SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Matylda Swan It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Woodyanders A strain of mutant larva threaten the safety of the residents in the sleepy small country town of Host, Missouri. It's up to earnest newbie veterinarian Dr. Eli Rudkus (a fine and engaging portrayal by Vincent Ventresca) and scruffy rough'n'tumble farmer Jacob Long (robustly played with mucho macho aplomb by the always dependable William Forsythe) to stop the lethal critters before it's too late.Director Tim Cox treats the blithely silly story with admirable seriousness, keeps the pace racing along at a snappy clip, grounds the premise in a believable workaday reality, offers a flavorful evocation of the remote rural region, generates a good deal of tension, and delivers a satisfying smattering of gore. The sound acting by the sturdy cast keeps this picture humming, with especially praiseworthy contributions from David Selby as shifty CEO Fletcher Odermatt, Rachel Hunter as spunky lawyer Hayler Anderson, Robert Miano as ineffectual on the take lawman Sheriff Lester, and Sean Kissner as conflicted executive Milo Turner. The compact script by David Goodin, Kevin Moore, J. Paul V. Robert, and T.M. Van Ostrand warrants some extra points for its spot-on stinging criticism of corporate greed, amorality, and omnipotence. The CGI effects are adequate and acceptable. The slick cinematography by Stephen Lighthall and Dave Rutherford provides a pleasing polished look. John Dickson's shivery score hits the shuddery spot. A fun little flick.

a_baron Is this a horror film or sci-fi? Or maybe it is a not-so-subtle dig at the evil corporations that are forever riding roughshod over us little people in their relentless search for profit. Let's face it, nobody ever lost any friends for railing at big business, heck, even businessmen have bought into this narrative to some extent.Here we see a new vet arriving in a small town that is on the cusp of a farming revolution, only thing is the company that is backing it has somehow created a mutant parasite that infects not only the new feed but the cattle, and then morphs into a giant bat, or something of that nature. Naturally our idealistic newcomer and his allies are engaged in a desperate rush to quarantine and destroy this pest before it takes over the state and the world, while the agents of the wicked corporation are intent only on hushing the whole thing up lest news leaks out and everybody turns vegetarian. And of course, the wicked capitalists have also succeeded in corrupting the local law enforcement. As fairy tales go this one is fairly anodyne, that's if you don't read between the lines.

Michael O'Keefe Predictable, but really a pretty good Sci-Fi flick. Eli Rudkus(Vincent Ventresca)is the new veterinarian in Host, Missouri. Host is a small ranching community where your business is everyone else's business. Most of the ranchers make their living providing beef for Host Tender Meats owned by millionaire Fletcher Odermatt(David Selby). Odermatt provides the ranchers with his own formula of feed. Long time cattleman Jacob Long(William Forsythe)needs the new vet to take a look at a couple of his animals. This will not be your routine house call. Dr. Rudkus discovers a deadly cattle infestation that just could be an epidemic putting the towns populace in grave danger. The special effects are real good and there is enough action to hold your interest. The visuals are borderline stomach turning. Also in the cast is Rachel Hunter, who plays a PR person for the meat company...that ends up teaming with Rudkus and Long trying to convince the community of the seriously dangerous situation. Better than your typical creature run amok features.

Brandt Sponseller Veterinarian Eli Rudkus (Vincent Ventresca) has just moved to the small town of Host, Missouri. Host is primarily a beef farming community, and is home to Host Tender Meats, a successful corporation now running tests for enhanced feed on many local farmers' cattle. Rudkus discovers a cow infected with a strange parasite, and soon after, other animals with evidence of the same parasitic infection. Something is wrong in Host, and it is growing to epidemic proportions.This is a great, fun film, which is only slightly marred by a somewhat rushed ending (oddly characteristic of quite a few Sci-Fi Channel original movies). My final score was 9 out of 10.The first thing that struck me as refreshingly unusual about Larva was director Tim Cox's emphasis on shades of orange, including various browns and some almost monotone sepia-colored shots, ala tinted silent films. The coloring reflects the horrific menace--worms, and also emphasizes how often cinematography and production design are not oriented towards particular colors, except for blue (such as Gothika (2003)) and the occasional green (such as The Matrix (1999)). This is an aspect of film-making I'd like to see directors experiment with much more.The story, although probably somewhat predictable overall (there almost seems to be a formula, which I won't detail here for fear of spoilers, to these "bugs out of control" horror films) is executed very well here. Anyone who knows me well knows that I do not subtract points for predictability. Lots of things in life are predictable, but that makes them no less enjoyable. As long as a story is gripping and entertaining, I don't mind predictability one bit.Although Sci-Fi channel original films seem to suffer some characteristic flaws, they also tend to benefit from excellent casts. They often focus on severely underrated or relatively unknown actors, especially character actors. The standout in Larva for me is William Forsythe (as Jacob Long), with star Vincent Ventresca not far behind. Both are perfectly cast, with Ventresca playing the nervous newbie with a questionable past and Forsythe the intelligent and aggressive yet paranoid farmer who becomes Ventresca's sidekick.Cox knows how to build tension, and towards the middle of the film, each scene tends to top the previous one (although the hospital sequence is a particular stand-out and not topped for the remainder of the film). He's aided by spectacular creature effects, which make Larva begin to seem more like an entry in the Alien series, or perhaps a precursor spin-off of Starship Troopers (in more of a Friday the 13th-styled small town atmosphere).The horror in Larva is grounded in current news and some popular cultural attitudes. Namely, "meat scares" such as E. Coli and Mad Cow Disease, combined with anti-corporate paranoia. Both of these are fairly conspicuous, but they're incorporated smoothly just the same, and may make the film even more effective for many contemporary viewers.As a 9 out of 10, Larva is definitely worth a look, and no, I didn't adjust my scale to "compensate" for this being a made-for-television movie. It's a 9 out of 10 on the same exact scale I use for everything. If only there could have been made-for-television horror films this great when I was growing up.