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.

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.

6.25 of 10. If you're looking for something beyond another spider film, The Fly, Spiderman, or the Thaw, this adds something new to mix. It's also ahead of the curve on the zika-like infections.

Excellent visual and sound FX for a low-budget, indie film where the writer and director are the same person.

So much horror is fantasy based that another strong part of this film is that there's reality/science integrated into the horror. If you want horror that's not based purely on nonsense, you'll definitely appreciate this film.

The only weak part of the film involves the casting. With more budget and bigger actors, this could have easily been a more recognized film. As it is, it will probably pick up a cable audience and eventually turn into a cult hit.

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.