Why they changed the eerie sounding ‘Bayou’ to the god awful ‘Frankenfish’ will forever remain a mystery, but there is no denying that this was the best creature feature I’ve seen since ‘Tremors’.
When a body is discovered out in the Bayou in Louisiana, a top medical examiner and a biologist are sent to investigate what could have killed the unfortunate victim. It soon transpires that mutated Chinese snakeheads are responsible, and the investigators find themselves trapped in a small community of houseboats.
The film’s title and cover art are enough to put you off at fifty paces, but if you give this a chance, you’ll have lots of fun with it.
The fact that the film was Directed by Mark Dippe who has previously handled effects on ‘The Abyss’, ‘Jurassic Park’ and ‘T2’ and also helmed ‘Spawn’, you can be guaranteed that the effects will be competently handled, and they are, but the film also has a good cast including Muse ‘The Fisherman’ Watson, and plenty of blood and cool deaths to keep you hooked.
The film at times has a slight creepy vibe going for it, and the idea of setting it amongst a community of houseboats scores major points for originality.
As is to be expected in a film of this sub-genre, there are moments of high cheese and crude remarks, with nudity and lesbian tendencies aplenty.
OVERALL SUMMARY
Whilst this looks like a duff B-movie on first approach, it is actually a very competently made monsterfest that is sure to keep you entertained from start to finish.