Insecticidal (2005)

A sorority house is besieged by genetically mutated bugs that have been inadvertently bred by an ambitious yet reclusive science student vying for PhD honours. Cheerful, light and mostly entertaining horror/comedy made on a shoestring budget, merges house party slasher themes and the more conventional giant bug movie to pleasing effect. The bookish Cinderella scientist taunted by her arguably more attractive sorority sisters (certainly more sexually active) proves to be the only person capable of defeating the nemeses after most of the party are dismembered. Nudity abounds, with the resident hussy bouncing from one bone head to the next, before ignorantly ingesting larvae that transforms her into a queen vessel for the mutant spawn. Not being the sharpest tool in the shed, she misdiagnoses the metamorphosis as an STD, and attempts to treat accordingly with anti-bacterial scrub, with comical results. She in turn proves to be as much a threat as the bugs themselves, even attempting to cannibalise her companions while appearing to drift in and out of lucidity.It's essentially "American Pie" meets "Friday the 13th" with a few man (or in this case) woman-eating bugs added for seasoning. All the college house party motifs are on display: hot tubs, beauty queens, Asian students, lesbian encounters, jocks and good old fashioned S&M - no theme is considered taboo. Despite the student film quality to this flick, the photography and sound departments are competent; the CGI effects on the other hand, are the key liability to success. There's little interaction between the characters and the CGI monsters, just an occasional severed mandible or inanimate roach casing to fuse the two layers. Still, it is quite amusing watching the guy wrestle a giant roach from his face, while attempting to satisfy his Gothic girlfriend's demand for cunnilingus.And, while there's a whole second hand store full of dismembered limbs, buckets of gravy and plenty of goo and slime, it's all quite tame and unrealistic. The R rating surely is reserved for the endless procession of nudity and sex that seems to be a pre-cursor to each climax (so to speak). The production designer (Sean Whale) appears to have been so instrumental to the production, that he's allowed to indulge in a meaningless walk-on in the closing scene, as the characters lament the potential for repetition and a nod to the prospect of an as yet un-realised sequel. Entertaining, but perhaps for all the wrong reasons.

Insecticidal is set in some female sorority house where wannabe scientist Cami (Meghan Heffern) has been working on a project to reactivate dormant genes in insects, not sure why but we all need a hobby I suppose. The other girls aren't too happy with Cammi & her bugs running around the place so Josi (Rhonda Dent) takes it upon herself to spray all of Cami's experiments with insect killer, problem sorted. Well that's what Josi thought but it turns out that by spraying the bugs with insect killer actually made them all grow bigger & make them more intelligent, again I really don't know why. Now with large killer bugs on the loose Cami & the surviving girls must find a way to escape before they become bug food...This Canadian made Ceature Feature was produced & directed by Jeffery Scott Lando & if you think the Sc-Fi Channel made Creature Features such as Boa vs. Python (2004) or Komodo vs. Cobra (2005) were bad then think again because Insecticidal plunders new depths. The script by Jeff O'Brien could have been quite fun, I mean the basic premise surrounding a bunch of pretty young teenage girls being killed off by a variety of large bugs is a simple one but had potential. Unfortunately the whole film is so badly plotted & made that Insecticidal makes Mega Snake (2007) look like a masterpiece. There are scenes which don't make any logical sense, for a start how did that bug get inside the pizza box & then close the lid? There is a scene when two of the character's are attacked by a large scorpion & they hide inside the basement closing the door behind them but when we see those two girls again they are in the living room, so what happened to the scorpion & how did they get out of the basement? There is a scene early on where we see giant slugs but they are never shown again & why does no-one in the street not notice an eight foot tall Mantis in the girls garden? Why do the girls not try to call anyone? I know they call the police who think they are playing a joke but do they not know any other people they could phone & ask for help? The whole film is poorly paced, it's as dull as dishwater, it's predictable & there are many scenes that just don't work on any logical sense.Director Lando was probably working on a low budget but one has to say that Insecticidal is reasonably well filmed, I say reasonably because I don't want to make it sound like it's amazing or anything but at least it doesn't look like it was shot on a camcorder. There's no shaky photography, no quick cut editing & no post production annoying editing techniques either which is nice. However the scenes when the girls are attacked by the bugs are terrible, they are so static & it's so obvious that the girls are fighting thin air. Now I suppose I have to talk about the special effects. Firstly the bugs aren't that big, there's a scorpion for instance which is about the same size as your average dog. Then there's the CGI computer effects, surely Insecticidal has the worst CGI bug effects of any film ever made. They are simply terrible, they look like they were rendered on a really low end home PC. I don't think I would be exaggerating if I claimed that with the PC I currently have I could have animated better looking bugs. They look truly awful & wouldn't even get into a children's cartoon series.Technically the film overall is a complete mess, despite the photography looking alright the CGI computer effects as already mentioned are simply embarrassing. Filmed in British Columbia in Canada. The acting isn't particularly good although the girls are all pretty good looking which helps.Insecticidal may have a clever title but as a Creature Feature it blows, the CGI computer effect bugs are truly the worst of their kind that I have seen. The story is full of holes & predictable as well, even die hard Creature Feature fans should avoid this one.

I didn't know that if you spray raid on a bug , it turns into a giant murderous bug. In this movie, this is exactly what happens. Some girls are having a party at home. One of them, Cammy, is a nerd who doesn't have fun. Instead, she's making experiments with her insects, in the basement. Her sister Josie sprays raid on the insects to kill them, but instead, they start growing up, and terrorising the house. Now Cammy, and the left survivors have to battle the giant insects all night long, to stay alive.I don't even know how to describe the plot. Its so childish. I have no idea why they hate insects so much. The CGI effects are laughable. Playstation games have better graphics than these bugs in the movie. The insects are also given strange names, such as Evander (Holyfield), Louis (Joe).Amateurish acting, stupid dialogue, and almost no gore, make this movie unwatchable. The only thing that is good about this movie, is Samantha Mcleod.Don't waste your time on this flick. If horror movie about insects is your fetish, better watch THE FLY or MOSQUITO MAN. 1/10.

"Insecticidal" is an enjoyable but flawed giant insect movie.**SPOILERS**College student Cami, (Meghan Heffern) is excited about her growing bug collection, much to the annoyance of her sorority house-mates Josi, (Rhonda Dent) Sophi, (Samantha McLeod) and Fumi, (Vicky Huang) as well as her boyfriend Martin, (Shawn Bachynski) and the other students there. After the failure of an experiment she desperately wanted to try, she gives up and calls it a failure. As soon as it's finished, the members of the sorority and their friends start disappearing. When strange slime and insect body parts are found at each place, Cami decides to investigate and thinks that her bugs have survived and grown to gigantic size. Not believing her, soon several attacks occur in front of them, they finally believe her and have to find a way to survive the attacks.The Good News: As far as giant insect movies go, this one wasn't as bad as it could've been. The film has a quirky sense of humor that is quite nice. It needs it, as the tone fits the subject matter perfectly with the goofy tone, since a serious tone with the way it's presented would never work at all. It needed a goofy tone, and the film benefits for it greatly. A lot of the jokes and situations work, and it makes the film a lot more entertaining to. The film is also pretty gory for its type, and makes good use of it's splatter effects, and some are pretty realistic. The blood is freely strewn about, resulting in some nice kills in this. There's a bloody dismembering, a never-ending stream of body parts flying around. We also get a very fast paced plot to this, ensuring that everything is rapidly coming up on each other, allowing for a continuous stream of scenes to keep on coming down the pike. That was greatly appreciated.The Bad News: It simply has to be said that these are some of the worst looking creatures ever in these kinds of films. Calling them worse than video game designs is an insult to video game creations. These are simply atrocious, and under no circumstance are they worthy of inducing fear of them. They don't match the scenery they've been inserted into, they hardly match their surroundings and at times can hardly move realistically. There are naturally many scenes that go on that don't make much sense or aren't really explained adequately. The reason for the bugs becoming big is hinted at but never officially explained. A couple of big scenes are also kinda confusing when thought about afterward, and really didn't need to be included. The cheese factor is also very high on this one, and it can be a turn-off for those that don't like it. It's not that subtle, and can be found pretty easily.The Final Verdict: While it's not the worst creature feature to come along, it's not one of the best ones either. It has a sense of fun and energy, but it's hurt by several factors. For fans of the style, this is definitely worthy of a look, but those that are put off by the weaker parts are advised to seek caution or avoid all together.Rated : Nudity, Graphic Violence, some Language and several varying sex scenes