Horror Movie Night Orgy: Horror Movie Review: Infestation

Infestation

Starring: Chris Marquette, Brooke Nevin, Kinsey Packard, E. Quincy Sloan, and Wesley Thompson

Directed by: Kyle Rankin

Written by: Kyle Rankin

Production Companies: Heavy Duty Entertainment and Icon Productions

Release Date: February 5, 2009

When I found Infestation, I found it being described as a horror-comedy with giant bugs...how can anyone say "No," to that? But as I watched, I was reminded that movie labels, such as horror, comedy, drama, etcetera, are labels often misused. And while we are on the subject, what's the difference between a horror and a thriller? Because I've seen some "thrillers" that I would label "horror". But whatever, these terms are often used as marketing ploys, not terms used to tell us truthfully what type of film it is. Which means we should take those labels with a grain of salt.

Infestation is a monster movie, so they weren't going for full blown, jumping out of our seats horror here. It does have a smattering of comedic elements, but it's far from a comedy. It's a survival story with some comedy relief.

The comedy comes mainly from Chris Marquette, who plays a slacker named Cooper about to be fired at his new job. He's regularly late, he plays childish games around the office, and he tells a disgruntled customer calling in to complain that he'll transfer him to his manager only to pretend to be his own manager. But a high pitched sound knocks everyone out.

Everyone gets coccooned and giant bugs regularly sedate them with their stings, but luckily Cooper's bug is a bit of a slacker itself and injects him in the cheek, letting the sedative ooze out of his mouth. He begins unwrapping a few people and they try and figure out what's going on and what they should do.

His group, including his boss's daughter Sara (Brooke Nevin), father and son Albert and Hugo (Wesley Thompson and E. Quincy Sloan), and Cindy (Kinsey Packard) head for Cooper's dad's house with its bomb shelter.

While certainly presented more lightheartedly that other survival monster movies such as 28 Days Later, it still bares many similarities, including a decent look at different reactions to the extreme dangers involved in survival situations. People turning on each other, Cindy seeking desperately for someone to protect her and care for her, Albert's decisions when he learns what will happen to him after he's stung, and Cooper maturing, slowly, to become a typical action hero, despite his father's reluctance to see him as such.

With any monster movie, you have to look for the creature effects, and Infestation does quite a good job with the bugs. In fact Infestation was nominated for an Outstanding Visual Effects award at the 2010 Visual Effects Society Awards.

There's more going on in Infestation than you usually find in your average horror comedy.

Related Trailers

Freddy vs. Jason

Chris Marquette also appeared in Freddy vs. Jason. Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees return to terrorize the teenage population. Except this time, they're out to get each other, too.

I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer

Brooke Nevin also starred in I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer. A group of teenagers in Colorado find themselves being stalked and killed one-by-one by a mysterious figure with a hook, exactly one year after they covered up a friends' accidental death.