Grendel (film)


Grendel is a 2007 American action-fantasy television film directed by Nick Lyon and very loosely based on the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf. The television film was produced by the Sci Fi channel as an original movie for broadcasting on the Sci Fi cable television network, and began airing on January 13, 2007. In 2010 it was released on DVD from the sister company by Universal Pictures.

Synopsis

The movie posits Grendel's mother as a monster who demands monthly sacrifice from the Danes; king Hrothgar and his wife Wealhþeow have agreed to the scheme, with the result that by the time the hero Beowulf comes to the kingdom of the Danes there are almost no children left, and Hrothgar bemoans the fact that he has become as monstrous as the monster. After she disappears from the scene her son, Grendel, continues her reign of terror.

Cast

Nickolas Haydock, in the essay "Making Sacrifices" from the Beowulf on Film collection, called the film "highly derivative" and "regrettable".