Vampiros mutantes

In Mercier, Louisiana, the freshmen friends of the Tate University Jason Ortiz (Arnie Pantoja), Aaron (Branson Rodriguez) and Eden (Jessica Stroup) go to an underground party in the woods nearby the local cemetery. They drink the punch spiced with ecstasy and completely drugged, Jason is attacked and killed by violent bats. When the police finds the body, they arrest Aaron and Eden as prime suspects. However, their biology professor Maddy Rierdon (Lucy Lawless) sees the corpse and advises that the youngster had been actually bitten by animals. When Maddy catches bats using a goat and a net, she realizes that the animals are mutant vampire bats with extra fangs and that the modification of the breed was caused by the water dumped by Carbide Waste Resources in the river. While a group seeks the lair of the bats and a means to eliminate them, Maddy discloses corruption in the town.

"Vampire Bats" will never win an Emmy but it is a pleasant entertainment. The Brazilian title of the DVD induces the viewer to horror genre and I believe the target audience is never reached. The story is actually an adventure and if the viewer watches this movie with minor expectation, he or she may find a nice surprise. There are some usual flaws and clichés in this film, but there are also good and funny moments. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Morcegos - Assassinos da Noite" ("Bats - Night Killers")

Note: On 07 March 2025, I saw this film again.

The dialogue of the college-aged characters towards the beginning of this made for TV film captured my attention. The group, which tended towards the Gothic or nerd type of college stereotype, spoke like real people.

The pacing and editing was above par for a TV movie, and the fact that Lucy Lawless does not age continues to confound me.

I Tivoed this movie, and because of the Sunday time-shifts from the afternoon NFL games, I missed the last 15 minutes of the film. I hope to catch it the next time it is run. Ideally, I will not have to wait until next Halloween.

This movie, with a little more money and the proper advertising, could have been an acceptable movie theatre offering. OK, maybe another A/B list lead to counter Lucy Lawless would be necessary, but the basics of an intelligent, somewhat thought-provoking movie are firmly in place with Vampire Bats.

Make no mistake, this absolutely comes across as the TV movie that it is, and one of the classic "nature run amok" variety. All the staples of the genre are here: one big star (Lucy Lawless) and other names of varying renown; a small number of experts, town officials that try to downplay the danger, and a large host of nobodies to become victims; themes of environmentalist warning signs, official corruption, and/or capitalist malfeasance; a ham-handed ending. Scenes of social gatherings of any size ride a line between setting the stage for a bloodbath, and just padding out the length. Having been made in the early 2000s, 'Vampire bats' treats us to further common elements thereof including overzealous editing or camerawork as a substitute for judicious storytelling or film-making, annoying pop rock and nondescript EDM, obnoxious college students, and the like. None of this is to say that this feature is wholly bereft of entertainment value, but we've seen this movie before, and we can reasonably ask what cause we have to see another.

For what it's worth, this is well made such as it is. The effects are fine, including blood, gore, and special makeup, and the production design that adjoins the swell filming locations. The cast perform well, I think, with the material they have to work with. Any "action sequences" or moments of violence come off well enough. There are, truly, no surprises in Doug Prochilo's screenplay, nor in Eric Bross' direction, but both demonstrate competence in their work. 'Vampire bats' never quite achieves any especial thrills or impact, but it's suitably enjoyable - which is, in fairness, more than can be said for some of its brethren. There are better examples of the genre, by all means, but apart from noting the typical inelegance or heavy-handedness we expect from such titles, the worst that can really be said here is that it's perfectly in keeping with its cousins - which is to say, average. Unless you're a big fan of Lawless or someone else involved there's no reason to seek it out, but if you happen to come across it or want something low-key to pass the time on a lazy day, well, 'Vampire bats' is fun enough to satisfy that want, and maybe that's all it needs to be.

BAD, BAD, BAD ! I can't stress this enough. I know t.v. movies suck, but this... The actors who played the students should look for work in a paint factory, cause watching that dry would have been a much better use of my time. This could have had something, but it was handled poorly. Even the lead actors were very boring. It felt way to padded. It could have run at about one hour. That to would have been to long. I don't know why Xena would get hooked up in this. The ending was so bad, even a 5 year old could guess what was going to happen. I was sort of looking forward to this, but was let down, way down. Next Halloween leave this in the guano where it belongs and choose something with some real bite !

In this made-for-TV film, a group of freshman college punks get drugged up at an underground party, and ended up being attacked by violent bats. This leads to an investigation by biology professor Maddy Rierdon (Lucy Lawless), who discovers that the creatures are mutated vampire bats, threatening to the town.

There are some average-rated action, including all the scenes of investigations, bat attacks and residents fleeing for their lives. Other than that, everything else was batty. The cast of characters didn't have much acting abilities, save for Xena star Lucy Lawless; the overall plot lines were not exciting; there were lack of scares and suspense; and the movie had an illogical messaging (especially the environmental elements).

Overall, it is a pretty predictable but unexciting film, with no suspense built-up.

Grade D