Mammoth

(2006) **

It’s not hard to imagine the pitch session for this campy made-for-tv horror flick: “It’s Tremors mixed with Men in Black!” Unfortunately, it’s not nearly as good as either of those. Some space-goo gets released from an asteroid and brings a wooly mammoth to life. The goo then causes the mammoth to go on a killing rampage in what looks like the SoCal suburbs, but is really apparently Louisiana. Gotta love on-location budgets for B-movies.

This is mostly a pretty lame attempt at Tremors like tongue-in-cheek fun, but most of the camp falls flat. Tom Skerritt is the lone bright spot, as a kooky granddad who helps his son and granddaughter kill the thing. Summer Glau of Serenity/Firefly fame plays the granddaughter, but it’s a lame part and a mailed in performance, like most of the flick. There’s one scene early on when the asteroid flies over, and Glau, Skerritt and others are gazing quizzically at the horizon, during which Glau gets a case of the giggles mid-scene. Rather than do a retake, the director just decided to leave it in. That sums up the level of care in the whole thing.

Camp is probably a pretty difficult thing to pull off, as the actors and script have to be good enough to play like they're not in on the joke the whole time, even when the audience knows they are. Skerritt's the only one who pulls it off here.