Infestation (13 Days Of Hallowe'en)

People really don't like bugs do they? Ask people what they are afraid of and the amount of times they say creepy crawlies or spiders is simply astounding. I even knew someone who was scared of Daddy Long Legs, or whatever they're called. The thing is they were the only bugs she was scared of. It just doesn't really make sense, especially in this hemisphere. Bugs aremainly harmless and do us a lot of good. It's not like we live in Australia and there's a chance of being bitten on the bum by a deeply poisonous one. Nope the only reason people are afraid of them is that they look ugly. Of course that's ugly to us. As such bugs make good movie monsters. Some of the most iconic, the mutant in This Island Earth, the titular Aliens, have been based on them. Of course what's even scarier are giant versions, not only because you can see what they look like more clearly but because suddenly they're a threat. Well they are if they're aliens, come to Earth on a meteorite and hellbent on harvesting us, like ants do with food for the winter.

That's the central premise of Infestation, a surprisingly successful low budget alien bug movie. At first glance it looks like it's yet another straight to DVD, 3 am on some obscure satellite channel effort, but there's a lot more going on. That's not to say that the surface ain't a lot of fun mind. Infestation plays out like a zombie film, group of survivors in deserted city trying to escape beasties, only this time they are actually, well, beasties. And as such they can fly. Much more fun than the shuffling undead. It's a wise choice as the monsters now pose a threat from all angles. There's a nice level of creativity to the creatures. On top of the bog standard cockroach types who cocoon humans and keep them sedated and the flying kind who whisk the unsuspecting off to the hive there are hybrids. These appear to be the results if humans stay cocooned and don't get out like our band of heroes. Basically they look like zombies with spider legs:



Even better, not all hybrids are human/bug creatures.

Where Infestation really succeeds is in its characters and cast. The acting's actually pretty top notch, something films like this tend not to concern themselves with. Chris Marquette makes for a very convincing slacker turned slightly rubbish hero, whilst Brooke Nevin and Kinsey Packard are more than just the eye candy you'd expect them to be. Best of all though is Ray Wise (the Devil in TV's Reaper) as Cooper's dad, an ex-military man who struggles with the emotional side of the father/son relationship. His introduction sends an already fun movie over the edge. Damn the man may even qualify as a Splice Hero of Cheese (anything with them in it is made 17% better purely thanks to their presence). Family relationships are key throughout the film and are surprisingly poignant thanks to the writing.

It's not a complete success. There are some mistakes of bad movie making proportions littered through it. But you forgive the film for them thanks to its dark humour and witty inversions of horror cliches, such as the "I had a bad dream" and the "if I become one of those things..." scenes. The SFX are also pretty decent. The best CGI is saved for the hybrids which means some of the flying beasties aren't quite as great. They are passable though. The bog-standard roach ones are pretty much all rubber, which I personally find kind of charming. The pacing is also well measured. The action scenes are spread out well and the talky scenes in between succeed thanks to the writing.

Infestation's a great piece of fun cinema. It's not particularly scary, but it makes up for that by getting a lot of other things, things that many other films of this ilk don't even strive to do well, right. As such it would make a perfect film to view with a group of mates on Hallowe'en night. It's good, but it's also goofy enough to have a laugh at.

Oh, and Ray Wise rules!