A young doctor named John Hollis (Brooks) is asked by his dying mother (Kim Hunter) to go to her country house and destroy her experiments. She also mentions a brother who is at the house named Anthony that he knows nothing about. Hollis brings along a team of scientists, including his girlfriend Sharon (Balsam). Once at the house, Hollis is too intrigued by his mothers' experiments to end them like she asked. Using John's genes, mother has made a hybrid which has mutated into a gooey monster hiding in the basement and under the house. It doesn't take long for the monster to attack and the effects are great for the low budget involved here. Director's Jeffrey Obrow and Stephen Carpenter deliver a much better horror film here than their two previous efforts, "The Dorm That Dripped Blood" and "The Power". The Kindred is basically an old fashioned monster movie told with modern effects. The simple story of people in a secluded house facing an unknown monster is turned loose and much fun is to be had. The characters are likable and the cast is quite good at making the somewhat silly premise work. Obrow and Carpenter wisely keep the monster in the shadows for the first half of the film showing a tentacle peeking through a crack in the floor etc. The design of the monster is great and once the effects start they keep coming. One great scene has a girl driving by herself when a watermelon in the back seat opens up and she is attacked by tentacles that slide into every opening the girl has. The style is that of an old 1950's monster movie with a quicker pace. Tons of gooey slime hit the cast from all directions and poor Amanda Pays character turns into a fish with gills before the audience's eyes! Rod Steiger is the villain who steals the scientist's secrets. His over the top acting brings the movie down a little, but the rest of the cast is certainly a high point. It would be hard to not have a good time with this scary and fun monster movie.
Review of The Kindred
