Mongolian Death Worm: A review

At first glance you might see the title Mongolian Death Worm and think hokey b movie material. I know I did. I immediately had the Hub DVR this SyFy Original movie when we saw the commercial so I could review it for this blog. My immediate thought I’d be watching a total cheese fest something akin to Killer Clowns from Outer Space or the like. I was actually kind of surprised to find out that there was an actual mythical history to the Mongolian death worm. This creature purportedly lives underground in the Gobi Desert. And much like Big Foot or the Loxness Monster, sightings of the Death worm are disputed and unconfirmed.

The explanations/ hypothesis of the death worms’ origins are pretty interesting. My favorite theory is that the death worm is a type of electric eel brought there during the years when the Gobi desert was actually an inland sea and has since adapted to land. Typically the Mongolian death worm is said to be a bright red worm with a body width measuring between 2-5 feet long. It is said to look similar to a cow’s intestine… I would not know this since I have never seen a cow’s intestine (thank god for small favors)

In the movie of course these worms look nothing like the ones described above. In the movie they look like gigantic grayish brown slugs with pinchers around the mouth and in some instances we see a tongue like appendage come out of its mouth to kill its victims. In the movie the lead character, Daniel, played by Sean Patrick Flanery of Boondock Saints fame, is in search of Genghis Khan’s hidden fortune. The treasure is said to be guarded by these Mongolian death worms. These worms, which have lain dormant under the Gobi desert for decades, until an American oil company begins experimentally drilling. The vibrations from the drilling awaken the worms. The worm infestation causes the water supply to become contaminated. The citizens of a neighboring village become very sick and a group of doctors (possible doctors without borders?) try and save them. As two of doctors are left strained on the side of the road with enough antibiotics to hopefully save the village, Daniel is reluctantly brought in to shuttle the doctors back to the village. And like typical story line the feisty blonde female doctor plays hard to get while Daniel feigns disinterest, but sure enough their struggles against the Mongolian death worms bring them together… ok so maybe the Mongolian death worm part is not typical, but the rest of the movie is pretty typical.

Over all it wasn’t a horrible movie. I was able to sit through it twice without much issue. Sean Patrick Flanery was the best actor in the film. Everyone else was pretty cheese. There were more than a few times I wanted to punch Philip, played by Nate Rubin, in the face….what a winey bitch… But the main reason why this movie didn’t do too much for me was from a major lack of death worm action. This movie had the potential to be a pretty awesome monster movie, but the deaths we kind of lame. Ok when Thuan, played by Cheryl Chin, gets pulled down the well by a death worm and then blood sprays back up the well like old faithful… ok yeah…THAT was pretty cool. Mostly though Mongolian Death Worm fell short of its potential.