Hyenas is a downright offensive film. Aside from its decidedly politically incorrect premise, the acting is atrocious, and the special effects rival Birdemic for the worst CGI I have ever seen in recent years. If Mystery Science Theatre 3000 was on television today, they would be roasting Hyenas. Still, there is an interesting trend marked by films like Hyenas and Birdemic that makes today's straight-to-DVD unique when compared to low-budget films from B-movie pioneer filmmaker Roger Corman or early low-budget projects from directors like George Lucas. While Corman's films are far from good, they had people behind them who were passionate about filmmaking. Movies like Hyenas are bad and lazy about it which makes sitting through them all the more painful.
Hyenas opens with a woman driving home with her baby in the backseat. A car full of evil-looking men sabotage her car, causing her to pull off the road. The men transform into werewolves/hyenas, and they kill and eat the woman and her baby. Yes, you read that correctly. Within the first five minutes of this movie, werewolves eat a baby. At this point, I got another beer out of the fridge because I knew this would be a tough movie to get through. Anyways, the woman's husband Gannon (Costas Mandylor) comes to the nearby town to find out what happened, and he is kidnapped at gunpoint by Crazy Briggs (Meshach Taylor), the town nut job. Crazy Briggs tells Gannon about hyena werewolves that were brought over to America in slave ships. Once the hyenas arrived in America, they killed and infected many people so that now all sorts of people are secretly hyenas, not just slave descendants. Crazy Briggs claims that these hyenas are responsible for the death of Gannon's wife and child, and Gannon, armed with a shotgun, begins tracking down hyenas and killing them.
Honestly, I look back on Hyenas, and I wonder where to begin with this movie. Do I analyze the unmistakeably racist undertones in the plot? The “African werewolf” element is bad enough, but consider the fact that the only black character in the film is known only as “Crazy Briggs.” I could stick to talking about the film's merits, but I can sum them up in one sentence: A werewolf eats a baby. This movie has no merits. The most interesting part of Hyenas is that not so long ago, this movie might not have been produced at all, or if it had, the film would have been vastly different.
Cameras and film editing software have become more affordable in recent years, and it is easier to make movies outside of the studio system. Even CGI effects are not limited to big budget movies anymore. People can come together and make a movie for very little money. Furthermore, cheaply made movies like Hyenas are low risk and high reward for straight-to-DVD film distributors. The movie might be terrible, but with a selectively edited trailer and exciting cover art, enough people will watch it for the film to make a profit.
Many great directors went through the trials of making a movie on a tiny budget. When George Lucas made THX 1138 and Star Wars, he had to use practical effects, and the movies were better for it. Lucas' more recent movies have suffered because of his reliance on CGI effects. He spends so much of his time behind a computer adding more CGI to his movies that he has forgotten the importance of actor's performances and compelling stories.
I am afraid that today's young filmmakers will see the tools at their disposal and get lazy like Lucas with the Star Wars prequels and the folks behind Hyenas. If Hyenas had been made a few decades ago, the filmmakers might have taken the time to create practical effects that might look a bit cheesy but would be much more enjoyable to watch. They also might have taken more time with the script and developing the characters. They could have even given the story a political or social slant like many B-movies, exploitation films, and blaxploitation films. Hyenas only brought one new element to the werewolf mythology which was the half-baked idea of African werewolves/hyenas. Films like Birdemic and Hyenas proves that the availability of film production equipment to today's aspiring filmmakers is not necessarily a positive development, and young directors might learn how to turn people into CGI hyenas before they learn how to craft a good story.
DVD Bonus Features
This is a pretty bare bones release. There are no special features on the DVD except for trailers for other Lionsgate releases. I was actually glad there weren't any special features so I could just watch the movie and then forget it as quickly as possible.
"Hyenas" is on sale April 19, 2011 and is rated R. Horror. Written and directed by Eric Weston. Starring Costas Mandylor, Meshach Taylor.
