Infestation (2009)

One of my all time favorites.

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Great entertainment. Good characters. Good comedy-horror of 1980's fashion. Zombie film meets the Mist. Break out the popcorn for fun pointless entertainment. Movie is also a good one to watch stoned. And yes, the blonde shows them off. If you liked Zombieland, give this one a try and try not to reason it too hard.

Irresponsible slacker Cooper (Chris Marquette) is in the process of getting fired from his crappy job when a strange noise renders him unconscious. Waking up several days later, wrapped in webbing, he frees himself only to discover that giant insects have cocooned everyone for miles around, storing them for food. After freeing several other immobilised individuals, including his boss's sexy daughter Sara (Brooke Nevin), Cooper and company set out to locate their nearest and dearest.Oversized insects have been terrorising the world of movies ever since the '50s; Infestation doesn't offer anything particularly new to the genre, warming up a hodge-podge of ingredients borrowed from many a big bug movie (Starship Troopers and Eight Legged Freaks automatically spring to mind).The resultant narrative is a bit of a mess, hindered by awkward editing, pointless exchanges of dialogue that affect the pacing, and plot threads which end abruptly; however, plenty of huge chitinous creatures (including several cool human/insect hybrids), a likable cast, a smattering of gore, and even a spot of gratuitous female nudity (courtesy of blonde weather girl Cindy, played by Kinsey Packard) ensure that Infestation proves to be a reasonably enjoyable slice of B-movie nonsense nonetheless.

Disregard the poor reviews....I have seen, and own, hundreds of 'monster horror' films, and this one, which I went into with low expectations (only buying it because it was $2 at a Blockbuster closing)impressed and entertained me very much. Having a very likable lead, in the John Cusack mold, helped greatly, but the effects were more than decent, and the writing was sharp and funny. Many of these type films have cookie-cutter dialog, but I laughed out loud a few times, when the writing caught me off guard. A favorite was when Cooper tells his dad his bold plan to rescue Sara from the hive, to which his dad replies "Let me tell you a little story......YOU'RE AN IDIOT!".....that was so out of the blue, that I burst out laughing, which I don't normally do. Ray Wise's delivery of the line was just right.So buy the film....it's cheap on Amazon. I just bought a second copy for a movie-loving friend. You could do a LOT worse.....trust me.

Anaconda gave us a giant snake. Lake Placid crocodiles. Tremors gave us giant underground worms. Boa Vs Cobra gave us ludicrous giant snakes. King Kong made us afraid of CGI monkeys. Deep Blue Sea gave us giant smart sharks. Arachnophobia gave us millions of spiders.Infestation gives us giant bugs who have taken over the world, or at least part of it.After some meaningless guff everyone who is gonna be in the film from here wakes up from an unexplained coma to find that the world has been overrun by giant bugs.Most of our "heroes" awaken in an office building, where they are joined by other similarly confused punters. They decide to go outside...Bad idea.Plan 2 sees them joining up to head across town to the home of one of the characters, a guy named Cooper whose Dad is a crazed war veteran with an underground bunker where they should be safe.Along the way the group end up as a 5-some, but really it is Cooper as the slacker office idiot and the daughter of his ex-boss (both because he was fired and because she was eaten) Sarah who matter, as from the start they are destined to be together. Sorry "the rest", you are all bug food!Sarah is taken by the bugs just before they reach Cooper's pad, meaning he must save her before he turns on the lave lamp and throws all his best moves at her in his stale smelling bedroom where the walls are covered in posters (I'm just guessing he is like every other early 20s guy who still lives with his parents), so it is on to the nest!Look this is a nice little low budget effort so the plot doesn't matter once you've read the People Vs Giant Bugs bit. There are some creative creature effects, most notably the "hybrid" creatures that seem to use unwilling humans as hosts. Being a low budget flick it is also good to see that they covered some of the bare minimum elements that such a film requires.Those include:* - Bad jokes.* - Boobies.* - Violence.* - Funny and gross creatures.I liked the ending too, all in all this is an ideal mid week rental. You don't have to think, your missus will shriek a couple times without ever being scared or too grossed out, and it doesn't really matter if she falls asleep half way through. It also tops out at under 90 minutes.Final Rating - 5.5 / 10. No-one behind this is walking up the steps to get an Oscar, but a creative genre piece that achieves its limited goals.