Infested - Lo sciame

A group of friends reunites in the country for the funeral of their old friend Steven, who committed suicide. After the services, they decide to spend together the weekend in the cottage of Carl (Tuc Watkins) at the seaside recalling their best moments. While getting tanned at the beach, the voluptuous Mindy (Nahanni Johnstone) is attacked by flies that invade her body through her mouth and possess her brain. When Carl meets her, she transmits the bugs to him, spreading the invasion of bodies. The survivors are trapped in the house and fight to survive.

"Infested" is one of those B (or Z) movies that the viewer must expect flaws and clichés in the screenplay, bad special effects, breasts and half-naked women, screams and funny (or ridiculous) situations. In this regard, this trash movie does not disappoint. The story is silly and predictable, but I have seen flicks worse and worse than "Infested". The speech of Father Morning is hilarious and one of the best moments of the story but the insane motive of Steven gives a weak conclusion to the plot. Considering that I bough this DVD for about US$ 3.00, I did not dislike this film. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Infested – A Invasão" ("Infested – The Invasion")

Well, if you like a bad plot, annoying characters, and a ton of bad CGI effects you might enjoy this. Personally i almost fell asleep while watching it. The story is uneven and never really explains anything. It's decent for a late night viewing if you're looking for something really cheesy. But there are quite a few better "Bug Horror" movies out there than this one. 4 stars out of 10.

Amy Jo Johnson, the pink ranger herself and Zack Galligan of Gremlins and Waxwork fame, both put in appearances in this flick. When I see a movie poster with absolutely none of the main characters on it, there are only two explanations. Either the filmmakers are being secretive and hip, or the movie itself was hastily thrown together and they couldn't get their actors to show up for a photo shoot after it wrapped. This would be the latter. There isn't much to say about this film, really bad CGI vampiric bugs show up, due to some poorly explained government back-story. Stupid people do stupid things and don't hang around for a sequel. The bugs apparently fly into a human body, breed and control the carcass as a zombie to stay out of the sun. I would love an explanation as to how these bugs are capable of re-animating the dead. I have never seen such completely nonthreatening zombies. I do recommend a watch however, it was fun to see Zack Galligan doing his B-movie thing, and yes Amy Jo does have a rather lengthy shower scene, but sorry guys, the childhood fantasy of seeing her in the raw goes unfulfilled. Watch it with friends in the mood to laugh, but for a scare, look elsewhere.

"Infested" tries to do too much, and derails itself in the process. It's main crime is a dependence on easy option, post-modern references to other films to entertain Generation X video renters. This gets tired very quickly and soon takes on the air of "rip-off" rather than "homage". It intends a kitsch "so bad its good" appeal, but ends up just being bad.

There is some good acting to be found however, from actors who clearly got the joke and entered into the spirit of the affair. It's not enough though - shoddy direction, lazy camerawork and an overall atmosphere of "naffness" are too strong to be overcome.

Also, as in "Night of the Lepus", the monster animals just aren't a frightening concept at all. Flies! What a stupid idea! Not even wasps or bees, but flies. I'm sure I'm not alone in having never shivered at the thought of a blue-bottle... It also feels like a lame monster was chosen as some kind of joke, but it's about as funny as it is scary.

I'm afraid, "Infested" fails to become a "beer-and-a-joint-laugh-at-the-lame-film" experience. I think it tries too hard. It suffers from the same problem as Tarantino's "Kill Bill Vol.1" in that you just end up wishing you'd watched one of the films it rips off instead.

Night of the Living Dead meets The Big Chill meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers meets Lord of the Flies meets a Power Ranger and Lt. Paris, yeah, that pretty much covers it, oh yeah, and weird soundtrack featuring Trio's Da Da Da and some Eddie Money? A LOT of different elements meet and mix, some hot babes, one partially naked, the Pink Ranger teases us with a shower scene, and a plot about possibly mutated flies gives us some cool dead bodies, a bit of gore, and a case of the heeby jeebies the nest time a fly lands on you... GREAT B-movie here, and the in-joke regarding Amy Jo Johnson (why hasn't anyone offered her a GOOD part?) is priceless.....worth the rental