Hybrid

Rating NR Formats DVD Genre horror Starring Justine Bateman, Gordon Tootoosis, Cory Monteith Directed by Yelena Lanskaya Publisher Genius Entertainment

Sorry to split hairs for a moment here, but when one reads that a movie is a "new breed of terror," one should feel that they are correct in expecting that some terror must be involved in its presentation. Not completely devoid of terror, as Hybrid has made me believe. That's like rolling out a new Pepsi product with the slogan "taste the new cola sensation" when in reality they just bottle up an invisible, odorless gas. Sure there's something in there, but nothing that remotely resembles that which is advertised, let alone is even in the same class of product. That's how I feel after having seen Hybrid. Anyway, on with the show...
 
Hybrid, as described by its packaging, is the tale of Aaron, a fit young male who ends up being the prime candidate for the first human cross-species transplant after losing his eyesight from a work related explosion. As a result, he ends up seeing the world a bit differently, beginning with his newly gained ability to see in low light environments. Soon however, as with any slap to the face of Mother Nature caught on celluloid, things go awry as Aaron starts to inherit other wolf-like mannerisms, falling more in the line of canine fight or flight self defense and the utilizing of sharp teeth in animalistic manners of persuasion. Hunted down by the same medical firm that endowed him with these gifts, Aaron goes on a vision quest, guided by his new female Native American companion, to hopefully learn about and regulate the primal urges he now faces.

At its core, Hybrid has good intentions but fails in almost all respects. It reeks of made-for-TV, thanks to its poor editing and awkward scene transitions making me wonder if this wasn’t made with commercial breaks in mind. Though most of the musical score seemed to fit, there was one Rap song played a few times when Aaron was on the move that completely seemed out of place. It’s as if the producers said “You need to throw this in there whenever possible.” And since the budget was so low to begin with the director had to appease his higher ups so added it to all the shots of Aaron in the city to give them that “urban” feel. This may not be true, but all the shots of wolves in the wild in the beginning of the film and toward the end seem like stock footage from animal planet. They have that co-opted feel to them.

There’s not much else to say about this one. As part of Genius Entertainments Man-Eater Series, Hybrid is a disappointment. All the action happens in the last 5-15 minutes of the film and very little eating of humans is involved. Even though the packaging would have us think otherwise, it’s only vaguely hinted that Aaron sees others as prey in the actually movie. He just wants to go his own way and sees the militaristic medical firm as a threat more than anything. Now there’s nothing wrong with this by itself, but when the execution is so poor to begin with, it’s like they are just trying to sucker the movie rental aisle walker in with some well placed lies.