EIFF2008: Spike

How do you make a film about a half-man, half-porcupine without making it seem a bit daft? On the evidence of this one, you can't.

When a group of youths is attacked by said creature, it sets us up for a slasher/monster movie with a truly barmy opponent. What we end up with is a melodramatic beauty and the beast story, a kind of fairy tale devoid of any magic.

The whole movie is based on a ludicrous idea, so trying to make a serious love story was never going to work. The result is simply a badly thought out, badly acted piece of trash that manages one or two highlights or demonstrations of filmmaking ability mired in amongst an awful lot of pointless, meandering crap.

Avoid.