Bug Buster

1998 "Dial 1-500-KICK-ASS for the Pest Eliminator near you."
3.9| 1h33m| PG-13| en
Details

After the mayor uses a potentially dangerous substance to protect the local plantation, the lakeside town of Mountview, in California, is attacked by a lethal species of large cockroach. After some of the town's inhabitants are killed, the mayor enlists the help of eccentric pest exterminator General George S. Merlin in order to prevent further harm to the local dwellers.

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Reviews

Chatverock Takes itself way too seriously
Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.
Haven Kaycee It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film
Justina The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
Paul Andrews Bug Buster is set in the Californian town of Mountview thirteen years after the place was dusted with an experimental pesticide. Gil Griffin (Bernie Kopell) has brought a lodge in Mountview & together with his wife Cammie (Anne Lockhart) & teenage daughter Shannon (Katherine Heigl) move in, however what should be a dream life quickly turns into a nightmare as several dead bodies start popping up around the town. Bodies infested with Cockroach like insects, local veterinarian Laura Casey (Brenda Epperson Doumani) haven't seen anything like them before & thinks they may be a new species. A new species that are gradually wiping out the town...Co-produced & directed by Lorenzo Doumani this creature feature from the late 90's is a pretty forgettable & uneven mix of comedy & horror that feels like it was conceived as a cheap rip-off of Mimic (1997). The script by Malick Khoury has your standard creature feature scenario, some sort of genetically altered insect/animal starts killing off humans in some isolated location. Here for the most part it's Cockroaches although the script has plenty of holes in it. If these attacks started thirteen years after the pesticides were used what were these bugs doing for that amount of time? Why is there only one big mother bug when that Professor guy managed to make one hatch simply by putting one of the Cockroaches in water? There were also loads of eggs in the mine so why did none of those hatch? Then there are the character's whom are poor, the comedy relief bug buster General George is irritating, Shannon remains remarkably calm despite both of her parents being killed by the bugs, the fat garage attendant only there so he can sit on a toilet & fart a lot for more childish comedy relief as well as the subplot about a local resident who wanted the bugs to kill everyone so he could buy the whole town cheap & make money in the long-run which is forgotten about as soon as it is mentioned. The film also takes ages to get going, everyone goes round in circles for the first seventy odd minutes, people are dying & the local authorities discover that bugs are responsible & then spend ages going back & forth doing nothing in particular.Director Doumani misjudges the tone badly, there are some really childish, silly & just downright embarrassing slapstick comedy moments that don't work at all & are far from funny. Then the horror content is downplayed & neither the comedy or horror elements satisfy. It's certainly not scary, the scene showing Cockroaches crawling over Shannon while she is asleep is as creepy as it gets & as such the exact same scene is show no less than four times. There's no gore at all apart from one mouldy corpse. The special effects are poor too, the guy in a bad rubber suit mother bug at the end looks terrible as does the CGI. There are also lots & lots of blatant references to other films like in Scream (1996), from Jaws to The Wizard of Oz to Outbreak.According to the IMDb Bug Buster had a budget of about $8,500,000 which amazes me. In fact I am positive that Bug Buster didn't have anywhere near that much money, I think the IMDb has made a mistake & put one '0' too many. The film looks cheap & is forgettable in every respect. The acting is mixed, Randy Quaid is truly terrible & only turns up for the last twenty odd minutes. Katherine Heigl is alright & she is a real babe which helps. Two Star Trek actors make cameo appearances, James Doohan better known as Scotty & George Takei better known as Sulu have small roles. They never actually meet each other on screen though.Bug Buster is a poor creature feature that adds nothing new to the genre & is a badly judged uneven mishmash of comedy & horror. I was disappointed & I can't see too many people enjoying this.
Meredith-7 Although I assume this film is meant to be tongue in cheek, it is still one of the worst comedy/horror films of all time. While I was watching this all I could think of was how good Arachnophobia actually was. The acting in this film is really average, it was disappointing to see an actress such as Meredith Salenger, who showed such promise in her younger years, reduced to a supporting role as a bimbo. Katherine Heigl was very wooden in her role, but then again...she did not have much to work with. The special effects at the end are shocking, quite reminiscent of Godzilla 1985, but this was made late 90's (there have been many technological advances since then...)Doesn't even rate as a B movie in my book, probably best to stay away from this film at all costs.
Preussener The writer alone should be tortured to death! Usually bad movies are at least funny but this is painful. Scotty and Sulu should not have beamed down for this turkey. They were particularly horrific. Wow, what a stinker! I'd like to meet the dumb jack-asses that put up the production money for this one. I could use some extra cash.
jcholguin The title itself makes you believe that this would be a terrible film but don't judge a film by its title. This is a fun film because of the characters involved. James Doohan as the sheriff is once again a man with a mission, to solve murders involving bugs killing people. George Takei as Dr Fujimoto is wonderful as he steers toward the truth of this new species of bug. Bernie Kopell and Anne Lockhart as a married couple that have the bad luck of buying a hotel resort in the area makes you wonder if Bernie turns to Anne and says "sorry about that, honey!" Lastly, Randy Quaid as an overbearing bug exterminator with funny commercials and his overbearing personality is just wonderful for attacking slimy creatures. Death by being indigested by hungry insects in unusual places: a musical instrument and a theater showing a horror film is just perfect. A must see if you want to enjoy a warm night viewing old friends from television's glory days.