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Bats
R2 - United Kingdom - Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Sam Scott (4th July 2004). |
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The Film
 After having a quick look around at IMDB, I see this film is in the bottom 100 in the voting system. How on Earth did this happen? Sure it's definately not a classic, and the effects aren't great, but it's a damn well competent movie. The movie, as you can probably see from the title, is about a group of bats which the US government (typical ) have been training to kill. The bats escape from wherever they were supposed to be based and infect load of other bats in a small town in Texas. It's up to Sheriff Emmett Kimsey (Lou Diamond Philips), Dr Sheila Casper (Dina Meyer) and Jimmy Sands (Leon) to destroy all the bats before they destroy mankind. The special effects were pretty awful, but better than a few films knocking around of this type and the acting was average. This film definately isn't as good as Eight Legged Freaks, Anaconda or Lake Placid, but it's nowhere near as bad as people seem to think.
Video
Clean transfer. What you'd expect for a film made in 1999.
Audio
A perfectly good DD5.1 soundtrack available in both English and German. I listened to it in English (obviously) and the LFE use was OK as were the rear speakers.
Extras
Audio Commentary with director Louis Morneau and star Lou Diamond Philips Your typical backslapping affair really. Not much insight into the movie as a whole and a few long pauses make this a once only commentary. "Bats Abound" featurette A good, albeit short, featurette which looks at the making of the visual effects and the animatronics of the bats. Interesting, but the bats still look pretty crap. Isolated Score A feature not used nearly as much as it should be on DVD, this score is pretty good. A bit samey after a while, but still an enjoyable listen. Storyboard Comparison Excellent feature which lets you view the storyboards to a scene on one half of the screen and the actual film on the other. Always an interesting watch on all discs. Photo Galleries I don't mind behind the scenes photo galleries but ones that just show stills from the movie I could've got just from pressing pause are a bit pointless.
Overall
Competent film on a competent disc. Rent it.
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