THE DARK by Craig Pryce

Under a graveyard lives a very strange animal, an Allotheria. It is a large-sized rodent that has survived prehistoric times (Jurassic mole!). The creature sustains itself with a diet of freshly buried corpses. For dessert, a living biped is occasionally devoured. After a while, this starts to get a bit too much. Two men each have their reasons for wanting to catch a glimpse of our Allotheria. Hunter (Stephen McHattie) is a rugged, motorcycle-riding scientist. He wants to capture the subterranean beast because of the medicinal mucus it secretes during its ferocious digging. FBI agent Buckner has little interest in these humanitarian motives. What he wants is revenge, revenge on the creature that once killed his partner. Both men become embroiled in a thrilling search for the super mole, who has his own views on all this unwanted interest.

The Dark is the second film by Canadian Craig Pierce (Revenge of the Radioactive Reporter), which will change our view of molehills forever. The creature responsible for it, the Allotheria, is the work of a couple of true zoologists, Ron Stefianiuk and Steve Duncan. With the help of the “animatronics” of Toronto’s Virtual Anatomy Studio, we get to see a beast that is on a par with Steven Spielberg’s dinosaurs. And the actors look at least as lifelike as the monster. Stephen McHattie (Grey Lady Down, The People Next Door) plays Hunter, the tough, photogenic scientist. Brion James (Striking Distance, Nemesis, The Postman Always Rings Twice) is Buckner, the crazed FBI agent. And Jaimz Woolvett (the snappy little gunslinger from Unforgiven) gets his hands dirty as a grave digger.