to defeat the creature, they try to find a way to kill it before being taken out by the hunting party after them as well.The Good News: This was a pleasantly surprising and quite enjoyable creature feature. One of the best features is that the creature's look here is absolutely great. This is an imposing force, as it's a multi-headed snake that has huge, ferocious-looking jaws that are lined with gigantic teeth in each head, which makes it deadly enough on it's own before the other factors are considered. With the head-chopping bringing in more good stuff, as it allows the creature to spawn more heads with each swiped one, there's a never-ending amount of heads that can come, each one with those features coming along, and along with it's size there's a lot to like about the creature. It also has one of the more unique stories for these kinds of films, with the captured people being used for a hunting party by those who have been burned by them in the past, and now have a chance at retribution being quite a novel idea and offering up plenty of good stuff. The first is that it's unique and hasn't been done before, as the motives are well-reasoned and logical, only just in that it's the villains which are given that opportunity to do this, which is new and not really done that often which makes it that way from the start, but that also allows for some fun to be had later on at the island during the actual hunting. From some nifty traps being set-up to a lot of action scenes coming from them being chased, this here is a fun start to the film and allows for a lot of fun to be had. The rest of the action scenes, which are mostly encounters with the creature, are a lot of fun. The first encounters, where the lone crew-members stumble upon it are a lot of fun, and the hunter's attacks are just as good. The ambush in the cave is also well-done here, offering enough fun to be concealed in a small, enclosed location that it's held in and comes off rather well. The finale, held on the ship, is just as good with the creature rampaging through the different corridors and using the surroundings well, making for a good time. Even the official conclusion to this one works well and it's a rather fun time overall. The last big plus is the film's blood and gore, which is quite nice. It's quite gory, as there's a multitude of bodies being bitten open with vicious abandon and letting the blood splatter everywhere, a couple limbs are torn off, bites to the chest, face and the head, being ripped in half at the waist, a wooden spear impaled through the leg and another is swallowed whole, among other kills. These here make this one quite bloody, and are overall the film's good points.The Bad News: There wasn't a whole lot of flaws to this one. One of the film's only flaws is that the Hydra's origins aren't given at all. The creature is a complete mystery as to where it came from or even what it is, and nothing at all is explained about it. There's nothing about how it can regenerate it's heads or even why the sword is needed to kill it and how it works against the creature. All that's said about it comes from myths and that they worked then, but even that is just a couple of lines here and there about it and not much else, which is quite disappointing and not really all that useful. The only other big flaw here is the usual Sci-Fi Channel original standard, the atrocious and utterly unconvincing CGI used for the creature. Not only does the size change for the creature based on the shot required, but the pixilated nature of skin is given away quite constantly. It's not in the slightest bit good looking, makes the film look much cheaper than it should be and not all that much good stuff comes from it. That it's also used for the blood and gore does that no favors. These are what's wrong with the film.The Final Verdict: An incredibly enjoyable and entertaining Sci-Fi Channel original, this one definitely manages to feature enough good stuff to be worthwhile. Recommended for those who have an appreciation of these films or find it interesting, though those who aren't big on the these films should heed caution.Rated R: Graphic Violence and some Language