Growth (2010)

As far as I could tell this was one of those straight to DVD horror films, some of those aren't all brilliant, but I saw a trailer for this one which looked relatively interesting. Basically in the 1980's an advanced research was being developed to give humans heightened physical and mental strength, but this turned into a parasite. On Cuttyhunk Island, these parasites, looking like alien worms have got out and spread around, and plan to get inside any human they can to breed. It has been twenty years since Jamie Ackerman (Mircea Monroe) has any involvement with this disastrous incident, but she has to witness her step brother becoming one of the infected, and her boyfriend trying to get away from it with her. The authorities, including Larkin Holberman (Richard Riehle) are aware of the outbreak, and are trying to contain it before the infection can spread further afield. Also starring Christopher Shand as Justin Roberts, Brian Krause as Marco, Nora Kirkpatrick as Kristin Daniels, Mackenzie Brooke Smith as Gwen Anderson, Alexi Wasser as Sarah Holberman, Ian Patrick Williams as Mason Lane, Robert Pike Daniel as Jake, Lou Richards as Dr. Macavire and Yousef Abu-Taleb as Sgt. George Seitz. Seeing little horrible worms going into people and coming out through various places in their body is freaky, but that is all the film is good for, there is no effort to make you feel like it is worthwhile, so while it was creepy and crawly, it was just alright. Okay!

This is a failed attempt at a movie made using a worn out recipe. I usually revel into films with parasites, infestations and so on. This one made me squirm, and not in a good way, either.The plot revolves around a group of friends that come on an isolated island in order to process an inheritance. The people there are a closed community of scientists that dabble in genetics. One of the guys has "low immunity" which is kind of weird for someone coming on an isolated island.Anyway, you can see it, right? The potential. The closed community from Wicker Man, the parasites from any number of films, the low immunity resulting in a different condition than other infected, and so on. The film managed to ignore all these possibilities, instead basing the thrills on CGI critters that crawl under the skin. Really? Epic fail.

Didn't have too much expectations to this movie, as it already seemed like a fairly low budget movie on the cover. I loved the movie Slither, so I thought I would give this one a look as well.The story had potential, had it been properly executed on the screen. There was just something missing from the entire movie, that magical something to tie the movie together and make it come together in a greater coherent meaning.The worms/parasites were nicely made, though I had little understanding for why they needed to make those screechy noises. But I guess it was for effect, perhaps they had seemed more boring and dull without a sound. But then again, a silent killer is more terrifying, right? Just look at Jason Voorhees.As for the cast? Well, it was good that it was fairly unknown actors and actresses to me. I think I just recognized two people in the entire movie. Some managed to do a good job, while others could have been better.This is the type of movie that you watch once, and never pick it up again. So many things could have made this movie better. It is not an all together bad experience. I liked parts of the movie, and the ending was a blast.There are tons of mad creature movies out there, this one is not one to avoid, but not one that sits at the top of the "to watch" list either. It wasn't scary, but not dull either. I sat through it all in one go and didn't have the urge to change it for something else.Below average movie, but if you like creepy crawlers give it a go, just for the heck of it and if you go nothing more important to do.

Have just watched this and I have to say I am surprised at the previous review. I found the story line quite weak, and although a few of the actors gave believable performances, most of the acting was rather hammy. The special effects were the sort I would expect to see on a made for TV movie, and made me feel no sorrow for the victims. The story was a little disjointed in places, and because we are shown the 'parasites' very early on in the film, there is no room to build any tension and the film almost plods along. I found myself checking to see how long there was left to go. Overall, I give this a 5/10, mainly for the few actors that managed to work their script into believable dialogue.