Bite

"Bite" is nowhere near original or innovating, but it's guaranteed to entertain the gorehounds and sick puppies among us. It's a body-horror galore, with blood, vomit, pus, and other bodily fluids richly squirting out of a variety of body holes. You'll need to be patient for a while, though, as the film starts out rather slow and traditional. Casey, together with her two BFFs Jill and Kirsten, celebrates her bachelorette weekend in tropical Costa Rica, and naturally also the "cold feet" syndromes come to the surface. While swimming in a remote lagoon, Casey gets bitten by an undefined insect or parasite, which causes a gradual but extreme metamorphosis. The plot is derivative, but the make-up effects are terrific. The footage of Casey evolving into a life-size bug is often gruesome, the turning of her cozy apartment into a creepy insect's lair is horrifying, and the few kills that take place are brutal and nauseating. It's not quite Cronenberg, but good enough to get a recommendation from me.

But good God did they pull those horrid actresses randomly off the street?! That was the real horror here. It was like a bad high school play and the dialogue made it even worse. 5 stars for all the slimy gore, but zero stars for the laughable and cringy acting.

The beginning of the movie left me already winding myself in my seat and my first reaction was "oh no, not another one of these terrible low budget movies". But the further the movie progressed, the more I got sucked into it. This is one of the movies where you shouldn't care about the plot, the dialogues or even the characters themselves. Instead just focus on the practical effects they used and how they add more and more layers of film art step by step. This is one of the movies known for the audience leaving the cinema because they couldn't take it anymore at some point. And I can totally understand where this is coming from. If you have a problem with vomiting, slime and goo... or insects in particular, you might not enjoy this movie at all. Those who can sit through something like this will get rewarded with an awesome example of how to create a creepy creature and using just the right lighting to not ruin things. I applaude this movie! Thank you for the love of detail, no matter the budget. If you liked the visuals of The Fly, you will love Bite. If this movie would have the acting and the writing of The Fly, it could be maybe even become another classic of our time.

The acting is sub par and isn't helped by a shoddy script. Where the budget was used well was on make-up and practical FX.

The title card was played over loud eerie music that was blatantly stolen from Insidious (which is also rubbish).

The body horror was stolen from The Fly.

The cocoon ideas were stolen from Alien(s).

I enjoyed this movie, I had not heard about any of the hype until after I watched it so I had no preconceived ideas.

Casey is getting married and goes on a hen party trip with two of her friends. They go off the beaten track to a natural pool which is recommended to them by someone they meet. Casey is bitten under the water by some kind of bug. After returning home she notices a rash on her shoulder whilst in the bath. Areas of her body become inflamed with raised large lumps, they are painful and develop into gross pustules. She feels unwell, begins to get sick and basically gets worse and worse.

Along with this going on she has the mother-in-law-to-be from hell who literally hates her guts and a friend who wants her fiancé and steals her engagement ring.

Casey mutates into a gross goo-dripping creature that lays little ball eggs and makes a big slimy mess.

There have been a lot of negative reviews about this movie but I think that is possibly down to pre-movie hype that did not live up to expectations.

For me I found the movie a little bit slow after Casey began feeling ill. I quite liked the characters and how they were all a bit off. I was frustrated at how Casey didn't go to the doctors when the initial symptoms began appearing as that would have been what any relatively normal person would have done. If she had have gone to the doctors this would have given the movie a bit more depth and could have added another dynamic.

As the movie progresses and Casey becomes more and more mutated I thought it was really good, I like the concept of making a nest and how she changed. I felt for her. There was tension and the makings of a good thriller as her friends began to try to get in touch with her and enter her apartment.

Yes there are many flaws but it does still stand up as a pretty good horror. It caught my imagination and kept me thinking about it for some time after watching which is always a good indication of a film you have enjoyed.