Now it’s 2007 and the Sci-Fi Channel is poised to premiere another original movie in which Allied soldiers must defeat another monstrosity brought to life by the Nazis in a desperate attempt to win WWII. On Saturday night, March 24th, Sci-Fi unveils Reign of the Gargoyles starring Joe Penny (“Riptide”, “Jake & the Fat Man”) and Wes Ramsey (the adult Wyatt on “Charmed”). When an Allied bomber goes down behind enemy lines, its crew of young American fliers and their veteran commander face the Nazis’ latest secret weapon: huge, stone gargoyles that have been brought to life to fight the Allies in the air. The stranded bomber crew must destroy the powerful Gargoyle King to prevent the Nazis from turning the tide of the war.
Oh, those wacky Nazis – don’t they realize that once a military power has to resort to conjuring up a squadron of animated granite gargoyles they’ve already conceded defeat? Just ask Tom Brokaw; I’m pretty sure he wrote something along those lines in his book The Greatest Generation.
Reign of the Gargoyles isn’t the Sci-Channel’s first foray into gargoyle-dom, having previously aired the Jim Wynorski/Michael Pare monster mash Gargoyles: Wings of Darkness. I just hope this one has better CGI than the other and a better plot too. At least it has a better title, although I think Reich of the Gargoyles would have been even better.
Despite my misgivings about the quality of Sci-Fi Channel original movies, the prospect of aerial combat scenes between WWII fighter planes and Germany’s secret weapon, which I have already dubbed “Luftwaffgoyles,” peaks my interest.