Heebie Jeebies (2013 TV Movie) User Reviews

Wow... LOL... SyFy has done it again!

[WyteRabit · 3/10 · 9 February 2013]

This doesn't seem to be a "SyFy Original" but it aired on the SyFy channel's Most Dangerous Night on Television. I have to say, it's yet another stupid horror movie filled with lame dialog, mediocre acting and a creature that had to be one of the worst monsters I've seen since the flood of CGI creatures into the film industry.

Still, for some reason, I enjoyed it. Yeah, there, I said it... I actually enjoyed it... I can't explain why but it made me laugh. While most of the performances and dialog in general was pretty bad, there were a few "one liners" that I thought were funny. One other "plus" was one of the female characters. Cathy Shim's character "Theresa Lim" was pretty hot.

If you're really, Really, REALLY BORED, you might enjoy this movie. If not, load up the NetFlix and find something decent.

Far from the Midas touch

[udar55 · 3/10 · 10 February 2013]

A couple of dimwitted guys looking for gold in a mine accidentally unleash a monster that appears to have several human heads and arms and bleeds gold. Meanwhile, local deputy Todd Crane (Robert Belushi, son of Jim) is trying to prove he can handle his stressful new job, despite needing to breathe into a paper sack while giving an old lady a speeding ticket. As folks start getting murdered, he has to man up and soon discovers this thing is the wrathful incarnation of 5 Chinese mine workers who were buried alive in the mine in the 1880s. I think I watch a SyFy premiere once every 6 years and this one I caught last night. Things certainly haven't changed (or improved). Director Thomas L. Callaway has done tons of work as a cinematographer and handles the proceedings here well enough. But it is pretty mundane stuff. That is pretty surprising when you realize the writer was Trent Haaga, who had previously co-written subversive stuff like CITIZEN TOXIE (2000) and DEADGIRL (2008). I was hoping he might have a wicked monster tale up his sleeve, but this is by-the-numbers, dull stuff. Not even his humor is on display. I guess the only thing that makes it worthwhile is seeing Marion Ross and the return of 80s horror staple Jennifer Rubin, both in small roles.

If there is one thing to remember this for, is the worst monster in movie history

[GTeixeira · 2/10 · 16 November 2013]

Was this a SyFy Original? The production info doesn't mention, but this has Syfy written all over it: terrible acting, hilariously bad dialogue, weak plot, poorly developed characters and a godawful CGI monster. In truth, the monster is one of the messiest creatures I've ever seem. The design is already bad enough, but the awful CGI and the clumsy way it moves on-screen made me laugh way too much. It is a refreshment to see something besides the usual giant animal/hybrids, but c'mon!

As often with SyFy pictures, this falls in the 'so bad it's funny' kind of film. The combination of SyFy's usual terrible dialogue/acting makes most of the scenes funny enough to be watchable, especially with the likable Robert Belushi and the delightful Cathy Shim. However, it's Michael Badalucco that steals the show with his over-the-top acting and cheesy one-liners.

This little Z-movie (it still has a long way to go to become even a B one) is just your usual SyFy film: ambitious, somewhat likable in its badness, but overall you can easily find something better.

One of the Weirdest Monsters Ever

[Michael_Elliott · 11 February 2013]

Heebie Jeebies (2013)

** (out of 4)

Yet another SyFy film, this one about a bunch of idiots who crack open a mine and soon an evil gold monster (yes you read that right) comes to life and starts killing people. HEEBIE JEEBIES is without question very clichés in many ways, features bland characters, a predictable plot and several other negative things but at the same time you really have to give the film credit for coming up with one of the most bizarre monsters in recent memory. If you watch all of these new SyFy films monthly then you know that the monsters usually rank from awful to lame but both of those words fit the creature here but you also have to say it's original. I say this because something being original isn't a good thing and that's the case here. I give the filmmakers credit for coming up with such a weird design but at the same time you can't be scared of this thing because it's just too strange looking to take serious. It's basically a two headed monster that has an "open" stomach where it came eat people. I guess the best way to describe this "stomach" is that it looks like the underbelly of a lawn mower with the blades being the teeth here. This is such an incredibly silly looking monster but at the same time you can't help but keep your eyes on it. So, in a weird way, the monster both helps and hurts the film. The performances are actually somewhat better than you'd normally see in a movie like this with Robert Belushi actually turning in a fine performance and HAPPY DAYS fans will enjoy seeing Marion Ross here for a split second. Both Cathy Shim and Lucille Soong are extremely attractive and helped keep this guy's attention going. The film offers up some pretty good gore along the way but the fast editing usually interrupted this. HEEBIE JEEBIES isn't a very good film but it's certainly a lot entertaining than some that turn up on SyFy. I think the film could have been better but the last half of the film starts to spend way too much time with some boring supporting characters. Still, the weird monster and a great looking (if you know what I mean) tennis match makes it worth sitting through for fans of the genre.

Actually a good movie...

[paul_haakonsen · 5/10 · 21 August 2013]

Surprisingly enough, then "Heebie Jeebies" actually turned out to be rather entertaining - campy and cheesy, yes, but entertaining still.

The story is about some kind of mutated creature fused of several dead gold miners that becomes freed from its entrapment in the mine by accident when someone mine through a wall to it. The creature sets out to kill people in search for gold, and the town of Golderton is in dire peril. It is up to the local police to put an end to the monstrosity.

Sure, this was textbook material, but it was fun to watch and enjoyable. The storyline was predictable, as it usually is with these type of monster movies.

Aside from being poorly animated and comprised of questionable CGI, then the creature was nice in concept and interesting enough to look at on the screen. Although one does wonder if two strikes with a mining pick axe could free it from behind the wall, why didn't the creature just slam down the wall itself to begin with?

And if you are purchasing gold, why would you set up store at an old, abandoned mine outside of town? That just didn't make any sense for Billy Butler (played by Michael Badalucco) to have his business out there.

For an officer of the law, then sheriff Tatum (played by Carl Savering) wasn't particularly bright. I mean, when they picked up the video camera from the carnage scene at the gold mine (tinkering with a crime scene here in the worst way possible) and they looked through the footage, even though the image was blurred, you could still see a man-like creature with multiple heads. Then just how in the name of all that is unholy, could the sheriff say to the hunters that it was either a bear or massive feral boar? That was just the most stupid comment in the entire movie.

I will say that the creature design was really one of the most interesting and promising aspects of the movie. And I thoroughly enjoyed this particular monster on the screen. Great design and appearance, just a shame that the CGI effects were a bit shoddy at times. With a bigger CGI budget, then "Heebie Jeebies" could really have excelled and been that much more interesting.

The people on the cast list were doing good jobs with their given roles and characters, and it seemed that people had fun making this movie. And this level of acting really helped the movie along quite nicely.

Despite its predictability, questionable CGI and obvious plot and story holes, then "Heebie Jeebies" is actually worth sitting down to watch, especially if you enjoy low budget monster movies.

Terrible

[loprestimatt · 1/10 · 9 March 2021]

Horrible acting, and horrendous cgi. And to the other reviewer whining about racism, get over yourself.

my!!

[SanteeFats · 3/10 · 31 May 2014]

What a piece of garbage this one is, poorly written, poorly directed, acting is not good, the eye candy is kind of poor. The CGI, for get about it. Five Asian miners are trapped underground by a cave in in the 1800's. One of the men's wives is a witch and curses the mine. Many years later an event occurs that releases the vengeful entity. It is attracted to gold since that is what was in the shaft that they were mining when they were abandoned to their deaths instead of the mine owner trying to rescue them. The five dead miners are united into a grotesque being that has a thirst for the gold they never got. In its search for the gold it comes across several people, some die and some run. The current mine owner is the heir of the original bad guy owner. He turns out to be a real nut case and gets his in the end but not before a few people are killed. Not a very good movie in my opinion. This is another one that I wonder why was it made????

Flawed, but zesty and amusing low-budget horror with an innovative monster

[Wuchakk · 5/10 · 11 July 2017]

Released to TV in 2013 and directed by Thomas L. Callaway, "Heebie Jeebies" chronicles events in a Louisiana town when an abomination is unleashed from cursed gold mine that was recently reopened by a greedy descendant (Michael Badalucco in a decidedly over-the-top performance). Carl Savering & Robert Belushi play the Sheriff and his deputy while Dave Davis & Evie Thompson appear as their teenaged kin. Cathy Shim, Lucille Soong and Olivia Ku are on hand as an Asian family with insights about the creature.

This is a half-serious/half-campy Grade B horror flick with several amusing moments. It generally works for what it is and has a few highlights, like the imaginative, but cartoonish CGI monster, which looks like five corpses mashed together with a huge malevolent maw for a torso. Evie plays a winsome cutie, albeit overtly tart-y; and Belushi is likable as her cop brother, the main protagonist, not to mention Shim as his sweet girlfriend.

Despite the obvious low-budget, the movie has gusto and I cared about the 2-3 main characters. Unfortunately, there are glaring flaws that force me to lower my rating. For instance, the deputy discovers video-proof of the monstrosity, but then refers to it as some type of animal to others, including his sister.

The film runs 85 minutes and was shot in St. Francisville & Baton Rouge, Louisiana. WRITER: Trent Haaga. Marion Ross & Jennifer Rubin have small roles.

GRADE: C+

Even for SyFy this was weird, not a particularly good movie but could have been worse

[TheLittleSongbird · 3/10 · 13 December 2013]

When you think of SyFy, you think terrible acting and writing, amateurish-looking special effects, bad visuals and stories that don't grab you. Heebie Jeebies does have most of those things, but for SyFy it is a long way from being bottom-of-the-barrel. The acting is much better than anticipated, Robert Belushi is a good lead and Cathy Shim is astonishingly beautiful which does hold your attention(most of the ladies fare the same). The scenery and most of the photography is pretty and atmospheric, the gore is pretty good and the music is a rise above the often generic and sluggish-sounding music SyFy is prone to, not great but okay. However, some of the editing is to fast-moving and choppy, not all the time but in too many places. The monster is also the primary reason why Heebie Jeebies is as weird as it is, the design is unique but also very bizarre and somewhat amateurish too. The monster itself is uninteresting with little menace or personality. The dialogue is not that much different from most SyFy movies, the snappy parts come off as forced and cheesy and the more dramatic ones falling into hammy melodrama quality. It does also do a poor job developing the characters with none of them coming off as interesting. The story can get on the silly side- which is often too ridiculous and weird to be properly fun- but there is not much that is really exciting, fun or suspenseful about it(even for a movie that is clearly not meant to be taken seriously). The sense of terror is absent as are the thrills, the horror elements are rather schlocky as well, and the second half takes far too much time on the less important characters, none of them attention-grabbing and some even pointless. The death/attack scenes are handled in a very by-the-numbers way and are somewhat repetitive, the variation in how the monster kills ranges from very little to none. Overall, weird and not particularly good but there has been much worse from SyFy. Worth a look for curiosity and novelty value but not much beyond that, hardly a must watch or must rent. 3/10 Bethany Cox

Terrible science fiction that also pushes hateful agendas

[dragoon-61673 · 1/10 · 16 March 2016]

Not only is this movie terrible in acting, CGI, and literally everything else, it also pushes hateful racist agendas against Asian men.

Two of the main roles - Asian females in this movie - are both paired up with white men. Of course,that's perfectly fine by itself as it is not racist to see inter-racial boyfriend / girlfriend pairings in today's time.

HOWEVER, one of the Asian female has a line in the movie that basically states "Asian men aren't cute like white men". Not only does this have absolutely nothing to do with the entire movie plot, it's basically a line straight out of the white supremacist handbook.

And no, it's not a racial preference. If you're white and confused, look it up on how these type of underhanded tactics are purposely used to mentally colonize Asian women and hate on Asian men since the days of Hollywood and mass media. Absolutely disgusting that it's still being used today.

These racist movies are the reason why White man - Asian women couples are so common in today's time vs Asian man- White women couples. Thanks to this type of whitewashing, most White man- Asian women couples marry based on hatred of Asian men, white worship, and a self- inferiority complex. This is why we get mass murdering psychopathic kids from WMAF like Elliot Rodger and insane rapists like Daniel Holtzclaw.

Another must to avoid

[michaelRokeefe · 2/10 · 26 October 2020]

This is among the worst to appear on the SyFy channel. A terrifying creature escapes from a notoriously haunted goldmine that's been reopened for the first time in 150 years. A hapless deputy sheriff must gather help to fend of the supernatural monster before it exacts full vengeance on his small Southern town. Mismatched CGI and horrible script. At times some dialog so stupid it is funny.

Cast includes: Robert Belushi, Cathy Shim, Evie Thompson, Michael Badalucco and Marion Ross.

Better than expected and worth the time to find

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 8/10 · 11 February 2013]

After a haunted gold mine is reopened, it unleashes a terrifying creature trapped below that continues a rampage of vengeance against the town and forcing the local policeman and a holistic healer to find a way of bringing the rampage to a halt.

This one turned out a lot better than expected and actually has a lot of good things going for it. One of the better elements is the fact that this one has a rather intriguing premise for it's monster in scaring them first before going for the kill, allowing the panic that follows to carry the suspense of the attack throughout before the main kill. Those are a lot of fun as well as there's a lot of brutality in the kills and has some real great bloodshed to go along with it, mainly because they're all done in live-action and up-close rather than lame CGI kills which would've been unrealistic. The creature looks scary enough and there's a couple really good action scenes in here that are pretty suspenseful, but it still has some problems in the creature's gold-devouring habits conflicting with it's mission of vengeance, a rather unsatisfying finale and far too much time goes by with it out killing people before they realize something is wrong, and only then they stumble upon the creature which doesn't make them look good. Still, it's a much better film than expected.

Rated R: Graphic Violence, Language and underage drinking.

What can I say, It's SyFy

[jimelhoundsonme · 6/10 · 4 May 2021]

I used to love lightweight horror comedies like "Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein." Those movies while funny, had just enough dread to scare me as a kid. Some SyFy movies appeal to me in the same way, only the acting and effects often suck, to a certain extent.

How does one rate these types of movies fairly? None are masterpieces, but some, like Heebie Jeebies, can keep you watching to the end.

This is one of those movies. The characters meet satisfying ends and several are actually likeable. If it wasn't so dang gory, it might even be fin to watch with your 9 or 10 year old, and seeing how they react to that horrible, but original monster. So I gave it a 6, because the ending satisfied me very much, and I left feeling a certain way. A "6" is about as high as I can go with SyFy movies.

Khan Review

[zkzuber · 1/10 · 2 October 2021]

Such film makers should be banned from making series or movies. What made some one to made something so stupid, it's not even a comedy. What kind of mind set people have who make such trash. No doubt they are brainless but di they think any viewers will like it, what make them waste their time can't say about money since I don't think they spend any budget on it It's disgraceful don't have word to express it, such makers should be black listed. . Even zero rating is not applicable to it.

He blow'd up REAL good

[ArtVandelayImporterExporter · 3/10 · 26 December 2016]

When a movie is so badly acted do we blame the hack director or the D- list cast? It would be hard to pick out the worst performance in this cr@pfest. They all seem to talk like Canadians trying to sound like Southerners. It's almost worth watching for that alone. Maybe the actors were having a contest to see who could never get another audition ever again. And if you can't act you better be a knockout but beyond the lead female actress this is not the case here. In fact, the young blonde has a face that looks like it's made out of pieces from the Mr. Potato Head game. The story premise is actually half-decent but it's fleshed out by amateur screen writing that wouldn't get filmed as an episode of a third- rate X-Files TV knockoff. The monster isn't as horrible as other reviewers make it out to be, but that doesn't mean his movie is some kind of special-effect marvel. Actually, at one point a character is killed later in the movie and you'd swear it was an out-take from Farm Film Report on SCTV (anybody who remembers that show within a show will know what I mean when they see it). About halfway through I figured I'd finish watching it just for its camp value, which is why I gave it 3 rather than 1. The entertainment world would not suffer if anybody involved in the making of this movie were to never work again in the industry.

Heebie Jeebies

[Scarecrow-88 · 3/10 · 8 August 2015]

The body parts of Chinese labor workers "melded together" thanks in part to a witch's curse (one of the miner's wives was a witch), and this "vengeance spell" has created quite a "gold monster" (an accidental detonation caused a part inside the cave to collapse, not only pinning them inside but destroying them) that is set free when a couple of local yahoos decide to try and get gold deep within it. The mine had been closed for some time, but greedy Billy Butler (Michael Badalucco), allowed to deprive whatever resources might be waiting inside due to his horrible ancestors who owned it for generations, needs financial properties that could exist. When the monster (it emanates a mist-like, gold-colored odor that paralyzes victims before it tears them apart) goes on a killing spree, it will ultimately be left up to a deputy with panic attacks and bad nerves, Todd (Robert Belushi, son of James Belushi!), and a coroner, Theresa (Cathy Shim), a Chinese-American beauty who has been helping him cleanse himself of his issues with falling prey to the incoming stress, to stop it. Jennifer Ruben (Nightmare on Elm Street III) and Marion Ross (of Happy Days) have paycheck bits as a mine health inspector (who can be bought as is the case when Billy offers her gold in exchange for her silence in regards to several off-the-code issues with the mine) and cantankerous speeding old bitty respectively. Both are victims of the creature (which looks like a walking mouth with teeth; its appendages are heads adding to its misshapen grotesque appearance), while the sheriff, Tatum (Carl Savering), begins to realize that stopping it won't be easy. When Billy realizes the monster "bleeds gold", his greed overtakes his common sense, and he decides to try and trap it. Tatum wants it dead, and so Billy will make sure (thanks to handcuffs) he doesn't interfere in his insane plot to capture the creature for its gold blood. Meanwhile, Todd's voluptuous teen sis, Veronica (Evie Thompson), her best friend (and Theresa's sister), Tracy (Olivia Ku), and their boyfriends (one is the sheriff's son, of course) all decide to go up to the other side of the mine for some beer-drinking and necking, not expecting a couple of posse hunters (brought on to help the sheriff kill the creature) to hold them hostage, awaiting the creature.

Badly edited monster mayhem, some variable effects sequences of the creature, and dumb characters fit perfectly with the kind of formula often found on the syfy channel. Todd is a fun character, with his debilitating condition that often requires him to use a sack for breathing while his sheriff boss makes fun of him and ridicules him. Lucille Soong also has a rather entertaining part as the Chinese mother of Theresa and Tracy, under the impression that the creature has awakened, but hoping she's wrong about her bad feelings. Her "language barrier" proves to be amusing when Todd realizes she isn't as limited as he was led to believe. She is key to understanding the creature's existence and back story. The back story, I must confess, intrigued me and its tragic components are perfect for the kind of creature that derives from a spell cast by someone with revenge on her heart. Too bad the film is too lo-fi and cheaply made to truly do anything remotely interesting with that back story. Good for a few laughs, but ultimately, Heebie Jeebies falls into the same category of many of its kin: it has lame characters, lame kills, and lame special effects. Butler is your real villain of the film, an unsavory lech with gold on the brain 24-7. His fate is a nice bookend to a film which shows a gold "spiritual mist" representing the souls of those trapped Chinese workers being freed…the absurdity of this whole film is amplified by such an ending.

So bad, but I couldn't stop watching

[bigshow02745 · 4/10 · 22 August 2018]

Could be the worst movie monster ever. And some of the worst acting ever. But the cheesiness of it made me stick around until the end.

Inspired Horror Film from Noted Director

[dianerpessler-46164 · 10/10 · 4 August 2015]

Talented director Thomas L. Callaway takes the gifted screenwriter Trent Haaga's brilliant script and runs with it and the result is one of the best horror films of the last 5 years. On location shooting in Louisiana heightens the forbidding atmosphere of tension and unease as a small town faces the consequences of its past. Michael Badalucco gives one of his most memorable performances as the crooked owner of an abandoned mine that contains much more than any suspected valuable minerals. The role of Billy Butler is one he was born to play and he makes the very most of breathing fire into it. The rest of the cast is good but there are some leads that could have been a bit stronger. The special effects are superb and some of the imagery created by Callaway is simply haunting. Sometimes so intense and horrifying that it becomes unendurable, Heebe Jeebies is a fright fest of outstanding quality. The final scene is as riveting as it is explosively spectacular.

Adequate B-Horror

[Roddenhyzer · 7/10 · 16 September 2013]

The premise: The inhabitants of a quiet little mining town experience some major heebie-jeebies, when a murderous monstrosity is awakened and rises from its grave in an old goldmine to go on a vengeful killing spree.

My opinion: To be frank, this movie was exactly what I had expected it to be: A no-frills monster flick made on the cheap, just watchable enough to keep me somewhat entertained for 80 minutes. It even exceeded my expectations in some regards, given that many other Syfy Originals have much worse acting, far more annoying dialogue and worse pacing. This one went by really fast, had predominantly decent actors (with a few glaring exceptions, mind you) and, best of all, a really inventive monster. The "Heebie Jeebie" (it's not actually called that in the movie, but I think it should) is basically just this weird mess of decomposing flesh with limbs flopping all around and a gaping, uh, let's call it a "mouth" reaching all across its body. It's quite rare for a Syfy flick to have something visually interesting in it, so this grotesque, four-armed, multi-headed freakshow was a very welcome breath of fresh air. On the annoying side of things, however, there are a few bad performances, most notably by the protagonist's younger sister and her friend. I also thought that the movie could have done with a few less attempts at comedy, but again, I've seen this handled much worse in other Syfy productions. Oh, and the CGI is complete crap too. Goes without saying, though, doesn't it?

In conclusion, general audiences might shrug this one off as cheap TV trash, but if you're a fan of light monster horror and you're fully aware of the generally low standards of Syfy Originals (which my rating of this movie is based on, by the way), then I'd definitely say you should give it a chance, if only for the bizarre creature. It might pleasantly surprise you.

GOOD GOLD STANDARD FORMULA FILM

[nogodnomasters · 7/10 · 5 May 2019]

This is your typical horror film. The first scene gives us a glimpse of the creature with a killing. We then establish characters and their relationships. Then back to the creature confrontation.

Sheriff Tatum (Carl Savering) and Todd (Robert Belushi, son of James Belushi and Sandra Davenport) are the police officers in a small southern town where there was once a gold mine. Todd has stress issues. In an early tease scene they catch two people parking: Tatum's son and Todd's sister Veronica (Evie Thompson). Todd has stress relief sessions with Theresa (Cathy Shim) while Veronica is best friends with Theresa'a sister (Olivia Ku). Their mother knows about the curse of the mine.

The film is not without flaws. The history was questionable. Chinese miners in the south in 1840? Not likely. The photograph shown from that era was clearly not from that era. A half face paper filter mask for methane gas? Of course when you are dealing with a two headed gold eating creature, these are minor reality issues.

I enjoyed the film which created likeable characters. Nothing to get excited about, but makes for a decent rental.

Parental Guide: No f-bombs, or nudity. Off screen sex. Minor sex talk.