Legend of the Chupacabra (2000)

Well Deserved Praise

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

"Legend of the Chupacabra" is a "documentary" that follows a team of cryptozoologists, a macho ex-Marine, a farmer, and assorted others as they venture into the backwoods of Santa Maria, Texas. It seems that the monster of the title (it translates as "goat sucker") has crossed the border from Mexico to the states, and has even been caught on tape. Maria Esperanza (super cute Katsy Joiner) loses her uncle to the monster, so she's personally motivated to locate and subdue this creature, and find out more about it.Yeah, this is a lousy film, this viewer won't deny that. It's obviously micro-budgeted, crude as hell, and often incoherent. I don't think the screenwriters put a lot of thought into this screenplay. But that's not the hook of this movie. The hook is what director Joe Castro does with the effects. The Chupacabra is played by Kevin Sloan, and it's a gloriously tacky, silly looking thing with enormous eyes, a big forked tongue, forward protruding tusks, and flat feet. Also, Castro seems to take great delight in grossing out his audience at any and every opportunity, especially during the inevitable creature autopsy late in the movie.The acting may not be particularly impressive, but who in their right mind watches something like this and expects Oscar worthy emoting? Some of the characters are beyond aggravating (Castro and company fall back upon that old cliché of having guys on hand who forever bitch and moan), but the actors are remarkably sincere, no matter if the talent just ain't there. Joiner is appealing in the lead.Interest starts to seriously wane after a while, but at least this is hilarious whenever the creature makes an appearance.Five out of 10.

I bought this film on my weekly trip to the video store. I am a big time Troma fan, but I have never heard of this title. I bought it at the reasonable price of seven bucks and went home to watch it. I love Troma movies... all of them from Surf Nazis Must Die to there most famous character the Toxic Avenger. But Legend of the Chupacabra was just plain borring. I was very dissapointed in this movie. I loved that suit the creature was wearing (there's a extra on the dvd showing how he gets into it... the dvd might be worth getting to watch. I thought it was funny). I thought the old mexician lady was funny, that was about it.

To start off, I am not sure if this is the right movie or not. I rented Blood Thirst: Legend of the Chupacabra from the local BB and this is what popped up when punched it into IMdB. I have seen some of Castro's other movies, so I am sure I am not too far off.Well, the movie I saw was a total borefest. Crappy acting, crappy filming, and extremely crappy effects, lack of any gore. Every time something would happen, the camera would fade off. This film also had CGI effects that could have been made by a 6th grader.Again, this is probably not the same movie since the one I watched was not a mockumentary like the Blair Witch project. This movie was just a total waste of time and as scary as an episode of Goosebumps. I take that back, goosebumps is scarier.

If you like bad movie "classics" like Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, or Killer Klowns from Outer Space, then this movie is for you! I give it a full 5 groans (and several hearty laughs)! :-)From the rubber monster suit, to the red & corn syrupy "blood", to the oh-my-gawd-awful acting... This movie is guaranteed to bring tears to your eyes (in one way or another)!! ;-)