The Flood

"The Flood" is a watered-down horror film, weighed down by a mundane story that will leave you yawning instead of screaming.

Rogue bloodthirsty alligators stalk prisoners and cops trapped in a police station as a flood rages outside, closing them off from the outside world. Their only hope is each other, but the uneasy alliance quickly dissolves when the gators start picking them off one by one.

That's a prime recipe for B-movie magic, but "The Flood," directed by Brandon Slagle, is an excruciatingly slow and astonishingly tedious film that fails to captivate on any level. I can endure stiff acting, shitty CGI, and a story that wanders off its path occasionally, but I can't tolerate a boring story.

A busload of prisoners is being transferred but must hole up in a small town jail as a hurricane bears down on them. The offenders have records ranging from drug trafficking to hate crimes to murder and a lone cop killer named Russell Cody (Casper Van Dien). The bus is followed by the approaching storm and a vehicle full of heavily armed criminals. There's someone on the bus they intend to free even if he doesn't know it yet.

Arriving at the police station, they are greeted by Sheriff Newman (Nicky Whelan) and her band of inept deputies. But as soon as the prisoners are in their cells, the gang outside unleashes hell upon the station taking control and stating their intentions to take Russell with them. Before they can make it out, the group is attacked by the alligators and must work together to stay alive, and it works just about as well as you would imagine.

Along the way, we learn that Russell isn't guilty of the crimes he's serving time for. He was a getaway driver for a heist and made away with the money when police and Rafe's (Louis Mandylor) group got into a shootout. He was the only one caught and thus charged with the crime.

In the end, only Russell and Sheriff Newman make it out alive, giving us an incredible hokey ending that is too predictable to believe.

I love low-budget B-movies and they’re a blast to watch. They're inventive, have passion, and usually have an electric buzz to them. This movie has none of that. To say I was disappointed in "The Flood" would be an understatement. With all the faults in this movie, it’s most unforgivable fault is being unbelievably dull.

There is zero tension at any moment during the film, and scenes just linger and go on seemingly forever. The alligators change size from scene to scene and sometimes within the same scene itself, and you never have that ticking clock sense of doom as you hear their bellows growing nearer.

Van Dien and Whelan give stiff performances while the supporting actors have moments where they shine, and I wish we saw more of them to be honest. There were many squandered opportunities to pit characters against each other, but it never materialized.

"The Flood" is a watered-down horror film, sinking into the depths with a mundane plot and lackluster execution, failing to capitalize on the potential for thrilling suspense and B-movie charm.