"It could be right behind me and I wouldn't even know it!" note
Sabretooth is a Syfy Channel Original Movie from 2002. It features Josh Holloway in one of his earliest film roles.
In the film, using fossilized DNA, a scientist clones a prehistoric saber-toothed cat. As the fearsome creature is being transported, it breaks free and begins stalking human prey. It first kills two vacationers, then begins to hunt a group of young hikers and campers in the nearby forest mountains. The scientist who created it and her colleague call in a big game hunter and tracker, to find the animal, tricking him into believing it is an African lion.
It was followed by Attack of the Sabretooth in 2005.
Never to be confused with the comic book character of the same name.
The film features the following tropes:
- Bare Midriffs Are Feminine: Lola is far less Tomboyish than Casey and wears several tank tops that stop well above her navel.
- Black Dude Dies First: Averted. The one black character is one of the last to die. He even goes down in a Heroic Sacrifice instead of being casually picked off.
- Blatant Lies: To get Thatcher to hunt the beast without any questions, Catherine and Bricklin tell him it's just an escaped African lion. To be fair, it certainly would sound more plausible to someone not in on the secret cloning experiments and holds up until he manages to see the cat at a distance and sees the teeth.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Anthony Bricklin is primarily motivated by the financial and political benefits of Catherine's project, as well as the legal fallout if the killings are traced back to him.
- Creepy Gas-Station Attendant: The man transporting the tiger stops at a gas station run by two brothers covered in oil stains. One of the brothers never talks and looks up directly at the sun at one point. Ultimately though, the two are unrelated to any of the movie's horror and get subjected to a Jump Scare by the real menace.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Most victims die in prolonged agony.
- Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Averted. The point of this was to perfect cloning technology, as that would be financially and professionally beneficial.
- Dirty Coward: Bricklin spends much of the hunt fearing for himself and demanding the others protect him.
- Disposable Vagrant: A poor janitor has the misfortune of encountering the sabretooth at the lab. This was covered up, and Catherine later justifies it by saying the guy was a loner with no ties to anyone.
- Fun T-Shirt:
- Zoology grad student Kara wears a t-shirt that says, "extinction sucks."
- Lola often wears a fun tank top that has a stop sign and the words "Danger: Hottie."
- Good Bad Girl: Lola is a provocatively dressed girl who admits that she used to hang out with a bad crowd and propositions Trent by stripping down to her bra and daring him to play hide-and-seek. However, she's pretty nice for the most part, and, after picking up on the tension between Trent and Casey, she makes sure they aren't still together before hitting on Trent.
- Gorn The deaths are quite gory at times.
- Gory Discretion Shot: Used liberally to the point that when the sabretooth pounces on Kara it literally tackles her out of frame to begin mauling her.
- Got Volunteered: Jason and Lola were both ordered to become hiking guides for underprivileged kids by their respective mothers due to Jason's computer game addiction and Lola hanging with a bad crowd. Jason complains about it some, while Lola doesn't seem to mind until the tiger shows up.
- Heroic Sacrifice: One of the campers tries fighting the sabretooth with two big honking knives to give the last two a chance to run. They get away; he doesn't.
- Honor Before Reason: Part of the reason Catherine intends to betray Thatcher is because he'll insist on telling the truth to the authorities when it's all over.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: How the sabretooth gets killed. With a homemade spear, no less. Conversely it kills one camper by biting her in the head and stabbing its massive teeth in through one side of her skull and out the other.
- Lingerie Scene: Lola asks Trent to play hide-and-go-seek. Before leaving, she strips down to her bra from the waist up to give him incentive to look for her.
- Murder by Inaction: Catherine callously kicks away a badly wounded survivor of the monster's attack on the cabin as the woman begs for help and then doesn't tell anyone else about seeing her, so they won't abandon the search to get the hurt woman medical attention.
- Panthera Awesome: Take a guess. Bonus points for getting the correct species and genus name note
- Pragmatic Villainy: Bricklin wants the sabretooth recaptured before more people die—not for moral reasons, but because of the legal fallout if any of this gets back to him.
- Skewed Priorities: A dangerous animal is on the loose and has killed several people, so of course Catherine is more concerned about preserving her accomplishment.
- Tempting Fate:
- One victim is out looking for her pet while the sabretooth is stalking around, saying "Here kitty-kitty-kitty!" right before it pounces.
- The Mad Scientist who made the sabretooth gets between the hunter she hired to catch it when he makes it clear he'll kill it instead. She orders it to "Run!" It eats her instead.
- Discussing the danger they're all in, Kara notes the sabretooth could easily be behind her and she'd never know in time. She is immediately attacked and killed.
- Token Evil Teammate: Catherine to her team. Thatcher is the heroic hunter out to kill the beast. Kara is a well-meaning and idealistic zoologist. Bricklin is corrupt, but he at least acknowledges how wrong this situation gets. Catherine, though, actively downplays the deaths her creation has caused, ignores a dying victim pleading for help, and sabotages Thatcher's best opportunity to kill the sabretooth.
- Too Dumb to Live: There are several examples throughout the film.
- Turned Against Their Masters: The Mad Scientist who made the sabretooth tries to save her murderous creation from being shot. It promptly drags her off and eats her. Bet you didn't see that one coming.
- Would Hit a Girl: Thatcher rightfully strikes Catherine for secretly unloading his rifle before he went to go face the sabretooth.
