Brendon Jones
It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.
Paul Evans
As the other user commented on this, I too was a lad of eleven when I first saw this and I'm unashamed to say that I had a few nightmares at the time after having seen this, it's great to exercise a few of those demons, as i'm part way through re-watching it after all these years. The first and most vivid memory I have from this series was the music that opened it, really good opening music, which sets up this chilling but brilliant piece of drama. Even though its a few year old it still looks slickly produced, I have watched 2 episodes so still haven't got to see 'him' but I'm sure it wont be long. I have unfortunately seen the USA version which is poor in my opinion in comparison. Such a shame that this has not been commercially released, come on do us a favour please put on DVD. Enjoy
chuffnobbler
In British school playgrounds in the early 90s, Chimera was a hot topic of conversation. Absolutely terrifying as a mini-series, it then got repeated as an iffy TV movie. I have just got hold of a copy of the movie, and this review deals with the edited version.Trimming three or four hours of telly into 100 minutes is not an easy job. The story rushes along, and there is plenty of excitement and a few real scares. The story does not have the chance to explore characters and build up the tension as it would have done in serial form. Also, there are a few moments that do not seem logical, as the explanatory material has been cut.The impact of the first episode of the serial was enormous. Introducing a dozen characters in an isolated medical clinic, surrounded by fog, miles away from anywhere in the middle of the moors ...a great start. "Something" escapes. One by one, the characters are killed. There's a sequence I can visualise in my mind's eye as if it were yesterday: a woman is pulled backwards through a window. This remains in the film, as do some of the killings. A new nurse, with no idea of the secrets her employers are hiding, is the heroine. As the building goes up in smoke, she looks as if she is about to escape ... and the "something" gets her with a knife. Gobsmacking. All but two of the characters are dead, and the woman we thought would be the sympathetic heroine is lying among them. This was the cliffhanger ending to episode one, before the haunting theme music began. This is whizzed through in less than fifteen minutes in the movie version, and things are poorer for it.Episode two began with the investigation into the incident, with the security forces overruling the police and hushing everything up. Two characters who made small appearances in the first episode live on, but everyone else is new. This was a completely jawdropping development, and was widely reported in the papers at the time.The TV movie rushes through explanations. Characters come and go, as the journalist hero follows leads and moves from person to person, investigating. Some good performances and some interesting characters, but the story needs longer in order to be told properly.The "monster", of course, is befriended by two children. Sadly, the boy's voice is very badly dubbed. The sequences of the children with Mister Scarecrow, in the barn and the farmhouse, are very goosepimple-making. In the time honoured tradition of British TV, the monster is kept offscreen for as long as possible. Eventually, Chad is revealed to be quite sympathetic. Aware that his creators were to experiment on him, released by a sympathetic scientist (all rushed through and glossed over, sadly), his lethal attacks were a combination of rage and hatred, along with loneliness and heartbreak. There's no denying, though, that the tension is raised brilliantly in the clinic attack scenes and in the farm scenes.There is, of course, a government cover-up. All of this would have so much more impact and be much more powerful if the original mini series were available. While the movie does contain some good scares, it cannot do justice to the original work.
bobj-8
Two things let down this prophetic drama; poorly-shot special effects and a long, unnecessary setting-up sequence about a nurse getting a job that takes up most of the first episode (apparently it was originally scripted to start right in at the clinic but the producers insisted on adding the extra material. obviously a long bus ride is their idea of a good time.) But once the real story starts we're into a very dark and uncompromising meditation on cruelty and humanity that was considered science fictional back in 1991 but which has moved within reach today. The identity and status of a creature with an animal physique and a human mentality is a matter for urgent and ongoing debate, and the drama dared to imagine that such a creature might not be denied a voice in its own fate.
Theo Robertson
**** SPOILERS ****CHIMERA came out round about the same time as the BBC drama FIRST BORN which also dealt with the concept of genetically engineered apes , though to be honest they`re not really compatible since FIRST BORN was more of an emotional drama while CHIMERA is a straight up and down horror/SF thriller
The plot goes something like this : A nurse turns up at a fertility clinic to start a new job but things aren`t what they seem . As the nurse is getting suspicions about the clinic , the staff , patients and eventually the nurse herself are murdered by Chad , a hybrid human . The nurse`s boyfriend tries to solve the mystery as to what happened to her
Reading the above plot you might think this is a fairly entertaining thriller and it might have been but the story runs for four episodes and the above synopsis only covers the first one and a half episodes . As a matter of fact when the series was re-edited into a two hour teleplay the first hour is cut out plus another hour of running time and the story still makes sense which shows you how much padding there was in the first place
After the opening episode we`re treated to sub plots like the secret service spooks wanting to keep everything under the raps and a couple of children befriending Chad who they call " Mister Scarecrow " . Strange how Chad seems to murder adults left right and centre but never harms children ? Oh as always in these type of stories we`re treated to an amiguous ending of lots of little Chads lying in incubators I guess ITV should be congratulated on trying to break the BBC`s monopoly on telefantasy but CHIMERA is very forgettable due to its over long running time and its cliches
