Locusts : La Huitième Plaie

The Sci-Fi Channel has once again cranked out another "made for TV" movie in their tired formula of species versus human engagements. As the film title indicates, the locusts have the honor of being man's nemesis this time.

A good director, cast, crew, writer, et al could have made this a passable piece of entertainment, but alas not in this case. The writing is predictable. The editing and photography are generic. The special effects are far, far from special. These scenes are particularly disappointing for a science fiction movie. While acceptable for a student film or a sci-fi spoof, they lack believability and appear to indicate a project with a meager budget.

David Keith does a good job as Gary Wolf, the corporate head. He has become a staple of The Sci-Fi Channel's flicks. Among this swarm of bad acting, he is a welcome relief, but has a limited amount of screen time.

Dan Cortese is very disappointing as Colt, the organic researcher and "good guy." His performance was stilted and uninspiring.

However, this is not unique in this film that lacks originality and recycles old themes. The evil cooperation versus the little guy. The government drone versus the civilian. The testosterone toxic military type versus the rebel. The industry versus the environmentalist. The geneticists verses the organic farmers. ... The banal list continues culminating in the human versus species of the week theme that is reflected in the title.

If you have a free moment with nothing to do and are bored out of your mind, consider this as a possible option.

The attack scenes and carnage left is particularly nauseating and there's David Keith once again playing the main villain. I've seen him in at least two other Sci-Fi channel movies this weekend. Give this guy rest or a casting against type!

It's yet another show done by the sci-fi numbers including but not limited to: a dumb jock military group (God has any of these writers seen Aliens???) coming in with the common sense of one eighth of an amoeba's's brains and messing up the situation all the more and the two leads the only ones with all the sense and all the answers. Once again we have the villains who have the answers and won't care to provide jack-squat any. Well, God provided me with a remote. I've seen this film in it's entirety once before and don't have the endurance to watch it again.

This film is mainly fine for 'made for TV' fare. The biggest problem with this movie is the horrendous cgi effects. If it were not for the absolutely unwatchable special effects, "Locusts" would be worth it for the guilty pleasure factor. I will say that I am notoriously forgiving with regard to horror films. If I was entertained at all, I figure the movie did the job for which it was intended. I would have found this one very entertaining on the level of schlocky monster of the week movies, were it not for the extremely poor use of cgi. If you have nothing better to do and happen to find it on sci-fi... go ahead and give it a watch. There is enough unintended comedy to make use of a pizza and a couple of sodas or beers.

I don't want to write a spoiler so I'll just say this. There are many "holes" in the story. Bad story, bad plot, bad graphics, bad acting. Most of the dialogue is laughable and pretty much and insult to the intelligence of a nine year old. Most of the lines try to use twenty dollar scientific words, but most are not used effectively. Some parts are so bad you almost laugh even though you want to cry. The movie's solution to the nemesis is fairly lame. If you watch the entire movie, your scalp will be hurting from scratching your noggin and asking "why" did I watch this movie? Do yourself a favor and push the button the remote until you find something else worthwhile to watch.

I had to watch this film twice - simply because I fell asleep during the first viewing! It really is awful! The film is heavily dependant upon CGI throughout, but, unfortunately, they appear to have been composed on a ZX80 - they are diabolical.

And the acting??? That surely is a contradiction in terms! It is sooooooo wooden! If this film had been made in black and white 50 years ago, it might be classed as a decent B movie, but with today's standards? Absolute pap! 2/10 only because the first 5 minutes actually lull you into thinking it will be a decent movie to watch: at least, I was fooled! DG