Piper tackles a fantasy trope that's been fairly popular for a couple centuries to show you where his heart's at: the old explorer-disappears-in-a-valley-populated-by-monsters motif. Glenn Edwards vanishes when his plane crashes in Amarok Crater, and the Government ain't doing a damn thing about it, so it's up to his fiancé Samantha to rescue him. Who better to help than a dude in a bomber jacket and a drunken pilot? Trouble is, weird giant insects and a 50-foot-tall dude with three eyes populate the crater, and it's up to Samantha and her pals to find Glenn and escape alive! Here's hoping they're up to the challenge!

Triclops is, primarily, silly-ass fun, not meant to be taken seriously at all, except where Piper's animation efforts are concerned, and the furious compositing he does to weave everything together. (I reckon the efforts in selling the sizzle, from actors Erin Waterhouse, Richard Lounello, Ken Van Sant and Matthew Crawley are also of importance. And it should be noted they all comport themselves admirably, just believable and serious enough to keep everything afloat.) As far as story-telling art with a capital 'A' is concerned, I'm sure I don't have to tell you where to go. It ain't Piper's or Van Sant's backyards, where much of Triclops was shot. Characters' motivations are fluid and unreliable, and that's about all there is to complain about.

Old-fashioned, relaxed comic timing, and compelling action-effects sequences made with Piper's pocket change and hundreds if not thousands of hours of work are what should be celebrated. Though Triclops is shaggy as hell, it's an honest, authentic labor of love, and a damn good night at the drive-in movies. Weird giant bugs caper effortlessly, while the title creature represents a marvel of blended stop-motion and a super-imposed flabby guy in a loincloth.

Triclops' blend of breathless action, stop-motion mania, old-fashioned creatures and fun-fun-fun is near perfect in its nostalgic simplicity. If you've ever assembled a monster model kit, (or just wish you had) order up a pizza, crack open an icy-cold Coke, and kick back, because this one's Recommended.

The DVD

Video:
Alpha New Cinema and Alpha Video bring you Piper's latest on an on-demand style professionally burned DVD disk that plays perfectly. Visual quality is all over the south end of the map, but when you toil in trenches like Piper's it's probably the best you can get. Coming at you in anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen, Triclops looks pretty shaggy, like its monster's loincloth. While Piper's compositing skills are marvelous and seamless, no one would use the same words to describe this authoring job. Who cares!? Digital artifacting, motion blur and more really and truly don't detract too much from your viewing experience (with the proper attitude that is). (Some of those night/day/night continuity errors, on the other hand ...)

Sound:
Stereo Audio is just fine, with all levels mastered correctly and everything sounding OK on a budget.

Extras:
A lively, funny, and endearing Commentary Track from Piper and his actors is more than worth your time, and is slightly more amusing with Waterhouse chiming in from a telephone hook-up that sounds less than fantastic. A couple minutes of Outtakes and Bloopers are always welcome, though in this case far too brief.

Final Thoughts:
Triclops tells the hoary tale of a pilot lost in a land of giant insects and an even more giant Giant, the hideous title creature. The movie's blend of breathless action, stop-motion mania, old-fashioned creatures and fun-fun-fun is near perfect in its nostalgic simplicity. If you've ever assembled a monster model kit, (or just wish you had) order up a pizza, crack open an icy-cold Coke, and kick back, because director Brett Piper's latest master class in the almost lost art form of stop-motion animation is Recommended.

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