While Sabretooth is another of the recent crop of made for TV monster movies it does a little better than its ghastly brethren. For one, it actually features an interesting creature rather than the tired giant spiders or alligators. It stars a couple of actors known for legitimate cinema - well, semi legitimate anyway - including John Rhys-Davies (Gimli and Treebeard from the Lord Of The Rings movies) and Vanessa Angel (known for TV's Weird Science and general hotness).

Of course, movies of this caliber always mess up at some point, and here it's with the dreadful CGI cat that looks as much like it's prop counterpart as I do. This doesn't stop them from trotting out the old pixel beast every few minutes though, and even ruining what effective shots of it they have (read: half hidden by low-lying shrubs) by having it leap across screen (literally) to snap up some unsuspecting juvenile or English sex-bomb.

Strange though with creature effects as poor as they are the gore effects aren't half bad, there's even a rather explicit tooth-through-the-eye scene that takes out one of the main characters - just don't blink or you'll miss it.

Like most of these movies, Sabretooth will only appeal to those who appreciate the modern bad movie, and not even too strongly to them. It's only recommendable on the basest level, that being an overgrown prehistoric cat, a sexy TV actress, a Tolkien alumni, and the chance at about thirty seconds of gore.

On that note, I did purchase the DVD and I'm quite pleased with myself. (Red, 6/8/04)

Directed By: James D.R. Hickox.
Written By: Tom Woosley.

Starring: David Keith, Vanessa Angel, John Rhys-Davies, Josh Holloway.