Orcs !

Horror Comedy

Reel DVD

R4

Somewhere in an old cave under Balancing Rock National Park a careless prospector has set off an explosive charge that has opened a gateway into the underworld of the Orcs. Only two valiant park rangers stand between the orcs and worldwide destruction. Well, not quite. One ranger, Cal, is a pot-smoking lecherous no-hoper with a truly bad moustache who wants to work in a National Park in Hawaii. The other, Hobie, is a naïve young trainee who is still full of the mythos of the National Park Ranger. And they are helped by their radical environmentalist friend Katie who has a sackful of dynamite. With the dynamite and a stolen Orc bow and arrows (she killed the previous owner) she can create havoc amongst the orcs, while the men get into the slaughter with a cache of weapons owned by a now-deceased ranger. Will they be enough to save mankind?

Orcs have received bad press in films. They have been relegated to a minor role compared with vampires and zombies. It is therefore a pleasure to see them treated fairly as ordinary ugly homicidal creatures. The film owes a lot to the orcs in Lord of the Rings, in fact they are the spitting image of Peter Jackson’s orcs. A lot of the plot comes from Lord of the Rings and the characters can strike poses that are also reminiscent of those films.

There is plenty of blood and gore and detached body parts. There are battles, hand-to-hand fights, explosions, and dismembered golfers. What more could you want?

The film cuts back on the humour during the battle scenes, but during the rest of the story there are little spots of brilliance to keep the film going. The plot is still full of holes but who cares? Orcs! is a great piece of low-budget fun.

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