I have to admit that I was tempted to just repost the review for Monsters, Marriage & Murder in Manchvegas as a review for this film from the same team, Don't Let the Riverbeast Get You.

If by chance you've seen the former film, then you certainly know what to expect from the latter - old school camera work, campy dialogue, campier performances, silly humor, a scary silly monster and an abundance of plain old good-natured and over-the-top fun.

If you go into this film with your serious hat on, then the odds are pretty strong that you're absolutely going to hate it. On the surface, it's a badly acted and constructed film. However, you've got to realize that virtually all that's "wrong" with the film is incredibly intentional and the cast is uniformly consistent in their tone.

The film follows a man (Matt Farley) who returns after three years of self-imposed exile to resume his work as an educational mentor. When a mysterious woman helps him locate the dreaded Riverbeast, not so affectionately known as R.B., he takes his "band of brothers' on a dazzling mission to the Riverbeasts' perilous river and embarks on a fight that can only end in victory or death.

If that last paragraph sounded campy and silly and awkward, then you have a sure fire feeling for how Don't Let the Riverbeast Gets You feels throughout its 99-minute running time. The film is directed by Charles Roxburgh, whose firmly planted tongue in cheek still leaves room for a film that is well photographed and incredibly old school in terms of its godawful special effects and make-up and costuming that makes the film look like a whole lot of the early horror of Hollywood.

As much as I found myself appreciating the performances and even aspects of the production quite a bit more in this film, I must confess a slightly greater fondness for the previous film. While Don't Let the Riverbeast Get You is both fun and funny to watch, the film feels just a touch long and has a few more down spots than the previous film that had me looking at the clock and wondering how far we were from the end. That's a relatively minor quibble, however, for a low-budget indie flick that for the most part accomplishes what it sets out to accomplish - it's a tip o' the hate to old school horror and the early days of cinema. If you still find yourself treasuring early monster horror that was bigger on campy laughs than genuine horror, then this very well may be the film for you.

© Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic