Habitat

Right off the bat it must be said that 'Habitat' is very poorly directed film, and as bad as the direction is the script (by Director Rene Daalder) is even worse. The script is so utterly derivative and over the top ridiculous that it's amazing the typewriter it was conceived on didn't explode in shame. It also contains some of the most astonishingly bad dialogue in recent years (The line "It's you isn't it? You're that one potato" deserves it's place in the bad dialogue hall of fame).

The special effects are equally poor, most of the time looking like something out of a bad 1980's Duran Duran video...And then there's the performances.

The term 'almost universally bad' springs to mind here. Balthazar Getty, Alice Krige and Chris Heyerdahl all act like they're in a coma, but compared to the rest of the cast thats a good thing. The rest of the cast ranger from truly bad (Bruce Mackay, Kris Holdenreid) to unbelievably irritating (Kenneth Welsh, Katherine Trowell, and Tcheky Karyo, who seems to have forgotten how to act altogether). In fact the only passable performance comes from Laura Harris, but even that's far from good.

Not even so bad it's good, this is a painful experience to watch and is utter crud even for the most ardent (or hard up) sci-fi fan. Stupid in the extreme, this has absolutely nothing to recommend it other than a little exploitative nudity (and if you're truly that desperate rent a porno or a Troma film instead) this is the type of film making that makes Ed Wood seem like a genius in comparison. 99 minutes of your life that you will never get back, this is the very definition of a terrible film. Avoid (and thank me later).

This is by far, without a doubt, unquestionably the best movie I have ever seen in my life! Do not listen to anything anyone else tells you, this movie is awesome and I have never been contradicted on this in person. Forget the fact that it is in the sci-fi section of movie stores (well, except that you have to go there to rent/buy it), this movie is a comedy. There is no way the writers of this movie could ever have intended it as anything but a comedy, the sets are outlandish, the special effects must have cost them a (small) handful of dollar bills, and the actors over-do everything to the point of hilarity. Not only is the premise of the movie entirely ridiculous even to the most outlandish of sci-fi writers, it makes statements contradictory to obvious, proven science and even contradicts itself in several scenes. If you haven't had a good laugh in a while and really need one, you are guaranteed to find it in this movie, as long as you don't take it seriously as a sci-fi movie.

Decent ecological sci-fi film that tells the story of an Earth reduced to a barren wasteland, and a scientist that decides to change all that. An experiment with bacteria, algae, electricity and who knows what else, claims the life of the scientist, but then his family begin to notice their home slowly turning into a rain forest. The teenage son plays his role well, embarrassed by his flower child mother, and his stand off-ish father, he just wants to fit in. But despite being the target of his peers' ridicule, he manages to land the affections of one of the prettiest girls in school. If only that skinny dipping scene could've happen to me in high school! Anyway, as the house keeps growing, the son slowly develops certain powers that allow him to stand up to his oppressors.

Habitat has a good story, but seems to have run short on special effects funds with 25% of the movie left to film. Some of the interior shots of the growing house are both beautiful and grotesque, but then we end up with strange scenes like a certain explosion at the end, that looks like they rigged a train set model with firecrackers, lightly covered it with moss, and let it blow.

Another one in the "detach your brain before watching" genre. I like movies like this. There's so much seriousness in our day to day lives, that when I have the time to watch a movie like Habitat, I like to just sit back, and absorb it. Much like the house did to certain antagonists in this film.

Honestly: I enjoyed HABITAT !! I switched on TV while doing some other stuff, checking my emailbox etc., and found myself suddenly under HABITAT's spell.

(Maybe it was necessary to do something besides watching the movie: thus it was easier to sit through all this much too long and too often sparkle-flowing through the air, and the high school-talk scenes. - And, I must admit, I also missed the beginning, maybe 15 minutes...)

First I was bewitched by the mother figure. Large brown eyes, innocent like a child, at the same time there was an aura of knowing, of wisdom and peace about her... she forgave her enemies, she slept peacefully, while a posse of army/police/FBI/NASA/neighbours invaded her house - her beautiful Garden Eden - full of life, while the world outside was dry, sunburnt, hostile.

Yes, I DID LOVE, absolutely, the set design: the ever-changing/growing family's house, the contrast to the stupid neighbours (with their umbrellas), the torture schoolyard (yes, the high school has a large torture stone outside in the yard, where pupils can be chained! A nice prophetic idea!), the cars wrapped in blankets (they look like publicity for a Bed Shop), the desert (I think I know it from some holidays in the Southwest)...

And the mother stayed calm, in face of the enemy = the fascist/redneck physical education trainer (beating and insulting his pupils)(a man you love to hate!). He had entered her peaceful home, insulting and threatening her, but she stayed friendly and calm, softly teaching him facts and arguments (about the small parts of his skin which serve as food for tiny little beings), while slime and snot are running out of his nose, dripping down his chin in beautifully shimmering closeup... GROSS!

This was one of the most weird/disgusting/wonderful/shocking scenes in the history of cinema: the bad guy sweating, snot all over his face, coughing and cursing, while a beautiful calm lady is teaching him facts about his body functions (did I mention her curly hairdo?! I loved it!She's definitely the Good Witch!). I could hardly believe it!

Well, and the girl that Laura Harris played: the script must have said that she is a normal young high-school girl, without any magic powers or secrets about her. But the way she is presented in HABITAT: she looks so strange, so rare: the camera and lighting treat her that she appears like an alien from outer space. Her surface is so unreal - her image can serve as an explanation why men fall for women; why men cannot resist; why males HAVE TO follow whatever female is near them. Her appearance of unearthly beauty promises hidden secrets - then she kisses passionately without reason - paradise is near!

(Besides: when they finally had sex in the lake, it was disappointing, compared to the disturbing promises during her first close-ups; but the mood was set already, and could never be lost again.)

PS: don't forget the ecological/preservation ideas! They are right! Strange but daring in this weird B-movie full of over-the-top eccentricities.

It's sometime in the near future when the ozone layer has been completely deleted, most animal species and nearly all vegetation have been destroyed and people can't go out in the sunlight without covering due to the UV rays. A small family move into a new town where the mad scientist father, working on "accelerated evolution," has an accident with the chemicals and ends up dissolving into a swarm of "elements" and turning their home into a virtual rain forest.

The teen son (Balthazar Getty) is immune to the radiation thanks to his parent's experiments and has some problems at school with bullies after falling for an independent-minded blonde cutie (Laura Harris, who's great). Eventually the house, itself a living being, fights back when misunderstanding townspeople invade. Alice Krige is perfect as a sexy, offbeat mother with wild flowing hair and long gowns and Kenneth Welsh scores as an obnoxious high school boxing coach.

Long lost director Rene Daalder, pretty much absent from the directors chair since his 1976 cult hit MASSACRE AT CENTRAL HIGH, has crafted a very entertaining sci-fi film with a literate, funny, offbeat and intelligent script with a good, non-preachy environmental protection messages and some neat FX work.