With all the beatings I've dished out to the Sci Fi Channel for its horrible movies, I felt the need to finally post something a little upbeat.

Granted, MANEATER is no classic. But it's not a stinker in the typical Sci Fi Channel sense, either. There's a reasonable script. A few eccentric performances. And a director, Gary Yates, who realizes that CGI is not the best way to convey tension. In fact, he uses a real tiger to play...are you ready for it?...a real tiger. Sheer genius, especially when he has the good sense to hide it for the majority of the picture.

Of course, there's also Gary Busey, looking like he wandered off an accident scene, his hair askew, his suite ill-fitting (the same suit he wears for the entire film). He is truly a wonder to behold. It seems like he's The film, however, belongs to Ian D. Clark, who plays a big game hunter on the trail of the titular beast. He creeps through the underbrush spouting gibberish that wouldn't sound out of place in a martial arts movie, a Buddhist monk with a shotgun bloodlust.

Goofy fun.

In fact Maneater is one of SyFy's most tolerable movies to me. I usually cannot stand their resume, but keep watching anyway as there is something so compulsively watchable about their awfulness. It does have its problems, the dialogue is clunky, the rather clichéd subplot with the kid takes too much time in the film and still feels underdeveloped after, some of the action once the tiger takes on a more ninja sort of role doesn't feel very focused and comes as confused instead and some members of the supporting cast are bland. I also felt the ending was on the rushed side, but didn't consider that as big a problem as the above. On the other hand, Maneater for SyFy actually looks decent. The scenery is both lovely and atmospheric and this is a rare SyFy movie that doesn't rely on too many CGI effects to create suspense or tension. The tiger is not that scary but actually looks convincing still. The editing is more focused than the slip-shod quality I was expecting. The music is not as generic or as sluggish as I anticipated, it does have its haunting parts and maintains interest. The story is never dull and while not much new not overly-predictable. The killings are bloody, but also surprisingly tense and suspenseful. The characters are reasonably engaging, clichéd of course but the amount of annoying things SyFy characters tend to do is not as prominent here. The lead acting is fine, Gary Busey is his usual charismatic self despite an appearance that makes you wonder whether he had just gotten out of bed. Ty Wood is appealing, but stealing the show was Ian D. Clark, who is wonderfully creepy. All in all, tolerable if flawed movie, not bad at all at the end of the day. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Out of all of the diabolical Sci-Fi channel TV movies I've had the misfortune to sit through, MANEATER emerges as the best so far. It's not a brilliant film by any means, but it is fitfully entertaining and well paced, made with a level of skill and intelligence usually missing from such productions. Cast your mind back to the abominable BLOOD MONKEY, for instance. MANEATER works because it's straightforward: a tiger is menacing a small community and the sheriff has to do something about it. Along the way, soldiers are killed, victims are stalked, and a big game hunter shows up to tackle the menace, and it's all fairly engaging. There's no rubbishy CGI here, just a real tiger going about and eating people. Simplicity works, big time.

Anyway, the script throws up no real surprises, but there are some meaty gore effects involving severed body parts and a few mildly suspenseful stalking sequences. A whole sub-plot involving a wayward kid with some kind of telepathic link to the beast is a bore, though, and should have been excised in favour of more big cat thrills. Still, the low budget is handled adroitly, and director Gary Yates deserves kudos for at least making his film look good. Cast-wise, we get the usual level of performances, excepting two leads: Ian D. Clark, having a ball as an OTT game hunter, and Gary Busey as the sheriff hero. Busey is exceptional, in this, a modern day Klaus Kinski, a guy the camera can't shy away from. Stuck in an ill-fitting suit for the entire film and gnashing away at his weird lines, he's worth a star in his own right and adds plenty to the entertainment value. Go, Gary!