Sunday, 25 April 2010

Film Review: INFESTATION (2009)


Director: Kyle Rankin
Running time: 92 mins (approx)
Certificate (UK): 15

UK Release Date: 27th August 2009

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 25th April 2010.

PLEASE NOTE: POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I hadn’t heard anything about this film before I saw it. This made for quite an interesting viewing experience. Set in a town somewhere in America, Cooper, a bit of a waster, is about to be fired from his job when a piercing noise knocks everyone out…

Cooper wakes up to find himself covered in some kind of white webbing. He pulls it off himself only to be confronted by a three foot long insect that immediately attacks him. Having fought several of these bugs off, he goes and finds his boss, Maureen, who is disorientated. They figure out they have been out for several days and Maureen suddenly remembers her daughter, Sara, was outside in a car. Cooper goes outside to get her but Maureen follows and is crying out when she is suddenly taken away by a flying bug. Cooper and Sara make it to a diner and, having woken everyone up there, decide to go to his father’s house, about a days’ walk away. They also discover that the bugs can’t see, they only react to sound, so it’s very important to stay quiet. The group consists of Cooper, Sara, Cindy (a weather girl), Hugo & Albert (father & son) and Leechee (a student). The set off and make it to another building before nightfall. Cooper makes it no secret he’s interested in Sara, but she rebuffs his attentions. They decide to capture one of the bugs and test its venom. Leechee does the test and they find it’s mostly a sedative. The next morning they move on but Leechee stays behind to wake more people and study the bugs further. The journey is dangerous and more revelations are to be made, but I’ll stop here, don’t want to give too much away!

I was quite surprised, for a B-movie type film, it’s pretty well made. The effects, although not the best, aren’t all that bad. The dialogue could have done with a bit more work, but there were one or two good one-liners in there. Decent performances from all of the main cast, honourable mentions go to Chris Marquette as Cooper, Brooke Nevin as Sara, Kinsey Packard as Cindy, E. Quincy Sloan as Hugo, Wesley Thompson as Albert, Linda Park as Leechee and Ray Wise as Ethan (he had the best comedy lines).

This wasn’t a bad movie, but it wasn’t great either. I think the main problem was I didn’t particularly like Cooper at the beginning, he grew on me as the film progressed, but I still didn’t find him particularly likeable. Also, the big fight at the end was a bit of a let down. So, over all, it’s got a few laughs, the CGI is pretty good but it has some poor effects towards the end. Not bad, but not great.

My score: 5.3/10

LINKS:
IMDb Site: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1020543/
Official Site: http://www.iconmovies.net/infestation/
Trailer: http://uk.imdb.com/rg/VIDEO_PLAY/LINK/video/screenplay/vi867960089/

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