Don't Believe the Hype

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Not completely a direct sequel to William Malone's 1981 "Scared to Death", but "Syngenor" sees the return of Malone's alien creation (this time there's even more and a new creation to boot as well). As a low-budget, late-night b-grade offering, "Syngenor" is actually very well pulled off. I was expecting it to look much cheaper. It remains trashy fun throughout, namely due to the spontaneously intense and ham-fisted performance of David Gale. You could never tire watching this guy perform! It might be his show, but the rest the performances do shape up rather nicely. A delightful Starr Andreeff and snappy Mitchell Laurance agreeably work off each other. Riva Spier is enticingly manipulative. Also showing up is Melanie Shatner (William's Daughter) and character actor Lewis Arquette. Carter Brown is the CEO of Norton Cyberdyne, a corporation that deals with military defence technology. His latest creation under the project name "Dark Skies" is that of some genetically made super-soldiers known as Syngenor --- Synthesized Genetic Organism. However problems start occurring when one of them is released from its basement enclosure to leave a bloody aftermath, which involves the death of their original creator Dr. Valentine. Growing increasingly paranoid that somebody (within) is trying to knock him from his perch; Brown's sanity soon begins to spin out of control. Also he has to deal with a pesky news reporter and Valentine's daughter. Pulpy hokum, which has many dumb and unintentionally humorous qualities… but in the end that's what makes it. Really it could have been more enjoyable than it was. The plot is nothing new (by starting off rather mild-mannered and then transcending into demented craziness) and the script is sub-standard, but bestowed a conceptual base of satirical barbs and tongue-in-cheek sparks. The tightly knitted execution at times was a bit shoddy (with some cheaply staged action --- like the onslaught in the basement involving an oddly dressed security squad), but the pacing keeps on the move and the optical / special effects (done by Robert and Dennis Skotak) and make-up stand up better than you would think. The Syngenor designs (a man in a suit with an amatronic head) look quite decent, as they're crafted with specific details. Although when they go after their prey, it can be rather laughable with their slow movements as they dawdle around waving their arms. Super-soldiers? Locked away in the basement? The feature was mainly filmed in the Ambassador Hotel, in Los Angeles which has an infamous history. Some moments have an atmospheric edge, while other sequences are truly devoid of it. Composers Steve Rucker and Thomas Chase provide a typically unhinged music score. Slightly enjoyably low-end creature-feature oddity that's brought to life thanks to David Gale.

As a horror/sci-fi, this film is a peerless failure. It's yet another "Alien" rip-off created in the early 1990s when rubber monster suits became more affordable. The acting, direction, and screenplay are all awful - to say nothing of the aforementioned bargain basement creature effect. "Syngenor" does, however, deserve an 8/10 for pure entertainment value. Rarely have I laughed so hard at a film. If you want to watch a real movie, avoid "Syngenor" at all costs. If, on the other hand, you want an evening of hilarity, gather up some friends, buy the spirits of your choice, and enjoy "Syngenor" in all its absurd glory. Goofy dialogue, ridiculous plot devices, monsters who jig wildly when being shot... "Syngenor" truly is a giant among B-grade sci-fi schlock.

Rented the newly released DVD of this and I'm glad I didn't buy it.Carter Brown (David Gale) is the head of a corporation who develops synthetic creatures that to be used to fight wars in the Middle East. It's a creature that's adverse to water, but no matter since the desert doesn't have very much water to begin with. It also looks very similar to the gill man in CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, so there's not a whole lot of imagination here.Anyway, these SYNGENORS escape from the lab and invade the building killing people, but it's not very scary or gory or anything. In fact, the whole film looks like one big bore with David Gale looking like he's sleepwalking through the whole thing. He made a better ham in the RE-ANIMATOR series and the injecting of the green fluid into his neck is a silly cue from those earlier films. Never heard of any of the rest of the cast except for Melanie Shatner as the receptionist, and that's only because she's Bill's daughter.The Elite DVD has a short clip of David Gale visiting Japan in order to help promote this film, which I understand, was a big hit over there. Why, I don't know. Maybe they thought the creature was 'cute' or something.It might've worked better if Roger Corman had a hand in it, but as it stands, it only gets a charitable failure.2 out of 10

For those who enjoyed David Gale in RE-ANIMATOR (and who didn't??) it would seem that SYNGENOR (that is SYNthesized GENetic ORganism) is required viewing. Hell, Gale even injects himself (IN THE NECK!!) with what appears to be a substance VERY SIMILAR to re-agent! In this sequel (?) to SCARED TO DEATH we have a corporation by the name of Norton Cyberdyne (rubbish logo by the way) who have created a series of "creatures" to act as "supersoldiers" in any upcoming conflict in "rain-free" (there's the catch...) environments, namely: The Middle East. Things go wrong (of course) resulting in a handful of Syngenors breaking free from their Cyberdyne basement confines to wreak havoc in true cheap-horror fashion. The creatures themselves (though obviously inspired by a certain Giger design) are the strong-point - I'd even go so far as to say that they're THE BEST low-bud monsters since INVASION OF THE SAUCER MEN, problem being there's too little running, blood & screaming to keep them occupied. When the "action" finally arrives we're treated - in one scene - to a selection of Cyberdyne guards - looking like they'd just fell out of an old (pre-flowerpot) DEVO promo - marching to the depths of the Cyberdyne 'scraper with such little conviction you'd swear the comedic angle was intentional. Perhaps this IS supposed to be funny: the "learned" screenwriters attempt to parody the perceived insanity of The Military Industrial Complex (TM) via both "Carter Brown" (Gale) & Cyberdyne's infommercial promo material. In the hands of an Italian director, SYNGENOR could have been a DEMONS style contender - as it stands, a reasonable stab at an SF/stalker/gore flick which attempts to recreate the intensity of a certain other film (yep, RE-ANIMATOR again) during in final minutes.