Vampire Bats

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

This made for TV film is about killer vampire bats but with an environmental twist.

Some college students get drunk and drugged, end up being attacked supposedly by wild animals but the college biology professor Lucy Lawless reckons its mutated Vampire bats caused by toxic waste in the river.

Lawless does her best with a lot of bland non entities. The CGI and special effects are below average and the action is boring with the bats being very selective as to who they attack.

A poor and rather silly film.

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.

Vampire Bats, a made for television Lucy Lawless horror movie, is quite a passable time waster. Interesting enough but you might struggle to recall much of it a day or two later.

Nightwing, Bats, Bats: Human Harvest, The Bat People - has there ever been a truly good movie about bats? Don't dare suggest Chosen Survivors as being an OK bat movie. It's only OK by comparison. Vampire Bats is better than some others but as we have acknowledged, the bar is not set too high.

Director Eric Bross has his cast well in hand and keeps the action ticking over. Production values are at the better end of the 'made for television' spectrum. Lucy Lawless is easily up to the job.

The plot is just a little cliched even down to the environmentally irresponsible local official but there are enough twists to maintain interest. Without giving too much away, a scientist, Lawless, gets caught up in the investigation of several unexplained deaths in which some of her students are implicated. She does add up two and two pretty quickly but as her characters says, she does have PhD in biology.

The actual vampire bats are a combination of real bats, CGI and practical effects. They are quite credible as 'flitter mice'. Vampire bats are literally flying rodents, well, all bats are, and they are portrayed as being ugly, blood thirsty and generally disgusting which they sort of are. It's the bloodthirsty aspect which is exaggerated in this movie. Bross handles the gore aspects, the actual human attacks, well. There is enough blood and brutalized flesh to get the movie over the horror line but remember that it is made for television.

The first major bat attack sees parallel scenes of a kids rave and an adult soiree. Bross is trying. Writer, Doug Prochilo, pens non-cringeworthy lines though he did a marginally better job in Locusts, the precursor to Vampire Bats also starring Lawless.

All in all, Vampire Bats adds nothing to the bat movie sub-genre but it is a palatable 85 minutes of entertainment.

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.