Directed by Michael Lantieri
During the 70's, some Komodo Dragon eggs were dumped on an North Carolina island. Somehow, the baby Komodos survived, and twenty years later they have grown up and taken over the island for themselves. Young Patrick has lost his parents and his dog to the lizards, but didn't see them himself, which has left him traumatized. Now, with his therapist Victoria, they return to confront his fears.
Komodo - Die Dracheninsel, Komodo - Insel der Echsen, コモド, Комодо. Остров ужаса, Κομόντο, Dragões de Komodo, Komodo - The Living Terror, Az óriásgyíkok támadása, โคตรเหี้ยม ดึกดำบรรพ์พันธุ์ล้างโลก, 巨蜥科摩多
USAPG-13 
Canada 
France12 
Germany16 Canada France Germany USA 
Komodo has one of those schlocky DVD-covers you might remember spotting at your local video store or library, tucked away in the horror section.
At first glance, you'd expect nothing more than a cheap Jurassic Park wannabe. But surprisingly, Komodo has a real connection to Jurassic Park, its director, Michael Lantieri, is actually an Academy Award-winning visual effects artist who worked on Spielberg’s dino classic.
Like Jurassic Park, the film blends practical effects and animatronics for close-ups, and CGI for wider shots. And to be fair, the Komodo creatures look great in those close-up scenes.
Unfortunately, this B-movie creature feature doesn’t deliver.
I always hope for a totally-off-the-rail sequence or moment, to give you actual crazy moments, or at least something fun but the story is far too muddled to leave an impression.
There are far better animal-attack movies out there.
Komodon’t...
Part of HOOPT🚨BER 7.0: “Stay Inside (the Salt Circle)!” challenge.
17/31
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"Komodo" is an Australian adventure/horror film directed by Michael Lantieri, one of Hollywood's most talented special effects artists who even won an Oscar for his work on "Jurassic Park". But unlike other films directed by SFX artists like "Pumpkinhead", "Wishmaster" and the remake of "Night of the Living Dead", "Komodo" lacks a strong protagonist to conduct the spectacle.
Instead, "Komodo" is content to just regurgitate clichés found in any PG-13 film from the 90s. Just by looking at the characters we know who will survive and who is just cannon fodder. Worse still, almost all attacks that result in death happen off-screen, with the injured characters appearing just…
Watched as part of Sci-Fi x52 - 2025... 49 of 52
--> I pick, you watch
👀👀🤯👽👾🤖👾👽🤯👀👀
Komodo is a fine example of how even the best (for the budget) visual effects have no impact on a movie's enjoyment when everything else about the flick is this shrugworthy.
This creature feature stars some pretty good practical effect Komodo Dragons on the hunt for lunch in Florida. Some random human snacks without much in the way of personality or interest try to survive.
Yeah, this film is a combination of boring and poorly directed/edited. There's a near constant lack of interesting character, motivation, and dull filmmaking that can't outmatch a bunch of pretty good looking creature effects.
But, hey, those creature…
Film #3 of New Beverly Annual Horror Show.
Phil said this one never got a theatrical release and had only played one festival screening so pretty much the whole crowd seeing it for the first time on the big screen. Fascinating and with some nice Phil Tippett effect work on the dragons.
Ein vertrottelter illegaler Tierhändler schmeißt ein paar Komodo-Waran-Eier in einem Sumpf auf einer Insel in North Carolina. 19 Jahre später sind die Warane ausgewachsen und wurden irgendwie von niemanden bemerkt. Ein Junge muss mit ansehen, wie sie seine Eltern verspeisen, ist davon aber so geschockt, dass er irgendwie alles sofort wieder vergisst. Eine Psychologin kommt irgendwie auf die tolle Idee mit ihm auf die Insel zurückzukehren, um sein Trauma zu behandeln. Dort hat eine skrupellose Bohrfirma es zwischenzeitlich irgendwie geschafft, die Insel vollkommen zu evakuieren und die Existenz der Komodos weiterhin zu verheimlichen, weshalb die Tierchen sich über Frischfutter freuen.
Ganz schön viele "irgendwies", die man erst einmal schlucken muss. Aber ich habe den Film auch nicht für die Story…
A boy's memory blanks after seeing his family and dog horfed by a giant komodo dragon on an island infested. Returning with a psychiatrist for clues and help confront fears, guess what happens soon after arriving...
A wonderful getaway and Billy Drago pulling ashore as a drug smuggler with a heart of gold to befriend the kid? Nah, digital serpents chomp and turn over furniture causing the expedition to flee to an empty refinery. A stubbled hero-guy emerges, boy runs off to worship the Lord of the Flies, and details of a big oil mutant creature cover-up bores. Some wounds are grisly for PG-13; does a harder version exist in a studio bathroom cupboard? The lack of reptilian gut-ripping and cursing makes for an Anaconda suitable for nursing home screenings. Watched via Sterling Entertainment's DVD.
35mm and more fun than a couple of the Jurassic Park sequels.
Dragon Island
"Drilling poisoned the Enviroment. They got nothing to eat... until you People showed up."
Und wieder mal wird an einem armen, ambitionierten Creature-Feature grob-fahrlässige Tier(Horror)-Quälerei betrieben... hält der Monster-Groupie leider für eine bodenlose Frechheit!
"Komodo" lief damals gerne auf Tele 5 und hat sich merkwürdigerweise so extrem in meinem pubertären Hirn gebrannt, dass ich ¾ der Bilder, selbst heute noch, 10 Jahre später 1 zu 1 wiedererkennen konnte... ein hart-romantisches Wiedersehen quasi.
Plot und Charaktere bewegen sich zwar auf den ausstauschbaren Pfaden einer typischen TV-Produktion, dafür finde ich die Geschichte um ein traumatisiertes Kind, dessen Eltern vor Jahren auf seiner Heimatinsel von riesigen Killer-Echsen verspeißt wurden und er deswegen zusammen mit einer schnuckligen Therapeutin zurück zum Ursprung des…
"From the Writer of ANACONDA and the Special Effects Creator of JURASSIC PARK"
Steht ganz oben auf dem Poster und fasst perfekt den Film zusammen, denn genau so fühlt er sich an und genau so sieht er auch aus.
Leider fehlt ihm die Over the Top-Beklopptheit von ANACONDA und die absolute technische Brillanz von JURASSIC PARK. Immerhin ist er das wohl letzte Aufbäumen des in den Neunzigern zwischenzeitlich wieder Aufflammenden Creature-Horror-Genres mit einigermaßen Production Value und okayen FX. Konnte leider nicht so viel Begeisterung dafür empfinden wie Oliver und Patrick im Bahnhofskino-Podcast.
I started watching it thinking it would be like a shitty crocodile movie. It exceeded my expectations by being much better quality (effects-wise) than I expected, but it was also a complete disappointment with minimal blood and brutality.
PS: The incompetent imbecile at the beginning really pissed me off, he could have easily saved the dog.
Scavenger Hunt #73 6/30
Watch a film released when you were 8 years old.
Daily April Horror Hunt #34 8/30
Animals come in all shapes and sizes, and sometimes they thirst for blood. Watch a horror film about some nasty animal.
I haven't seen Komodo since it came out on VHS and I was curious to see if it still holds up or not. I thought this movie would be another childhood movie that has aged poorly. However, Komodo holds up pretty well in my opinion. I like the dark atmosphere that Komodo has because it almost reminds me of Jaws (1975). Similar to the Shark in Jaws, they build up suspense by not showing the Komodo Dragons earlier in…
Creature 🦈 Feature 🐊 Week 🐍: Part III 🐻
Is there anything these things won't eat?
Yeah, anything faster than they are, I guess. And raisins. They don't eat raisins.
I'm sorry guys, while I completely recognise this movie's flaws in terms of the stock sound effects directly from films like Jurassic Park and shockingly King Kong specifically from Toho's produced movies in Japan (I've got good ears 😉) which obviously kept making me smile, as well as the overall structure of the movie. I can't deny I had so much fucking fun watching this! Oh my days it really deserves a second look!
Admittedly the characters aren't all that, but there's enough emotion behind one or two of them…
