Infestation (2009)

I love insects. Not for real of course, they just don't deserve to live! Kill them! Kill them!!! But in movies they are one of the coolest thing there is to see. Especially if they're big bugs wanting to eat humans! Remember Eight Legged Freaks? I liked that one, a fun comedy with a lot of cool monster. This movie, Infestation, is a little bit like that one, but with the comedy more towards Shaun of the Dead and The Office.

Chris Marquette plays Cooper, a good-for-nothing guy who just got fired from the office. But maybe it was his lucky day, because in the same moment he's getting fired something hits his town and a couple of days later people are starting to wake up, wrapped in cocoons and ready to be insect-food. Together with the (ex) boss daughter, the tough and cynical Sara (Brooke Nevin) and a couple of other people they try to escape the city and survive! But first Cooper want's home to his dad, a retired military, and maybe solve some problems between father and son...

This is one of those movies that it's hard to not like. It's cheaper than movie mentioned above, and the script is a bit less thought through (some characters just vanishised along the way for example), but it has enough charm to charm me. Marquette is a fun and likable actor that probably will rise and be a much more famous comedy actor. He injects some humanity to his character and the little love story actually works without being silly. The best actors is, as usual, Ray Wise as his dad. A typical Burt Gummer-character that instead of focusing his attention to his son just cares about his "sister", aka his little stupid dog!

How's the creature-action and gore/slime then? Not much blood, but it's not bloodless if someone thinks that. Like Drag me to Hell it focuses mainly on slime and other kinds of bodily fluids, and there's a lot of smashed insects and humans. The effects are very good, and I'll buy both the practical insect-animatronics and the CG-stuff. A lot of the action is set in daylight, so expect to see a lot of insects in different shapes and moods.

A very charming movie that brings laughs, slime and father/son-relationship into our livingrooms. Buy it!