Pterodactyl (film)

Pterodactyl is a 2005 horror film that premiered on the Sci Fi Channel. The film is directed by Mark L. Lester.

Plot

A team of American scientists and students of science (led by Cameron Daddo) are exploring the Turkish/Armenian border. Meanwhile, a group of American soldiers (led by Coolio) are on a mission to capture a terrorist leader.

But a far more deadly threat than terrorists are hidden in the woods, man-eating Pteranodon. The two very different camps have to join forces in order to escape this new terror.

Michael and Kate are leading a group of teenagers through a science expedition. The students are Gwen, Jason, Willis and Angie. They discover mounds of pterodactyl feces. While the others examine the spore, Angie wanders off and decides to go for a swim. When she jumps into the water a pterodactyl attacks her. She barely escapes and runs into Jason, who goes to investigate. When he finds the lake, the pterodactyl kills him. Angie tells the others and Michael goes to find Jason.

That night, Captain Bergen and his squad capture the terrorist and find Michael and his group camping, so they decide to follow them. The next morning, Michael's jeep is ambushed by a group of Russian terrorists. When the pterodactyls attack, Captain Bergen and his squad rescue some of the group but cannot save Gwen. During the attack Angie is wounded and dies. Several soldiers also die gruesome deaths. After the attack, Captain Bergen and his two remaining soldiers find a shelter. Bergan and Serling kill a pterodactyl and Kate is abducted. When the others regroup in the shelter, a pterodactyl bites Willis' ankle. Michael kills the reptile by shooting it through the eyes. Some of the group stays at the shelter, while the rest continue to the pterodactyl nest. Zelasny dies from her wounds and Willis is killed by pterodactyls. In the nest, Kate finds Clarke being eaten alive. She grabs his walkie-talkie and calls Bergen. While Bergen tries to distract a pterodactyl, the terrorist steals a gun and points it at Michael's neck, but his head is sliced off. When the rescue line for Kate snaps, Serling grabs Kate to swing to Michael. Serling slips off the rope, falling to the rocks below. Bergen salutes his soldier and runs off as Serling dies. As they get off the mountain, the last pterodactyl attacks. Bergen fires a missile but is killed. Michael keeps the missile on target and kills the Flying Reptile. As Kate and Michael walk away, a baby Tyrannosaurus emerges from the volcano's crater.

Cast

• Cameron Daddo as Prof. Michael Lovecraft
• Coolio as Capt. Bergen
• Amy Sloan as Kate Heinlein
• George Calil as Serling
• Steve Braun as Willis Bradbury
• Mircea Monroe as Angie Lem
• Jessica Ferrarone as Zelazny
• Todd Kramer as Clarke

Many of the characters are named after famous science-fiction and fantasy writers - Burroughs (Edgar Rice Burroughs), Clarke (Sir Arthur C. Clarke), Donaldson (Steven Donaldson), Heinlein (Robert A. Heinlein), Herbert (Frank Herbert), Lem (Stanislaw Lem), Lovecraft (H.P. Lovecraft), Serling (Rod Serling), Yolen (Jane Yolen) and Zelazny (Roger Zelazny).

Location

Despite the dialog indicating that the events are taking place on the Turkish-Armenian border (a dry, rocky, mountainous area), the landscape in the film is wooded forestland with open grassy knolls.

External links

• Pterodactyl at the Internet Movie Database
• Pterodactyl at allmovie