(NOTE: The following review was written by my b-movie partner in crime - and fellow Debbie Rochon maniac - Monica Puller. It raises the bar for quality here on GONZORIFFIC, but does contain a few spoilers. Enjoy.)


BOG CREATURES (A.K.A. THE BOG PEOPLE)
PLOT-A group of college students are sent to discover the remains of the "Legendary Bog People". Upon arrival to the medieval lands in question, they embark on a voyage full of premature crushes, deceit, reanimated bog creatures, evil magic, and the sounds of crickets and a lot of hair tucking.
VIOLENCE-In the beginning of the movie there is assault and insinuated rape of the women by the Berserker cult. Also in the beginning is a medieval brawl full of Vikings using swords and axes to impeach terror among the helpless. Then a little sacrificial knifing followed by some more stabbing and throat slashing. Also a little bit of sulfur dioxide burning. Got to have that SO2. I'd say all in all it's conservatively gory. Not much in the flying bloody organ department.
SEX/NUDITY-No sex in this movie! There's a little boobie in the beginning as the women are being pillaged, and their clothes conveniently ripped off. But somehow they did find a way to give Debbie Rochon a semi-topless scene where another girl (Lei Thompson) gets to give her arms a nice sponge bath. Leave it to the self-centered frat boy character (Jesse Steccato), to watch enticingly from the outside window.
WHY I WATCHED IT-As if this isn't obvious already, knowing Debbie Rochon is in a movie immediately makes it worth watching. Even though her character in this movie is not introduced until the middle, it's still worth the wait because once again she gives sincere affection towards each movement it takes to portray this menacing character.
THE DOPE-This was the first movie I have seen that was directed by J.Christian Ingvordsen. In my opinion the movie is well paced and the dialogue isn't always forced between the characters, which to me is a good thing. Nice special effects for the walking dead bog people, especially considering they have been dead for over 1200 years. Also there were a few gory well-hung dead bodies. Good character development, you learn enough about each person to decide whether you want them to live thru the night or not. Aside from Debbie, I haven't seen any of the actors before. According to the behind the scenes commentary this was for many of them, their first time acting. For the most part you would never know, I think Leia Thompson who plays Diana, did a wonderful job. She gave her lines with sincere motive and I was definitely glad to see her enthusiasm. The only thing I missed was when the sister character (Laura Theodos) witnesses the suicide of a bog girl, she just stares at her with such an unaffectionate glare I found myself sympathizing with the tormented 1200 year old bog girl. But I guess that was the point. I would also like to mention the very affectionate relationship between the Dr. (Jeffrey Howard) and Kelly (Laura Theodus) who are supposed to be brother and sister but come across as more of the boyfriend and girlfriend type. Overall I think the movie was good and it became excellent as soon as Debbie entered the frame. Towards the end there is a fight screen between Debbie's character (Tara) and Leia Thompson where I found the overwhelming desire to scream, "GET 'ER DEBBIE! GET 'ER!" at the TV. I guess I was hoping if I scream loud enough her character wouldn't die.
MEMORABLE SCENES-As if you didn't see this coming for me the foremost memorable scene in the movie involves Debbie Rochon. It begins at the part where the cast discovers that Debbie's character is the culprit for re animating the bog people. Since the introduction to her character we were to believe that she was a scared and shaken victim of the bog people and the cult that surrounds their evil. But in this scene she is confronted by Michael Mosley's character and he walks up to her in anger shouting " What did you do?!" She then immediately switches her persona from scared weak girl to the wide-eyed psycho we all know and love and slits his throat. Meanwhile Leila's character screams of fright and seems to have trouble with the fact that she was just fooled and attempts to pry Debbie for the reason, then comes my favorite line in the movie. Debbie looks at her with such a piercing stare and says, " What's the matter? I'm not all curled up in a ball weeping and clutching myself?" Absolutely amazing, not to mention in the end of the movie you get so see Debbie channeling evil spirits with blood on her face, and that definitely qualifies as some memorable shit.
DVD NOTES-"Making of" featurette is around 30 minutes long, mostly director and technical details. There is not a whole lot concerning the cast, but there are small snippets of scenes every now and then.

(March 2003) 1