Mongolian Death Worm (film)

Mongolian Death Worm (film)

DVD Cover
Directed by Steven R. Monroe
Produced by Andrew Stevens
Written by Neil Elman
Kevin Leeson
Steven R. Monroe
Starring Victoria Pratt
Sean Patrick Flanery
George Cheung
Drew Waters
Music by Emir Isilay
Pinar Toprak
Cinematography Neil Lisk
Editing by Kristina Hamilton-Grobler
Production company Andrew Stevens Entertainment
Original channel Syfy
Running time 90 minutes

Mongolian Death Worm is a 2010 television film by Syfy.

Plot

An American corporation sets up operations in Mongolia to search for shale oil by pumping superheated water into the earth. The project encounters mysterious mechanical failures and delays while at the same time, the on-site manager, Patrick (Drew Waters) is apparently planning to steal something that is currently hidden in the plant, and sell it to a group of unknown buyers. He is worried that the equipment failures and delays will attract too much attention from 'corporate.' Unfortunately, this is the least of his problems, as the drilling operations have disturbed a nest of Mongolian death worms that are known in the legends of the indigenous people—monstrously long and lethal creatures that tunnel underground, similar to the creatures seen in Tremors (film), though slimier looking, with an enormous maw of teeth, poisonous venom, and the ability to generate an electromagnetic field that interferes with communications and other equipment.

One of the oil field workers, while making a repair out in the field, is attacked and swallowed whole. Then another worker is attacked in the subterranean area of the facility. Other workers, frightened by the rumors, don't show up for work. With the drilling operation (and his side deal) threatened, Patrick starts to panic when Mr. Bixler (Matthew Tompkins) from corporate shows up to find out what's going on.

At the same time, a group of volunteer medical workers, Doctors of Hope, is trying to stop an outbreak of disease in a Mongolian village also caused by the worms contaminating the water sources. The lead doctor, played by Victoria Pratt, encounters treasure hunter and adventurer, Daniel, played by the film's star, Sean Patrick Flannery when she and a colleague, Phillip (Nate Rubin) need transportation for themselves and their medical supplies to the village where the rest of her team is working. Daniel (as the opening desert car chase scene indicates) is a target of the chief crime boss in the area, Kowlan (Billy Blair) because of Daniel's treasure hunting forays into their territory. We eventually learn that Daniel already knows about the legend of the worms and has found artifacts with engraved images of the creatures. He believes his finds will lead him to a treasure—Genghis Khan's tomb.

While transporting the two doctors to the village of Sepegal, Daniels truck breaks down and they are taken captive by Kowlan's men. A friend of Daniel's, local police officer, Timur (George Cheung) finds Daniel's abandoned vehicle by the road and starts searching for him and the doctors.

Back at Kowlan's camp, Daniel creates a distraction so that the two doctors can escape. In the midst of a gun battle, as the two doctors speed away, worms emerge from the ground and eat Kowlan and his men. Daniel fires into a fuel tank and blows up one of the worms. Alicia and Phillip return to get the medical supplies from Daniel's truck and continue on to Sepegal where the epidemic is raging. There, another doctor, Steffi (Jon Mack), tells Alicia that the elderly sick people have been insisting that the epidemic is caused by the "death worms." Alicia and Phillip haven't actually seen any worms, but they heard Kowlan and Daniel talking about them.

At the plant, Patrick, desperate to still make his black market deal, reveals his duplicity when he pulls a gun on Mr. Bixler, who is on the phone to corporate. Patrick ties him up in the office. Shortly thereafter, another corporate manager shows up and, while looking through the plant for Mr. Bixler, is promptly eaten. Clearly, the worms are inside the plant. Patrick, still unaware of the worm threat, takes Bixler down to the lower level and binds him to a support column and gags him. All but two of the employees (Patrick's cronies) have either run away or been eaten.

Daniel reaches his truck and then goes to Sepegal to warn Alicia about the worms, and though they don't discuss the worms with the other staff and the patients, Daniel insists they need to move the temporary clinic and its patients somewhere else. One of the local people, a nurse, says they could find a phone and help at the oil drilling facility not far away. When they arrive at the plant, Daniel and Alicia are confronted by one of Patrick's people, Bana (Tiger Sheu), but as Bana is from Sepegal, and only participated in the theft scheme to help his people, he lets Daniel and Alicia inside when a worm appears behind them, ready to kill. Alicia theorizes that the worms are a type of organism that has been released from stasis because of the pumping of hot water deep into the earth. If the pumping stops, no new worms should be 'hatched.' Daniel takes Bana's gun away from him and demands that he shut down the pumping operation. Bana tells them it can only be done from controls located on the lower levels. In the meantime, Mr. Bixler gets eaten.

In Sepegal, Phillip and the nurse, Thuan (Cheryl Chin) are drawing water from the well when Thuan is sucked in by a worm and killed. Phillip and Steffi run back to the hospital as the worms begin to surround the hospital.

At the plant, Daniel and Bana shut down the pumps, then Bana panics and runs away, leaving Daniel behind. As Bana emerges from the plant, Patrick and the other accomplice return from having taken a crate of stolen loot to another hiding place. Bana yells at them to leave, that it's too late to go back inside, but as he runs to the truck, Patrick shoots him in the back. He then discovers Alicia in the plant office; she is on the phone with Officer Timur explaining that Sepegal needs help. He rushes to Sepegal and kills several worms with his shotgun as the worms are trying to get into the clinic. Timur tells the staff that more help is on the way, then he waits in the clinic with the staff and patients, shooting the occasional invading worm until the reinforcements and medics show up.

Daniel has made his way down to the lowest levels of the plant, suspicious of what Bana didn't want him to see. At length, he finds what he has been seeking—Genghis Khan's tomb. It is the relics of the tomb that Patrick has been concealing and trying to smuggle out of Mongolia. Patrick shows up, gun drawn, while his associate has Alicia at knifepoint. Daniel has to put his gun down (continuity error here—it's the revolver he had earlier in the film, not the automatic he took from Bana), but being a lot wilier than Patrick, who is highly stressed and reactive, he distracts him by pointing out the remains of Mr. Bixler and they get into a wrestling match. They each end up with a gun, and Daniel shoots Patrick in the shoulder. As they face off again, the ground shakes and worms begin to emerge from the walls. Patrick's henchman is eaten, Daniel and Alicia make it to the door, and Daniel realizes this is the queen worm's nest and the entire place must be destroyed. Patrick runs off in a different direction.

Timur arrives at the plant to find Daniel and Alicia and discovers Bana's body outside. Daniel discovers the room full of crates holding the treasure of the tomb. He breaks open a crate and artifacts and gold pour out onto the floor. He is finally holding it in his hands, but Alicia reminds him that it isn't worth dying for, and he agrees that they must destroy the plant completely. At that moment, Patrick limps into view, bleeding badly and waving his gun. His obsession has reached manic proportions. Even though Timur appears with shotgun in hand, Patrick is screaming that the treasure is all his. Behind him, a giant worm—the queen—creeps up. Daniel tells Patrick, "no, I think its hers." Patrick turns around to look behind him and is promptly eaten.

Daniel and Alicia adjust valves to make the pressure build up in the generators and pipes while Timur stands guard. Just as they are about to make it out of the building, three more worms show up. Timur shoots them, but doesn't see the enormous queen rising up behind him. Timur is her last victim. Daniel and Alicia rush outside as the explosions go off. As they sit on the grass, many of the gold coins and items from the tomb begin to rain down among the debris. Daniel is overjoyed that he will have some of the treasure after all. He returns Alicia to Sepegal and her colleagues, offering Alicia part of the proceeds from treasure, but she declines, saying that really isn't her thing. Daniel says he is going back to collect the treasure from the field around the plant. The doctors, including Phillip, agree that Daniel is not such a scoundrel after all. Alicia watches Daniel drive away and says she hopes she'll see him again. A full cast list can be viewed at IMDB.

Cast

Home media

Mongolian Death Worm was released on DVD on April 26, 2011 by Lionsgate.

Reception

Despite no approval rating as of today, the Rotten Tomatoes Want-to-see score is currently 41%. The only review on the site today is a negative review from Super Reviewer Doctor Strangeblog, who called the film "goofy, stupid B-movie fun, if that's all you're after. Flanery & Pratt have a good opposites-attract repartee."

External links