Touches You

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Following the release of experimental locusts, an entomologist and a government doctor race to find a way of stopping the ravenous creatures before they eat through the US and consume the entire world.This turned out to be quite an enjoyable if not overly spectacular killer bug effort. One of the better elements here is the fact that there's a lot done here to make these creatures seem deadly and vicious, which is what should be done in these kinds of films. The early attacks here are where this one really gets good, as not only is the scenes showing their control in the hive provide this one with a solid base in determining the fear here which makes the attacks that much more fun. This one manages to get a lot of quite fun and thrilling encounters here with the bugs including the farm swarm, the attack on the family at the campground and the rather thrilling rescue from the area later on being the main efforts. The film's two biggest set-pieces are also great action scenes, as first the discovery and subsequent failure to kill them off in the caves results in the swarm attacking with ferocity while the second scene is the splendid amusement park assault that is quite fun for how cruel it is in dealing with the trapped patrons. That this one also manages to get some rather impressive facets of their biology into this one is another big plus, making it smarter than it really should how they attack and behave. Along with a great finale, these are enough to hold this up against the negatives in here which starts with the whole point of creating the insects. There's very little here that makes sense about how the creatures came into being since the motivation is rife with problems and chances to fail which it does here. This also points out the rather clichéd notion of the film's storyline, which is pretty simplistic and doesn't do a whole lot here to offer up many different twists and turns as this one follows along pretty much all the expected paths to its conclusion that would be expected in such an effort. Along with the pretty lame and incredibly unrealistic amount of CGI found throughout here, these are what keep this one down.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Language, and children-in-jeopardy.

Deep in rural Idaho, a swarm of genetically-enhanced Locusts escape from the government lab that they're being held in to wreck havoc on and eat the skin of pretty much everything they come across. It's up to local organic pesticide inventor Colt (Dan Cortese AKA: Dan Dan the Whopper Man Aka: Tony the Mimbo) and his girlfriend, Vicky (Dexter's Julie Benz, who should've known better) to find a way to take care of this '8th Plaque' Filled to the brim with extremely hokey CGI (locust, blood, helicopters & even fire) and not much else, this is definitely not one of the better Sci-Fi Original films (I outright refuse to use the word 'SyFy') that I've seen by a long shot. The acting is bad all the way around, a very unconvincing story, and the fact that the film goes on too long all combine to make a rather unpleasant viewing experience for anyone, like myself, gullible enough to sit through it. David Keith should have been a Lord of Discipline and said no to his role in the film as both he and Jeff Fahey embarrass themselves here.My Grade: D- Image Entertainment DVD Extras: 3 short (and rather lame) 'before & after' special effects shots

This film is mainly fine for 'made for TV' fare. The biggest problem with this movie is the horrendous cgi effects. If it were not for the absolutely unwatchable special effects, "Locusts" would be worth it for the guilty pleasure factor. I will say that I am notoriously forgiving with regard to horror films. If I was entertained at all, I figure the movie did the job for which it was intended. I would have found this one very entertaining on the level of schlocky monster of the week movies, were it not for the extremely poor use of cgi. If you have nothing better to do and happen to find it on sci-fi... go ahead and give it a watch. There is enough unintended comedy to make use of a pizza and a couple of sodas or beers.

This movie contains some of the worst acting, most over-used cheap CGI and most unrealistic props I have ever seen in a modern movie. What a load of schlocky tripe! I laughed out loud when the leading lady spun on her heel, pointed at the head anti-locust team and said "There's got to be another way!" in the most B-Movie way ever. The poor CGI of the helicopters was so obvious that it became quickly obvious how cheaply this film had been made. Even the flame-throwers and explosions were computer effects! Maybe the whole of the budget was spent on building the locusts and throwing them about to look like they were dead.As for plot holes, this had more gaps than a hill-billy's teeth. The last ditch trigger of the bomb, for example. Firstly the swarm of six-inch bugs interferes with the radio when you could have driven a tank between each bug. Then the counter stops, presumably a bug switched it off, so the bad guy has to go in and set the bomb off, heroically sacrificing himself in retribution for his greed, etc etc. Why not use a hard-wired bomb? Sheesh...I am amazed that some quality actors gave up their time to be in such a movie. If I was that hard up, I'd consider selling Pepsi before being in this kind of trash. If you're having a drunken weekend watching horror movies and eating popcorn, put this on first!