VividSimon Simply Perfect

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Usamah Harvey The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Verity Robins Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Scott LeBrun The "nature strikes back" sub genre was particularly big in the 1970s after the success of "Jaws", but it's proved to have real staying power ever since, as evidenced in this no-fooling- around, gleefully gory mutant killer insect flick. The title insects have increased in size and become more vicious than usual. This is all thanks to local marijuana growers who have used herbal steroids to speed up the growth of their crops; their system has developed a leak and contaminated the resident ticks. Now a group of troubled kids and their two chaperones have come to the woods for a getaway and will serve as a potential smorgasbord for the ravenous blood sucking beasts. You know you'll be in for a good time perusing the cast list of this one: Rosalind Allen, Ami Dolenz, Seth Green, Alfonso Ribeiro, Peter Scolari, Barry Lynch (younger brother of Richard Lynch), and Clint *and* Rance Howard. The assorted young ladies are all quite attractive to look at, and the performances are all pretty entertaining. As many others before me have noted, it's hard NOT to be amused by the prospect of Ribeiro, otherwise known as Carlton from TVs' 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air', unleashing his inner gangsta. Green is a likable enough young hero, Clint H. is an absolute hoot as always, and Lynch is, like his sibling, good at creating a suitably scuzzy villain. Director Tony Randel ("Hellbound: Hellraiser II") keeps everything moving at a good clip, and gets things off to a truly juicy start. The KNB makeup effects group create lots of wonderful visuals bound to get the audience going "Ewww..." on a regular basis. The highlight involves a sort of giving-birth type gag, and people are sure to love it. Things build nicely to a fairly exciting climax with the characters confined to a small rural location in the "Night of the Living Dead" tradition, and a forest fire raging out of control. All in all, this is very acceptable "turn your brain off and enjoy" gooey and grisly mayhem done with style and humour, and an unsurprisingly "it ain't over yet" kind of ending. Seven out of 10.

kclipper Here's a delightfully fast-paced film from the director who brought us such pleasantries as 'Hellbound: Hellraiser II'. Originally and appropriately titled, 'Infested' is an icky, gooey good time as an experimental bi-product of a marijuana growing process accidentally infects tick eggs and caused the deadly little buggers to grow into abnormal sizes (approximately that of sea-crabs). Meanwhile, The L.A. city Wilderness retreat, a program designed to help troubled teenagers adapt to new environments, is plummeted directly into the infestation.This is a rip-roaring homage to the classic "nature runs amok" genre, and a talented, young cast and good direction make it all work. These nasty, killer critters are fast and furious and burrow under the skin just as this flick will for it's audience as a cast of likable (and unsavory) characters must use their wits to survive in a really horrifying situation. This has above-average creature effects combined with some nice touches. (the ticks' venom causes hallucinations in their victims to add to the mayhem!). The band of youths and their adult supervision must barricade themselves into a cabin along with a couple of despicable cash-croppers, and it all lunges towards an unforgettable climax where Alfonso Ribeiro (of 'Fresh Prince of Bel-Air fame') projects one humongous insect from his writhing corpse in a spectacular showdown. Other good genre performances include Seth Green as a resourceful juvenile and Clint Howard as a wacky pot-farmer. It's a perfect example of how imaginative plot devices and suspenseful set-ups used in the right brew can make for a fun, comedic horror film.

Chase_Witherspoon The woods are teeming with a mutant strain of ferocious ticks, bred on the cannabis residue from a massive hydroponics operation. Motley crew of kids and their counsellors become the menu when the ticks begin to hatch and hunt the local townsfolk. Geeky agoraphobic (Seth Green, pre "Austin Powers" fame) proves his inner mettle as the group battle to escape from the clutches of the over-sized parasites, and two local crooks intent on protecting their 'agricultural' interests.Competently handled and taut little time-filler with above average visual effects starts off a little slowly, but soon accelerates into over-drive with action and gore galore. Local weed weasel (Clint Howard) utters the immortal line (which is also this film's alternative title) as the rampaging critters course throughout this body, exiting via his face as he contends with a bear trap on his leg, and multiple self inflicted shot gun wounds. His painful-looking, prolonged writhing lasts well over half the length of the film, so his eventual demise must have been welcome relief.There's some sentimentality and character development interspersed, but it by no means inhibits the full-throttle approach by director Randel, demonstrating the value in containing arbitrary plot diversions and focusing on the core action. Picturesque scenery and pulsating music underscore the horror, while the stop-motion visual effects look impressive (if sometimes a little too paced). As you'd expect, each of the characters define themselves with various acts of heroics, in the process, restoring the confidence and self-image issues with which they arrived to take part in the retreat. Overall, it's an entertaining (if somewhat gruesome at times) way in which to spend an hour and twenty minutes, and save for a pedestrian first thirty minutes or so, should have you on the edge of your seat thereafter.

slayrrr666 "Ticks" is an absolute blast of a creature feature with a lot to love about it.**SPOILERS**Joining up on a wilderness retreat, Tyler Burns, (Seth Green) Darrel Lumley, (Alfonso Ribeiro) Dee Dee Davenport, (Ami Dolenz) Melissa Danson, (Virginya Keehne) Kelly Mishimoto, (Dina Dayrit) and Rome Hernandez, (Ray Oriel) go along with Holly Lambert, (Rosalind Allen) and her partner Charles Danson, (Peter Scolari) to an abandoned part of the forest. Adjusting to the quiet after living in the city, they try to adapt to the lifestyle but are soon at each other's throats. When they start to suspect that something maybe wrong with the local insect life after finding a gigantic tick, and find out that they're regular ticks overloaded with steroids from a local drug field. When they become trapped with the creatures in a cabin, they try to get out of the woods away from the bloodsuckers alive.The Good News: There was some great stuff in this one to help it out. One of it's biggest factors is that this one has a large amount of blood and gore, which is a great thing for this. The kills, what few there are, are incredibly bloody and have a lot of great stuff to them. There's a foot torn up from being caught in a bear-trap, a bite to the neck, a decapitation with the mandibles, the image of thousands of ticks exploding out of the face, some stabbing, tons of scenes of the ticks swarming over the victim and biting away as well as the single greatest scene in the film, the birth of the giant tick. This is a fantastic scene, and a lot to like here. The beginning, when the mandibles burst free from each leg is fun, the bulging limbs and stretching skin serve as tense moments before the rest of the legs break out, and then the splitting head where the horned head comes out is fantastic. When the rest of the body is ripped in half and the creature in full skitters out of the carnage, it's a fantastic image and works wonders for the film in several ways. Beyond the fantastic gore it provides, this one has a great representation scene to put the whole thing into context and also gives the film a look into it's area, the fantastic-looking ticks. These are truly fantastic-looking, not even remotely close to the CGI that plagues so many of the films but also gives them a realistic looking design as well. Their menacing looking and realistic execution of them is what drives them home as being believable creatures, and they're a lot of fun. The film's also got a lot of nice action scenes as well, with the chases through the pot-field away from the growers and the cultivating shack being big ones to generate some excitement. There's also the finale, which is absolutely fun. With the invasion from the pot-growers terrorizing them while the ticks converge on the outside and utilize every opportunity to get in. Those scenes are the best in the film, with the pot-growers trying to ward them off while keeping the hostages, causing a ton of collateral damage around the cabin and the exploding ticks being fun, the outside forest-fire closing in on them makes for some nice tension, and the fact that the ticks are constantly in the mix attacking them makes for some high-energy moments that work wonderfully. This one even has some really decent suspense scenes that generate some nice chills. The scene in the doctor's office is outstanding, as the surgery to get the tick out is pretty nice, the sight of the suddenly-springing-to-life creature is a nice jolt and the chest around the room is sheer gold. Long, drawn-out and tense, with some nice searching and inventive techniques to get it from both sides, and helps the film out. The other good scene, where the group discovers the dead patron in the pond after thinking it's only a fish is a nice jolt and actually worthwhile. The last big plus is that the film decides to use something else other than a human killer despite being in a campground setting. Making a creature feature out of the usual madman slasher set-up is something to be admired, and along with the other factors in here, constitute what make the film so entertaining.The Bad News: There's only one minor flaw to this film, and it doesn't really hurt it all that much. The fact that this one should've had a higher body count is the worst thing about it is a good thing, but it is somewhat irritating to see that most of the film has a lot of survivors here. Despite their being a lot of gore in this, the fact that almost all of the cast in here survives is a little troubling and a little more getting knocked off wouldn't have been a bad thing, but as it stands, it's really the only thing wrong with it.The Final Verdict: Without a whole lot to really dislike, this one is a really enjoyable and certainly entertaining creature feature. Worth a look for those who love these kinds of cheesy films or have an inordinate amount of love for the creature feature, while those who don't should heed caution.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and drug use