Product Details

• Actors: Texas Battle, George Stults, Polly Shannon
• Directors: Andrew Prendergast
• Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: Unknown (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: FIRST LOOK PICTURES
• DVD Release Date: June 16, 2009
• Run Time: 103 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001U4183I
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #78,914 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Hydra (Unrated)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Studio: First Look Home Entertain Release Date: 06/16/2009 Run time: 103 minutes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A lot better than expected, August 26, 2009

By 

Bakuryuu Tyranno (England) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hydra (Unrated) (DVD)

I originally heard of this movie in June 2008 and waited what seemed like forever to finally see it. It was not forever, but more like eleven months. Still, it had a lot of expectations to live up to and I also knew the majority of Sci-Fi Channel movies can be pretty disappointing.

So when it appeared on the UK listings, i watched it to decide if I should cancel my pre-order or not. Then i watched it again. Did i cancel my pre-order? No.

So why not? For one thing, the movie has slower, more deliberate pacing than a lot of its predecessors. The CGI is a bit better than the average Sci-Fi Channel movies too. It's not the peak of special effects quality in such movies, but, for example, in the opening scene the hydra bites a man's leg, and that shot looks more realistic than some of the biting shots in "Basilisk: the Serpent King" which actually had impressive CGI (for a low-budget movie).

In place of the usual Saturday morning cartoon human villain, we have... well, there's two human villains, neither of whom trust each other, and neither of whom have any leverage over the other leading to their scenes actually being interesting to watch. There's a couple of other minor villains (including the wife of one main villain), along with four hunters who do at least have more personality than the usual henchmen and are a bit more dangerous too.

They didn't completely do away with the redshirt henchmen found in your average Sci-Fi Channel movie, but if they had, the monster aspect of the movie wouldn't play a part until quite a while into the film.

The guy who plays Nolan does quite well; he's quite convincing as an ex-military type advising people on survival. I suspect the actor may have based his performance on that one ex=special forces guy who used to have a TV show dealing with such subjects.

There's some bad points of course; mostly what stands out is an extreem act of stupidity by one of the minor characters and, er... I guess without spoiling anything, all I can say is some aspects towards the end felt a bit rushed and contrived.

Another surprising aspect of competence was that not only did people (even "redshirt henchmen") have the sense to shoot a large carnivore in the head, but bullets actually work on this monster too! Granted, anyone familiar with the mythology could guess those two things together will only help this particular monster, but I can't really find fault with anything that means less incompetence in a Sci-Fi channel movie!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars dumb multi-headed fun . . ., August 30, 2010

By 

trebe - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Hydra (Unrated) (DVD)

In Greek mythology, the Hydra is a multi-headed snakelike beast, with poisonous breath. Somehow this creature winds up on an island in the middle of nowhere, in Hydra (2009), an extremely silly train wreck of a monster flick, that is mostly entertaining for the wrong reasons.

Entrepreneur Vincent Camden (Alex McArthur) and his wife (Jana Williams), are the sponsors of a unique venture that involves four wealthy men, who have experienced personal tragedies. Seeking a twisted outlet for their frustrations, each man has committed to pay ten million dollars, to participate in a death hunt, involving four criminals kidnapped to serve as prey. Camden, his clients, and the imprisoned victims are aboard a large ship, when the captain (Michael Shamus Wiles) locates a suitable island to stage the event.

Tim Nolan (George Stults) and Gwen Russell (Dawn Olivieri) are among the prisoners deposited on the island. Four hunters arrive later, and the hunt begins. There is however an unexpected participant. The Hydra has already feasted on an archeological expedition, leaving Dr. Valerie Cammon (Polly Shannon) running for her life. With fresh meat on the island it isn't long before the Hydra begins to feast.

The creature is entirely a CGI creation, and though obviously fake, looks decent enough. It specializes in surrounding its victims, chomping down on heads, and ripping bodies apart. While such gore is a always a fun thing, it does become a little repetitive. Guns don't work too well, as true to myth, destroying a head causes two more to grow back. The only weapon that is effective, is an ancient sword discovered hidden in a cave. Believing the threat has been defeated, the survivors return to the ship, but there is time for one last feeding frenzy.

Hydra is just idiotic fun, with a totally dumb story, and lots of bad acting. Michael Shamus Wiles his overacting meter set on high. The mysterious volcanic island setting is preposterous, the dialog ridiculous, and the pretentious cardboard characters mostly unlikeable. If you have a thing for cheesy multi-headed beasts, the film is frequently on Sy Fy's schedule, it you want to preview it there.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Strange Movie, April 5, 2011

By 

SolarJoy - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hydra (Unrated) (DVD)

It's a movie where the producer didn't know what type of film to make so he incorporated all of them. I liked it but I am one of the few people that enjoy strange movies. It's one of those movies you watch once for the experience but never put in again.