Rent Sweetheart (2019)

OK creature feature if you’re in the mood - Sweetheart review by Alphaville

Terrible title for a creature feature. Why not Creature from the Black Hole or Curse of the Sea Monster? At least that would have been more fun. The same goes for the film. It’s too silly to be scary and not silly enough to be fun.

The lo-budget mostly single-hander begins like a reality TV show, with a teenage girl stranded on a tropical island. Just when you’re getting bored, growling sound effects announce the monster’s nightly appearances, but during the day the girl unaccountably continues to act without undue trauma. Matters do improve when the man-in-a-monster-suit finally puts in an appearance but, even at a mere 75mins before awful rap muzak plays over the end-credits, the film seems too long to maintain any momentum. Still, it’s well-made, well-acted and, with the help of its exotic Fijian setting, just about daft enough to pass the time on a slow night

Tepid waters - Sweetheart review by AER

Sweetheart is a Saturday night throwaway that is fairly toothless. It plays like 'my first horror movie' so innocuous are the thrills. It mostly works when the threat is a mystery and the lead character is on her own, but there's nothing new here. A spirited lead actress alone doesn't make this interesting. It's third division Blumhouse.

Disappointing Creature Thriller - Sweetheart review by CD

The idea behind this film is not a bad one, and the lead actress does a spirited job in trying to make this intense enough to keep the audience. Unfortunately the special effects required to create a realistic and scary enough monster were clearly beyond the budget of the film. The other characters when they appear later in the set seem rather wooden and the energy of the film starts to disappear. The finale is better than expected but it's a film that does not really score on any major points other than the blue sea and palm tree setting.