Growth (2010)

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

This is an astonishing documentary that will wring your heart while it bends your mind

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

I came across this gem when it was shown on the UK Horror channel - not a place that I usually find gems - but I noticed a few things (unmentionable here, lest I spoil this for you!) that made me use the tivo to go back to the beginning and watch it in full. I was not disappointed, nor did I know what was going to happen next, the usual experience with so many formulaic movies of the genre. Suffice to say this movie eschews many of the hackneyed "Conventions" that all to often mark out the "Wannabe" horror movies that infect the horror scene. Is it a perfect movie? Probably not, but certainly not because of any of the creative arts employed. Perhaps the biggest problem I had with the movie was the opening titles, which, though telling a story, were flash edited just a little too quickly for my taste and, had I started watching the movie from the beginning, might have put me off it somewhat. Could the SFX have been better? Yes, but only if the money was available. As it is they are of an acceptable standard - think "Better than Sy-fy channel movies." I don't understand the poor IMDb rating (4 stars as I write this) It certainly deserves more than this, with great acting, good actors, a writer who is not just doling out the usual gruel and a director (The same person) who delivers his script thoughtfully and without falling into the many traps that beset many productions. I will definitely be on the look out for Gabriel Cowan's future work. To the prospective viewer I say, stick with it, you'll be glad you did.

As far as I could tell this was one of those straight to DVD horror films, some of those aren't all brilliant, but I saw a trailer for this one which looked relatively interesting. Basically in the 1980's an advanced research was being developed to give humans heightened physical and mental strength, but this turned into a parasite. On Cuttyhunk Island, these parasites, looking like alien worms have got out and spread around, and plan to get inside any human they can to breed. It has been twenty years since Jamie Ackerman (Mircea Monroe) has any involvement with this disastrous incident, but she has to witness her step brother becoming one of the infected, and her boyfriend trying to get away from it with her. The authorities, including Larkin Holberman (Richard Riehle) are aware of the outbreak, and are trying to contain it before the infection can spread further afield. Also starring Christopher Shand as Justin Roberts, Brian Krause as Marco, Nora Kirkpatrick as Kristin Daniels, Mackenzie Brooke Smith as Gwen Anderson, Alexi Wasser as Sarah Holberman, Ian Patrick Williams as Mason Lane, Robert Pike Daniel as Jake, Lou Richards as Dr. Macavire and Yousef Abu-Taleb as Sgt. George Seitz. Seeing little horrible worms going into people and coming out through various places in their body is freaky, but that is all the film is good for, there is no effort to make you feel like it is worthwhile, so while it was creepy and crawly, it was just alright. Okay!

This is a failed attempt at a movie made using a worn out recipe. I usually revel into films with parasites, infestations and so on. This one made me squirm, and not in a good way, either.The plot revolves around a group of friends that come on an isolated island in order to process an inheritance. The people there are a closed community of scientists that dabble in genetics. One of the guys has "low immunity" which is kind of weird for someone coming on an isolated island.Anyway, you can see it, right? The potential. The closed community from Wicker Man, the parasites from any number of films, the low immunity resulting in a different condition than other infected, and so on. The film managed to ignore all these possibilities, instead basing the thrills on CGI critters that crawl under the skin. Really? Epic fail.

Have just watched this and I have to say I am surprised at the previous review. I found the story line quite weak, and although a few of the actors gave believable performances, most of the acting was rather hammy. The special effects were the sort I would expect to see on a made for TV movie, and made me feel no sorrow for the victims. The story was a little disjointed in places, and because we are shown the 'parasites' very early on in the film, there is no room to build any tension and the film almost plods along. I found myself checking to see how long there was left to go. Overall, I give this a 5/10, mainly for the few actors that managed to work their script into believable dialogue.