Directed By Mike P. Nelson

Starring – Logan Marshall-Green, Jessica Rothe, Kiana Madeira

The Plot – When a team of young doctors embark on a local humanitarian mission through the Amazon rain forest, it soon becomes clear that not everyone or everything is happy to see them. Their arrival draws the attention of an ancient predator, the “Boiúna.” This ancient killer, dominant on land and water, clashes with the group to reclaim the jungle. What follows is a fight for survival in which the roles of hunter, prey and hero become unpredictable. Set against the backdrop of Brazil’s Curuçá River in the present day.

Rated R for bloody violent content, some grisly images, and adult language

Beware Boiúna (2026) Final Trailer – Kiana Madeira, Jessica Rothe, Logan Marshall-Green

POSITIVES

Make no mistakes about it, what Nelson has exceptionally accomplished here is nothing short of impressive, as many filmmakers have attempted to perfect the formula of creature feature attack films with laughably cheesy results, and while Beware Boiuna certainly isn’t free from problematic instances, the overwhelming majority of Nelson’s impulses balance risk and restrain accordingly, leading to a popcorn thriller of a good time with quite a few ambitious swings to its execution. For starters, the authenticity of the direction from Nelson effortlessly breeds an enticing danger factor that effectively balances urgency and vulnerability for its characters, both with on-site filming locations of the actual Amazon at the production’s disposal, but also the grittily grimy cinematography from Nick Junkersfeld, enacting all of the grindhouse sensibilities from 70’s cinema, regardless of the technical mastery that is at play to its overall presentation. While Boiuna is certainly the queen of these forests, Nelson never overlooks the circumstantial distress continuously manifested from so many unforeseen environmental factors already making it difficult enough for our protagonists to survive, long before a gigantic snake makes her presence felt, and with some gruesomely gnarly make-up concepts surmising gashes and gore aplenty, there’s no semblance of a safety zone to anywhere the story takes us, appraising a remarkable home field advantage for Boiuna, which she constantly takes advantage of. Speaking of the story, the script might actually be the highlight of the movie for me personally, as screenwriter Alan B. McElroy does a remarkable job of making the most of the movie’s minutes by cementing developmental value to the backstories and dynamics of these characters, throughout the entirety of the movie’s opening half, leaving Boiuna’s appearances minimized in more meaningfully beneficial ways than expected. This bravely bold decision not only fleshes out our characters, leading and supporting, in order to make their untimely losses matter all the more influentially to a sequence’s conjured emotionality, but also allows Boiuna herself to maintain the air of mystique that works wonderfully with the established lore that the script grinds into many of the movie’s overarching narrative, allowing the ravenous reptile to be equally feared and respected amongst the Amazon cultures who understand themselves to be a product of her environment. As a result of so much attention to detail in these characters, the script is able to unload some stunning surprises that certainly surmise situational stakes to so much devastation, but beyond that allows McElroy to play with ages old formulas that have predictably telegraphed survivors long before the storytelling has truly taken shape, featuring some compelling character evolutions that provide the necessary depth to be constantly at eye level with the motivations of their occasionally questionable actions. On top of thorough writing and strong direction, the film also doesn’t feel handicapped by the execution of its minimalized budget, with everything about this creature design mastering believability in the firm balance of both practical and special effects that seamlessly bring her to life with tangible heft and influence. While the latter certainly dominates the majority of the snake’s enacted actions and movements, the tight-knit framing of claustrophobically contained photography and a lot of nighttime shoots keep the effects from ever standing out in the most transparently hollow kind of ways, however even when the scenes do eventually shift to daytime, the snake is far enough away from the lens to maintain the air of immersion that immediately silences the disbelief of the mind in seeing something so out of the ordinary, providing ample proof that enough time has passed to perfect creature effects in ways that are devastating over distracting, with plenty of camera tricks along the way to keep it from ever slipping through the grasp of so many talented filmmakers assembled. As for the performances, Logan Marshall-Green and Jessica Rothe hand in stellar work while sifting through the dimensionality of their character’s evolutions, with Marshall-Green commanding the heaviness that comes with losing a life, while Rothe suffers psychological duress in being responsible for taking a life. Both of them bring the kind of endearing gravitas to their respective portrayals that easily alleviates the captivity of playing types, however if the movie has one star-making turn in the extent of its gifted ensemble, it’s definitely that of Fear Street’s own Kiana Madeira, whose physically grueling dedication, stoic resiliency, and imposing grit not only make her such a captivating force of nature to be reckoned with, but also the rare case where an actress conveys her toughness on-screen rather than waits for the script to articulate it for her, and while Kiana’s commitment to craft has never been a question in any of her previous roles, the naturally meditated psychology that she brings to character here feels most comfortable to her most distinguished capabilities, providing possibly the only exploratory avenue towards balancing the scales in the overwhelming adversity of overcoming a larger-than-life serpent.

NEGATIVES

Much about Beware Boiuna satisfied a creature feature sweet spot for monster horror that had gone ignored for far too long, but even in the extent of its execution, there are some alienating ailments that took down its overall appeal in its collective measurement, beginning with a lack of personality to the movie’s tone, that remains too sternly serious to evoke the fun for all audiences involved. While films like Anaconda or The Meg overwhelm with so much campiness that makes it difficult to interpret anything at face value, I earnestly admit that some of that campiness could’ve gone a long way towards alleviating some of the meanspirited consistencies of its helming, providing an accessible avenue to further convey Boiuna’s unshakeable capabilities. A thirst for subtle humor is felt during one such scene where a character is submerged in quicksand, and forced to remain dormant because of Boiuna’s sudden appearance alongside them, and though the opportunity doesn’t call for any kind of substantial chewing of the scenery, it does opt for the stranded character to look directly into the lens with stacked frustrations, providing a connective link to the audience that only further elevates the immersion of what’s at stake. Beyond the absence of some pallet cleansing levity, the urgently alarming handcrafted sequences certainly have no problems with conjuring the necessary suspense and intensity to leave us on the edge of our seats, but they’re humbled egregiously by handheld shaking camera captures that obscure the cohesiveness of the imagery, more times than not, leaving my eyes searching for some semblance of definition in these characters or their detectable actions to bridge insight into what I was interpreting. Between this and last month’s The Uprising, it unfortunately feels like shaking camera is making a comeback to mainstream cinema, and while it can serve a beneficial purpose in measured doses, the kind manifested here definitely feel like the more detrimental variety, causing a lot of counterproductive chaos that nearly drops the ball on its most expressively enamoring sequences throughout the film. Last but certainly not least, even the ending resolution of the movie left a lot to be desired in satisfying closure, specifically as a result of the screenplay writing itself into a corner by sending the unstoppable force and immovable object on a collision course of confrontational inevitability. While I can easily understand that an original movie requires a lot of exploratory freedom to possibly option future sequels, there’s simply not enough back and forth offense to make the conflict feel satisfying for the 95-minute journey to getting here, specifically once Boiuna makes one confounding decision that relies heavily on neat-and-tidy convenience. It has the film’s closing moments feeling abruptly rushed rather than disquietingly resolved, and for those in the audience who aren’t as influenced by everything that I previously commended, might result in enough artistic disbelief to compromise the entirety of their experience, leaving the climax leveled by lore that provided a necessary means of escape for avoiding closure.

OVERALL
Beware Boiuna is an enticingly crafted exception to the rule with creature feature survival horror, whose long-term commitment to compelling characterization, seamless special effects, and Amazonian folklore slithers and charms with venomous delight, crafting grittily grindhouse grandeur that eventually sinks its teeth into unsuspecting audiences. Led prominently by a career-defining turn from Kiana Medeira, the film is able to overcome some of its situational shortcomings for stomach-churning shaking camera captures and an abruptly executed resolution, proving that there’s no depleted franchise or submerged subgenre that Mike P. Nelson can’t elevate

My Grade: 6.8 or C+