Bite

After seeing the trailer for Bite and reading online articles of how viewers at various film fests passed out during showings, I couldn't wait to see it, After more than a year it (at last!) popped up on my local cable channels On-demand roster. I happily shelled out $5.99 and hoped to see a film that would at least make me flinch several times.

But like $100 pay-per-view fights, unorthodox political candidates, and most rap CDs, this film didn't come close to living up to the hype. Bite, simply put, is done in by its own excesses. When a horror film relies solely on gross-out gimmickry rather than clever use of lighting, camera angles, or plausible plot, then the element of fright is replaced by boredom, nausea or both. Community theater acting doesn't help.

Elma Begovic plays Casey, a recently engaged twenty-something who while out celebrating with her girls, is bitten by some sort of water insect. Rather than seek medical attention, she ignores the mark left behind, even as it becomes larger and more disgusting. By the time Casey realizes this is no ordinary wound, the drastic effects are manifested.

This film contains every horror movie cliché you've seen before— single females going into dark venues to investigate; single woman falling down as she attempts to flee; overblown makeup to accent the drastic physical changes of victims; and sex scenes that are not only gratuitous, but fail to deliver the expected shock—say in the manner of the bedroom scene from the first Nightmare On Elm Street.

Poor pacing and the lack of anything original makes one want to yawn rather than scream. The director (Chad Archibald) has no idea how to use shadow or the camera to build suspense. It is so drab it makes anything produced by Rob Zombie look Oscar-worthy.

If you like being grossed out, you might get excited by Bite. If you're looking for something that makes you worry about having nightmares when you fall asleep, you'll find more chills—and better acting—in episodes of The Outer Limits.

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.

Bite doesn't have any substance to it at all. It is the type of film which advertises its over-the-top gore in order to gain cash and I'll admit, that's the one thing this movie tried to do decently. For a low budget film, there's a lot of effort placed in the FX and the horrors induced by this single infected bite. It's a bit disgusting when you first view it, but as you go on in the film, it gets overdone and repetitive. This film tried too hard to gross the viewer out by adding a lot of gooey substance, crunching insect noises and decaying corpses but the thing is, nothing is done with it in order to internalize the disturbing imagery in the viewer's mind. It just keeps on adding it, thinking that a lot of gore will gross the viewer out but it just gets rather gratuitous and mundane. But for a low budget film, I'll accept it; it did its best to go beyond any horror film in our cinemas.

Other than that, the rest of the film is a mess. The casting doesn't feel right, the actors may range from okay to bad and the script is just plain horrible. Its one of those films I believe that all the filmmakers put their effort in the blood and the gore but ignore the other aspects of the story. I didn't like any of the characters except for Kirsten and it's difficult to care for the MC because albeit she's in a horrible state she still acts grim and immoral it's hard to feel any sense of sympathy for her. The dialogue isn't done very well to the point that it actually feels comedic and makes you question if this was trying to add humor to the story.

This doesn't feel to have much of a plot, it just wanted to show the effects of having this infected bite. There are other aspects that it tried to include such as marriage issues, cheating and friendship but it all leads to the gore. In fact, it wasn't done very well in the first place and it feels hastily done and unnecessary to the film and what it wanted to show audiences which is, you got it right, the gooey gore. It relies to much on it to move the story forward when there isn't much of a story at all.

Bite feels like wasted potential. The filmmakers seemed to forget that it was a movie and not some blood fest. Every thought was placed in the gore that the acting, the plot and the dialogue were neglected, making it for a mediocre and amateurish experience in the cinema. The FX is the only thing that can be closely considered to checking this movie out.

So why on earth then, did Ms Bitey appear to be scared to visit one????

The acting, even by general horror movie standards is awful. Not so bad its good awful, just good enough to be considered genuinely awful.

The plot, could have been interesting with a bit more imagination, however the entire time I watched, I kept saying to myself, why doesnt she just visit a hospital? Its Canada. Your survival rates from getting checked out by a doctor are pretty high.

The effects were, as another reviewer commented, akin to The Fly, even some of Mr Goldblum's mannerisms were used here too I feel. I liked it, and the dark, amber soaked lighting added to the mood nicely.

Best part of the movie was the dog, what a cute little bugger he was.

The worst part, when our lead character screams into a mirror and it shatters and the whole apartment appears to shake as a result of some otherworldly powers which really, was ridiculous and out of place with the rest of the movie.

Lastly, they did a real number on the apartment, looks like it was filmed by Renton inside the worst toilet in Scotland.

Look, I get that the transformation body horror genre can get tired, but if done properly it can still be good with gross out moments. This is no exception. Certainly not the most amazing movie, and it certainly paid more than its share of homage to The Fly (1986).

Good story, decent acting, just enough length to get in then get out to the next film. In the meantime, it still offers the pukey moments and makes you want to shower.