Infection (2005)

Absolutely the worst movie.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

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

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

I give this movie a 4, if only because there was one spot that made me jump out of my jammies, and that usually gives any movie I rate 3 stars or so. They get another star for doing this movie in one continual shot, unlike other 'cam' movies. Not sure what to say about the acting. Amazing though that at no point did they break out into uncontrollable laughter. In a way, this looks like it could have been a high school or college project. There are some inconsistencies that didn't make a lot of sense, for example, cell phones not working (c'mon Verizon!) yet two-way voice/video between police vehicle and police station functioning, to some extent anyway. And, I do have to ask, but why do people always get 'invaded' or 'infested' through the ear? I think Star Trek did that, one time is enough. Not sure what to make of the 'ghosting' parts. That part is never explained. (actually, nothing is explained) Also, does rural California look like that? It looks like something you'd see in the Great Lakes area, it reminded me of the sorta crappy roads you get in Ontario when you're by Lake Huron. Word has it that if you watch the 15 minutes of credits (really, 15 minutes!) you get no additional information. Anyway, the only recommendation I can make to the producers of this movie, if they're reading this review, when doing a dash-cam movie, mount the cam a little higher. I really don't need to see the hood of the police vehicle for an hour. Also, what cop wears jeans while on duty? They do sell blue or black work pants at Wal-Mart. I'm not a movie producer, so I won't critique anything else. But, just saying, the girl gets a real nice prom dress..surely $30 pants from Wal-Mart or Marks Work Warehouse wouldn't have broken the bank.

That's right. You heard me.Almost everything important in this movie happens off-camera. The problem with these "real-life" style horror flicks is that the presence of the camera has to be explained. The only way the makers of 'Infection' could think of to get a "real" camera into their movie was to use the dashboard camera of a police car. The problems with this choice should have been immediately apparent--the middle of a car's dashboard can't follow a principal character around. A police car can't bob and weave through buildings, can't hide in bushes, can't investigate strange sounds in an abandoned warehouse or flee to the roof and fail miserably at trying to escape via helicopter, can't do about 80% of the "required" activity in a successful zombies-are-coming-to-eat-you flick. It's just too limited. Even COPS doesn't rely ONLY on dashboard cameras. Why the makers of 'Infection' thought they could do it is beyond me. You're so desensitized to everything by the time hand-held cameras finally DO come into play toward the end, it doesn't even have an effect.The "skipping" footage doesn't help matters. For the feed to cut out just when what IS visible starts to get good doesn't make it extra scary, it just makes it frustrating.Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of "less is more." Best thing about 'Paranormal Activity?' The power of suggestion. But the power of suggestion ALONE is not enough to carry a good horror film.Even with an "A for effort," I can only justify giving this flop three stars. Recommended only for those who can't handle the real scares in something like '*REC' or 'Paranormal Activity.'

A film for all those who say The Blair Witch Project was tedious, stupid, or poorly acted, or rather, a real example of a film that is tedious, stupid, and poorly acted. Still, despite its many faults, Albert Pyun's Invasion does retain a modicum of creepiness, perhaps a testament to the first-person approach (here, through a cop car's camera) combined with mysterious horror. The end credits run for 16 minutes, or nearly a fifth of the movie's running time. They just keep going and going, and going, and going...and going, and going. And going some more. Is this review now long enough to be submitted? Yes, yes it is.

The Hawaian born director Albert Pyun has a somewhat dubious reputation. Some call him a plain bad film-maker, others praise his work for his offbeat screenplays and his often use of rather impressive steady-cam shots. But regardless all that, Pyun developed quite a lot of fans with his apocalyptic 'cyborg'-movies. And his movie RADIOACTIVE DREAMS even won the Golden Raven at the 5th Brussels International Festival Of Fantastic Film in 1987. I think that last fact should make people think twice before calling him a bad director.His newest film, INFECTION, shows a very different Pyun at work and this movie simply can not be compared with any of his previous efforts. INFECTION could be described as a cross between a 'virus outbreak movie' and an 'alien invasion movie'. Perhaps more accurate would be: THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT meets THE X-FILES. Above all, INFECTION really is a true cinematic 'tour-de-force', because the movie consists of only one single, continuous shot (plus a little pro- and epilogue). That 63 minutes long shot is filmed with a high definition surveillance camera mounted on the dashboard of a police-car.The story goes like this: A meteor, containing an aggressive alien virus, crashes on earth a few minutes before midnight near a little town called Lawton. Larry Jenkins, a local farmer, alerts the police through the radio. When inspector Bardo arrives, Jenkins infects him with the alien virus. Bardo then takes his car and drives away. He runs into the young couple Timmy and Cheryl. Bardo infects the unsuspecting Timmy, and Cheryl takes off with the police-car. She now must survive the long cold night while the virus is spreading rapidly amongst the local population. All these events are filmed from the police-car and take place in a wide forest-like park during one night. A lot of background information to the story is given through conversations we hear over the police-radio.It is simply amazing how this movie, with seemingly one boring point of view from the camera, can tell such an intriguing and thrilling story. The occasional special effects and sounds-capes, added in post-production, help to make the movie a bit more captivating. The omni-present darkness has a claustrophobic and, a the same time, hypnotic effect. When watching this on a big screen in a theater, the viewer, at one point or another, might even begin to see things that aren't really there. Pyun cleverly accentuated this effect while editing the movie.INFECTION is an exclusive but very successful experience, that almost wasn't even completed. The actual shooting of the movie took seven continuous hours. There was enough budget for only five takes. The actors sometimes had to wait a few hours before the camera would arrive at their location. When the previous four takes were all messed-up even within the first half of the shot, everybody began fearing the worst: it seemed impossible to shoot this movie. But miraculously, the final take went without any problems and INFECTION was history. Because of that fact alone, the movie is worth seeing and gets an extra point (If you're wondering how I got all this information: I talked to the director at the festival's 2006 edition). Although INFECTION certainly isn't for everyone, I myself enjoyed the movie much more than the over-hyped BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. Albert Pyun has once again proved that you don't always need a big budget to make a good movie. Sometimes a good idea and creative ways is all it takes. If you ask me: he is forgiven his previous failures and has surpassed himself with INFECTION.