AUSXIP Lucy Lawless Files - Flawless Print - Lucy Articles
Vampire Bats Review
scifi.com
After eliminating Locusts, Dr. Maddy Rierdon is on the trail
of a deadly new predator—and this one has fangs
* Vampire Bats
* Starring Lucy Lawless, Dylan Neal and Brett Butler
* Written by Doug Prochilo
* Directed by Eric Bross
* CBS
* Premieres Sunday, Oct. 30, at 9 a.m. ET/PT
By Kathie Huddleston
After their adventures in the CBS movie Locusts, professor
Maddy Rierdon (Lawless) and her husband, Dan Dryer (Neal), attempt to get
their bearings after moving to Louisiana with their two daughters in search
of a simpler life. However, Maddy isn't happy at all at their temporary
living arrangements in a rental, while renovations on their house are being
completed, or at having to take Dan's pushy sister, Shelly (Butler), up on
her offer of babysitting.
Our Pick: C+
When a student at the college that Maddy and Dave teach at is found dead and
drained of blood, the police suspect two of Maddy's students were involved.
As the students are dragged off for questioning, Maddy pushes her way into
the investigation and discovers that the boy's body suffered animal bites.
When two fisherman are found dead and bat droppings are found on the bodies,
Maddy begins to suspect what might be happening. However, the professor
doesn't believe the deaths could be caused by normal bats or even normal
vampire bats. Despite Maddy and the coroner's warnings, the mayor (Timothy
Bottoms) refuses to put out a warning to the public.
The police finally release Maddy's students, and her class joins the
determined professor as she tries to capture some of the bats. As the
attacks continue, Maddy, Dave and her students attempt to discover the cause
of the change in the bats, while Shelly pins down an old schoolmate,
believing he might have something to do with it all. Unfortunately for our
heroes, the bats aren't the only predator around. There's someone with a
secret, and it's a secret that someone is willing to kill to keep.
Popcorn, bats and shlock
Shlocky horror movies have done well on the major networks lately, partially
because they realize something SCI FI has known all along. Bad horror movies
are cheap to make, and they're fun to watch. Vampire Bats does spend a
little more time on its characters than the average bad television horror
flick, but not much more. However, what it doesn't do is go far enough over
the top to make it a good popcorn flick.
When you watch this kind of movie, you want the victims to deserve their
fate, but a cast that's just too large insures we don't really know any of
these people very well, despite a few good moments from some of the
characters. None of the college kids are distinctive enough to stand out,
and even Dylan Neal as Maddy's husband fades into the background. Still,
Lucy Lawless, Brett Butler and Timothy Bottoms do manage to help breathe
some life into Vampire Bats, and they help elevate it slightly above
average.
As for the script, it's sad when the drug-addled are the primary victims,
mainly because they aren't aware enough to run away. The Vampire Bat victims
have four or five bites, and the bats are small and don't look like they
could suck down much blood at all. It would have helped if the bats were
bigger and scarier-looking. Then we wouldn't be bothering with logic, a
process that shouldn't even cross your mind during a flick called Vampire
Bats.
And please, can we have a moratorium on the town council or mayor who
refuses to put out a warning for no good reason at all other than it will
add some conflict to the script? No one's done that well since Jaws in 1975,
and yet we see it over and over and over and over again. Screenwriters of
the world ... stop it! The secret of what made the bats batty may not be
anything new either, but at least that done-to-death revelation doesn't make
me want to throw a brick through my television set.
While Bottom's Mayor Poelker does redeem himself later in the flick, movie
mayors need to start putting out the darn warning. People won't heed it
anyway, so monsters will still get a chance to attack. If people acted smart
and the monsters still ate them ... now, that would be a story worthy of a
title like Vampire Bats.
There are a couple of moments and performances that lift this flick above
the rest. Unfortunately, not much else does. Still, if you like bad
television movies and don't mind the lack of inspiration, Vampire Bats might
be just what the coroner ordered for a Sunday night on the eve of Halloween.
—Kathie