I have witnessed a lot of films in my time. Originally scored for the SyFy channel on television and released on DVD, this film is embarrassing. The scenery is pathetic, editing is sloppy and my god the acting performances are forced and generic. The Hydra monster is a critical piece in the story and falls off the grid in originality. The story has a similar ring to it as 2007 The Condemned where people are taken prisoner and hunted for sport so to speak. A very "C" style script with no real creativity. I yawned most of the way through the film 1/10

What is it with the Skiffy Channel and giant snake like things? The plot- We open with an expedition to a Greek Island where the male participants are all gruesomely eaten by the cheap CGI Hyrda. The lone female participant survives to watch the ship that brought her there sink in an equally cheap CGI sequence.Okay, after the Opening Credits, we get to the meat of the story. Four rich guys have paid 10 million each to hunt down four convicted felons. Except three of them are actually NICE felons. One is an ex-Green Beret who organizes them into fighting back. Except a little problem. The Hydra is on the Island, too.The encounter the surviving scientist girl, who looks pretty good considering she hasn't had a bath or change of clothes in two months. She tells them she'll help them escape if they find the Sword of Hercules (and any good student of Greek Mythology knows it's Heracles, but never mind.) We get lots of shots of the Hydra eating heavily armed goons.Another observation. Two female characters are killed in the course of the movie. Is there some Hollywood rule that women have to be killed less graphically then men? All the guys are literally torn to pieces with lots of blood and gore. (Okay, bad CGI blood and gore, but never mind.) The chicks are killed out of frame. Not that I want to see that kind of thing, really, but why the double standard? Okay, this is better than MOST Skiffy channel snakes eat lots of people movies, but that isn't saying much. It really doesn't take any chances, the people you expect to get killed are and the ones you expect to survive (the ones where the script has built sympathy for) do.Come on, Skiffy, come up with some original ideas!

"Hydra" is an incredibly fun and exciting Sci-Fi Channel original creature feature.**SPOILERS**Traveling through the ocean, Vincent Camden, (Alex McArthur) takes his friends Clarence Elkins, (William Gregory Lee) Alex Williams, (Paul Rae) and Sean Trotta, (Roark Critchlow) on a cruise to a deserted island. Eventually finding a small island, they bring out captives Tim Nolan, (George Stults) Gwen Russo, (Dawn Olivieri) Ronnie Kaplan, (Texas Battle) and Bob Crick, (James Wlcek) who have all been involved in inflicting personal tragedies with the gang in the past and are now using the island as a place to hunt them down as revenge for those crimes. While running from the hunters, they manage to stumble upon Dr. Valerie Cammon, (Polly Shannon) the lone survivor of an archaeological expedition surveying the island who claims a huge, multi-headed snake known as a Hydra is stalking the island and killing them one-by-one. Unsure of how to defeat the creature, they try to find a way to kill it before being taken out by the hunting party after them as well.The Good News: This was a pleasantly surprising and quite enjoyable creature feature. One of the best features is that the creature's look here is absolutely great. This is an imposing force, as it's a multi-headed snake that has huge, ferocious-looking jaws that are lined with gigantic teeth in each head, which makes it deadly enough on it's own before the other factors are considered. With the head-chopping bringing in more good stuff, as it allows the creature to spawn more heads with each swiped one, there's a never-ending amount of heads that can come, each one with those features coming along, and along with it's size there's a lot to like about the creature. It also has one of the more unique stories for these kinds of films, with the captured people being used for a hunting party by those who have been burned by them in the past, and now have a chance at retribution being quite a novel idea and offering up plenty of good stuff. The first is that it's unique and hasn't been done before, as the motives are well-reasoned and logical, only just in that it's the villains which are given that opportunity to do this, which is new and not really done that often which makes it that way from the start, but that also allows for some fun to be had later on at the island during the actual hunting. From some nifty traps being set-up to a lot of action scenes coming from them being chased, this here is a fun start to the film and allows for a lot of fun to be had. The rest of the action scenes, which are mostly encounters with the creature, are a lot of fun. The first encounters, where the lone crew-members stumble upon it are a lot of fun, and the hunter's attacks are just as good. The ambush in the cave is also well-done here, offering enough fun to be concealed in a small, enclosed location that it's held in and comes off rather well. The finale, held on the ship, is just as good with the creature rampaging through the different corridors and using the surroundings well, making for a good time. Even the official conclusion to this one works well and it's a rather fun time overall. The last big plus is the film's blood and gore, which is quite nice. It's quite gory, as there's a multitude of bodies being bitten open with vicious abandon and letting the blood splatter everywhere, a couple limbs are torn off, bites to the chest, face and the head, being ripped in half at the waist, a wooden spear impaled through the leg and another is swallowed whole, among other kills. These here make this one quite bloody, and are overall the film's good points.The Bad News: There wasn't a whole lot of flaws to this one. One of the film's only flaws is that the Hydra's origins aren't given at all. The creature is a complete mystery as to where it came from or even what it is, and nothing at all is explained about it. There's nothing about how it can regenerate it's heads or even why the sword is needed to kill it and how it works against the creature. All that's said about it comes from myths and that they worked then, but even that is just a couple of lines here and there about it and not much else, which is quite disappointing and not really all that useful. The only other big flaw here is the usual Sci-Fi Channel original standard, the atrocious and utterly unconvincing CGI used for the creature. Not only does the size change for the creature based on the shot required, but the pixilated nature of skin is given away quite constantly. It's not in the slightest bit good looking, makes the film look much cheaper than it should be and not all that much good stuff comes from it. That it's also used for the blood and gore does that no favors. These are what's wrong with the film.The Final Verdict: An incredibly enjoyable and entertaining Sci-Fi Channel original, this one definitely manages to feature enough good stuff to be worthwhile. Recommended for those who have an appreciation of these films or find it interesting, though those who aren't big on the these films should heed caution.Rated R: Graphic Violence and some Language

Yet another perfectly awful Sci-fi Channel CGI monster movie. Yet another variation on The Most Dangerous Game has four unlucky human prey, selected by a millionaire because they had prior criminal records and were able to "escape the system", kidnapped and dropped on a supposedly uninhabited island with an actual living multi-headed hydra of Greek myth who follow the heat of their chosen victims, chomping down on those they catch. Tim Nolan(George Stults)is personally selected by boat captain Sweet(Michael Shamus Wiles)because of a personal grudge which occurred in Iraq. Nolan is an ex-commando so he's a resourceful survivalist who can assist his fellow hunted, Gwen(Dawn Olivieri), Crick(James Wlcek)and Ronnie(Texas Battle)using his brains and skills in an attempt to evade both the hunters(..each wealthy paying their "supplier" millions so that they can hunt their prey)and the hydra. Meanwhile, the hunters themselves find the hydra isn't effected by their superior weaponry..if you blow of one of the heads, it grows two more! Nolan and the group soon discovers an archaeologist, Valerie(Polly Shannon)whose expedition found the island with her the only remaining survivor. She informs Nolan that in order to truly defeat the hydra is to cut off the heads with a mythical sword of Hercules himself, buried in small lava pit! Got all that?! Alex McArthur is millionaire Vincent Camdon and Jana Williams is his trophy wife, Dixie. They orchestrate and prepare the hunt for their clientèle. The CGI for the film is as dreadful as you'd expect as the hydra chomps down on human heads and it looks unrealistic and laughable. The whole mythical aspect of the Hercules sword and how the hydra is effected by it will induce certain chuckles from an audience with an inability to take any of this nonsense seriously. Stults, as he was on 7th Heaven, is as stone-faced as ever. As expected all the villains get theirs, each getting ripped apart and eaten(..including one poor soul who is shown swallowed whole).