INFESTATION a review with trailer
June 2nd 2010 12:27
Infestation official poster (copyright see below)
At first, I was wary. I had not read up about this film, and it so easily could fall into the ‘basket case’ category, a film that tries but does not succeed, and in its dismal failure, it just isn’t bad enough to become a campy and humorous cult hit.
This film, written and directed by young American Kyle Rankin, (until now an unknown to me), promised to be a comedic spin on the ‘alien invasion’ horror premise, and although there are a few moments that made me smile, a bit, it falls way short of the comical mark, and never makes the A Grade for spine tingling horror.
However, be that as it may, this film did not make me curse the fact I chose to review it, far from it. I found the SFX very capable, the editing (David Finfer) runs the storyline along smoothly enough, the acting reasonably laid back and not overly histrionic, but there we have a slight problem.
With gigantic beasty bugs invading the planet, bugs with huge mandibles, bugs that look like a hybrid between a Goliath, Rhinoceros and the Dung beetle, wrapping everyone up in white web-like stuff for consumption later, you would think there would be some mass hysteria, at least initially.
Maybe it was the narcoleptic drug, that the bugs spiked their prey with when they coocooned them, that made them all a little too accepting of the sudden fate of mankind? Or was it just budget? No expensive screaming chaotic mobs, that is more likely. Whatever the reason, the accepting attitude of the characters robbed the flick of some much needed tension, and the fact that the director seemed more interested in a fast pace, than building up suspenseful moments.
We initially meet Cooper, played by Christopher Arquette, (Fanboys), who is a rather hapless character, hopeless with girls, the office clown, and general underachiever type, and Cooper is about to be fired from his job. Then there is a huge white flash...
I did like the beginning, it was a novel approach, which I won’t reveal here, as you need all the interesting moments you can get. That is not to say there is a total dearth of them, I did like the half-breed spider-like workers, but their appearances were too few, yet memorable.
Another thing; those bugs, if truly based on the beetle, would have been almost indestructible and massively strong, but they were easily wrestled and splattered, even though they were the size of a steamer shipping trunk. Half were ground workers; the others were flying bugs, which snatched people away to the meteor nest.
And another thing; when the small band of the unwrapped (humans) eventually make their way (by walking) to Cooper’s (Christopher Marquette) father’s house, an ex-military type living some miles out of town, without every one of them bristling with heavy spades, pitch forks, and axes, that made me wonder a bit, as I sure as hell wouldn’t walk for 20 miles without something to protect myself, with massive bugs grabbing every living being on the loose. One did carry a shot gun, but that was only going to bring more trouble, as we learn the bugs are blind, but highly sensitive to noise.
The lack of logical follow through started to take its toll, and so, to atone for this disappointment, I wanted it to turn into one gigantic head severing, spinal puncturing splatter fest, but no. It was rather restrained in that department too, and they can’t blame the budget, as some of my favourite splatter films were made on the smell of a bloodied and gore encrusted rag. It had a few ‘tasty’ moments, but I wanted more.
Infestation - Trailer
Uploaded by ohmygore. - Check out other Film & TV videos.
The cinematography by Thomas E. Ackerman (Jumanji, Beetlejuice etc) is expertly shot and the special effects are, for the most part, good, with a mix of practical models and CGI, which allows a more realistic performance and interaction with the bugs and the actors. There were approximately 250 CGI shots or more, according to the director, which means the set ups were time consuming and manpower costly. The one thing low budget films do not have, is a surfeit of time.
The explosive SFX were well handled, mastered by a Bulgarian expert known as (rather worrisomely for the unit safety officer) “Zarco the destroyer” and he did his work well. In the DVD’s special features, we see Zarco go about his work, including setting part of the camera lighting equipment on fire. As the film was shot in Bulgaria, and set in the USA, the local art department staff did a good job of making it all seem like America, but frankly, it wasn’t important. To my mind, I would have written it as American tourists in Bulgaria and save some extra money to put towards more gore shots, but that’s me.
The model making was reasonably well done, tying in with CGI aspects, and because reviewers too often ignore their part in the film making process, and because I have run out of things to say about this film, here they are; the practical creature SFX supervisor was Jerry Constantine, Visual FX Dilated Pixels, Vis FX Producer PJ Foley, Vis FX Supervisor Efram Potelle, creature concepts by Matt Codd, VFX Tech Director James Allen May.
In closing, Infestation had the bones of a really good flick, along the lines of the British oddball hits, like Shaun of the Dead, but lacked the wit to raise it to a cult status.
However, as it was made for only US$5 million, it sure gives a hell of a bang for the buck, especially when compared to some of the hugely budgeted flicks of the last 15 years, many of which were an obscene waste of money and your time watching them.
I’d be interested to see what the director Rankin does next, and whether he can corner a bigger budget and maybe get a wittier writer to help him work the script.
It’s out on DVD, and really worth a look.
Cast ;
Christopher Marquette as Cooper
Brooke Nevin plays Sara
Kinsey Packard plays Cindy
E. Quincy Sloan plays Hugo
Wesley Thompson plays Albert
Linda Park plays Leechee
Bru Muller plays Roger
AVAILABLE FOR RENT OR PURCHASE FROM 7TH JULY 2010
RELEASED BY ICON HOME ENTERTAINMENT
IMAGE CREDITS: Poster image presumed owned b y publisher and/or production company and/or distributor ICON Home Entertainment, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Fair Use rationale: for description of product for review purposes only, low res copy, not meant for reproduction.
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Mountain Fog
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Fun review Foggy One.
Comment by Mountain Fog
Infognito
Screen Trek
QUOTE ME NO QUOTES!
yeah, you're right, it doesn't make the top grade, however, it will be interesting to see where this takes young Rankin.
cheers
fog
Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight
Comment by Mountain Fog
Infognito
Screen Trek
QUOTE ME NO QUOTES!
yeah, it's a near hit..... but a miss.. but not as bad as many other attempts I've seen however.
cheers
fog
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Mountain Fog
Infognito
Screen Trek
QUOTE ME NO QUOTES!
I'll be down next week, Friday is the plan, to meet up with pals in the East, I can drop it off to you if you would like? Or, if you are at the Lord Dud, I could drop it there for you.
cheers
fog
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile