audiostew Drama/Suspense/Thriller/No Monsters The redeeming qualities of this film are that is was beautifully shot in the South African Bush, all the supporting actors did well, and the story is interesting: A 12 year old boy is incidentally left to fend for himself and watch their early 20th century isolated farm as his father is taken by the rest of the family to Cape Town for medical treatment.He is left alone for 3 days with farm's herding dog Impie - Since he's alone most of his dialog is said at his dog, and the kid frequently whines his dog name, sometimes over and over again, to the point where his voice is just irritating, considering it's the only one you hear.As time passes farm animals continue to turn up dead and the boy does nothing out of fear. A lynx is caught killing a sheep and the boy starts and endless search for him which leads to the climax.One part of this movie that really disturbed me is a fight between the lynx and dog. There's no way these two animals would roll around and play in real life, and the attack lasts for some time - (The boy of course doing nothing, prompting me to yell at the screen and shake my fist relentlessly) and the sounds from the dog seem like genuine pain. This seemed a bit cruel, but who knows, maybe the two were old college buddies.Watch this if revel in obscure international cinema or you're interested in what South Africa loosely may have been like in the early 1900's, or if you like lynxes and love screaming at your screen in frustrated anger -

xfile1971 This film does not feature any monsters or mutants of any kind. The only horror relating to this film is the fact that it was ever made. An early scene sets the stage as far as how much skill went into the making of the movie. Without wasting my time on details, a 12-year-old boy is left alone on a family farm. He tosses a lit cigarette into a pile of hay and a blaze soon commences. The kid grabs a small bucket and partially fills it with water. He feebly tosses it on the large fire. What happens next is what baffles me. He gets really angry at his dog for no good reason and throws the bucket at his canine pal. The camera changes angles and suddenly, not only is the entire fire out but the pile of hay is gone as well. How did a raging fire completely disappear without a trace in a matter of a few seconds? Please let me know if you have the answer because I'm at a loss.Also, there was a disturbing scene in which a lynx and a dog are fighting each other. You could hear the dog squealing in pain and when the two were finally broken up, the dog could barely walk. This could be the most realistic (yet safely staged) animal fight in the history of films or...I don't like to think of the alternative. They later showed the dog bloody, mangled and limp in the boy's arms. Irregardless of that scene, "Claws" was already a lost cause. A large portion of the movie consists of the kid wandering around clutching a gun while occasionally falling asleep and dreaming of smoking and making out with a good-looking woman. I guess that was supposed to spice up what is otherwise a dull, plodding waste of film. It didn't work.

EyeAskance A "blind buy" I attained from the horror section of one of those fast- disappearing little video stores that makes their real money renting out adult videos from a small room behind a curtain...the only type of place you might chance to find a copy of CLAWS. To my dismay, I found that this is actually a tiresome coming-of-age drama/outback adventure about a boy left by his folks to solely oversee their rural farmhouse for a few days, and concurrently being gently ambushed by a single wildcat. Certainly not recommended as a horror film(because it isn't), CLAWS works no better within its ascribed action/thriller classification. If you should happen to stumble upon this in the bottom shelf of some dusty mom-and- pop video store(and I doubt you will), shake-off whatever curiosity you may have about it.3/10

EclipseGSX This was the single-most horrible film I have ever been witness to. When I was about 10 years old, I saw this movie on the rack at the video store. Since it was the only PG rated horror movie, I decided to rent it. I sat down that evening and watched this... "movie"... with my parents. Even at age ten, this movie was so bad we were crying from laughter by the end. To this day, we still joke about "Claws" and how disgustingly bad it was.