Vampire Bats

Make no mistake, this absolutely comes across as the TV movie that it is, and one of the classic "nature run amok" variety. All the staples of the genre are here: one big star (Lucy Lawless) and other names of varying renown; a small number of experts, town officials that try to downplay the danger, and a large host of nobodies to become victims; themes of environmentalist warning signs, official corruption, and/or capitalist malfeasance; a ham-handed ending. Scenes of social gatherings of any size ride a line between setting the stage for a bloodbath, and just padding out the length. Having been made in the early 2000s, 'Vampire bats' treats us to further common elements thereof including overzealous editing or camerawork as a substitute for judicious storytelling or film-making, annoying pop rock and nondescript EDM, obnoxious college students, and the like. None of this is to say that this feature is wholly bereft of entertainment value, but we've seen this movie before, and we can reasonably ask what cause we have to see another. For what it's worth, this is well made such as it is. The effects are fine, including blood, gore, and special makeup, and the production design that adjoins the swell filming locations. The cast perform well, I think, with the material they have to work with. Any "action sequences" or moments of violence come off well enough. There are, truly, no surprises in Doug Prochilo's screenplay, nor in Eric Bross' direction, but both demonstrate competence in their work. 'Vampire bats' never quite achieves any especial thrills or impact, but it's suitably enjoyable - which is, in fairness, more than can be said for some of its brethren. There are better examples of the genre, by all means, but apart from noting the typical inelegance or heavy-handedness we expect from such titles, the worst that can really be said here is that it's perfectly in keeping with its cousins - which is to say, average. Unless you're a big fan of Lawless or someone else involved there's no reason to seek it out, but if you happen to come across it or want something low-key to pass the time on a lazy day, well, 'Vampire bats' is fun enough to satisfy that want, and maybe that's all it needs to be.

Vampire Bats, a made for television Lucy Lawless horror movie, is quite a passable time waster. Interesting enough but you might struggle to recall much of it a day or two later. Nightwing, Bats, Bats: Human Harvest, The Bat People - has there ever been a truly good movie about bats? Don't dare suggest Chosen Survivors as being an OK bat movie. It's only OK by comparison. Vampire Bats is better than some others but as we have acknowledged, the bar is not set too high. Director Eric Bross has his cast well in hand and keeps the action ticking over. Production values are at the better end of the 'made for television' spectrum. Lucy Lawless is easily up to the job. The plot is just a little cliched even down to the environmentally irresponsible local official but there are enough twists to maintain interest. Without giving too much away, a scientist, Lawless, gets caught up in the investigation of several unexplained deaths in which some of her students are implicated. She does add up two and two pretty quickly but as her characters says, she does have PhD in biology. The actual vampire bats are a combination of real bats, CGI and practical effects. They are quite credible as 'flitter mice'. Vampire bats are literally flying rodents, well, all bats are, and they are portrayed as being ugly, blood thirsty and generally disgusting which they sort of are. It's the bloodthirsty aspect which is exaggerated in this movie. Bross handles the gore aspects, the actual human attacks, well. There is enough blood and brutalized flesh to get the movie over the horror line but remember that it is made for television. The first major bat attack sees parallel scenes of a kids rave and an adult soiree. Bross is trying. Writer, Doug Prochilo, pens non-cringeworthy lines though he did a marginally better job in Locusts, the precursor to Vampire Bats also starring Lawless. All in all, Vampire Bats adds nothing to the bat movie sub-genre but it is a palatable 85 minutes of entertainment.