Larva (2005)

The greatest movie ever made..!

People are voting emotionally.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

I cringe at any movie released on the SciFi channel, but I felt an inborn need to watch this since it was set and filmed in my home state of Missouri (which almost never happens) if for no reason other than to get mad when they messed it up. I went in with the lowest of expectations of this and I'm happy to report that I was was very surprised by this.Right off the bat I got hit with 3 good points: 1)Vincent Ventresca is the lead. I've loved Vincent's work ever since The Invisible Man, so seeing him as the star definitely brought my hopes up. 2)The effects weren't terrible. The CG is a little dodgy in spots and it's obvious that it is CG, but these still look really good for a low budget straight-to-DVD affair. 3) They actually got the people right. I was so pleased to see that none of the actors were talking in Southern accents, people seem to think that any state that fought for the south is full of people with deep Carolina drawls, but fortunately the accents are appropriately neutral and the culture reflects a non-Southern rural culture which pleased me to no end.William Forsythe is surprisingly great in this and manages to capture the demeanor of a Missouri cattle farmer pretty much spot-on. Granted he fulfills the trope of having an armory hidden away in his barn but that's pretty much par for the course at this point.The story is pretty straight-forward genetic testing causes bad effects that result in the mutation of indigenous species, causing them to grow large/dangerous and wreak havoc on a small town and only our hero, a mild-mannered veterinarian and a local gun-nut farmer can stop the evil corporate CEO and warn the town in time.This movie misses a few cues, for one thing there's only about 4 characters that matter and everyone else is 100% expendable and the story barely acknowledges anyone else. There's a few plot threads that appear only to just disappear with no explanation later on. And there's not much going on in the way of build-up until the monsters arrive.But once the monsters do get there there's a fair amount of blood and gore, the movie's never really suspenseful or scary but it doesn't disappoint in the action department and has a suitably explosive and violent finale.The acting is good for what this is and a few people like William Forsythe and Vincent Ventresca do a very good job with their characters even though they're not given much to do with them.This movie isn't going to be remembered for generations to come, but as a bargain-bin monster movies go it ranks up there with Komodo as a surprisingly good and fun movie that's good for a rental or even a buy. It's worth watching more than once and I plan to pick it up myself.

Finding out that a film is a 'Sci-Fi Original' is usually enough to put me off and indeed that is the reason I haven't seen many of them; but to my surprise, Larva is actually a well made and entertaining film that delivers the thrills along with an interesting storyline. The plot focuses on a small town somewhere in America in which the farmers are getting a good deal from a meat company as they're getting free food for their cattle. The free food also increases their productivity; but there's a side effect because it contains a parasite that eats the cattle from the inside out. This is discovered when a new vet comes to town; but it's not long before the parasite has gotten out of the control and has become a problem for the whole town. Naturally the story has holes and the acting is not the best you'll ever see; but Tim Cox's film gets over this by focusing on the storyline. Obviously it's not completely original and has been seen in many films before, but nevertheless it works well in this one. The special effects are decent when the parasite is in its first stage; although it does have to be said that the quality takes a bit of a downturn once the parasites start to grow a bit larger. However, it's not a big problem really; you've got to expect cheap effects from a film like this and it delivers the goods in other areas. Overall, this is certainly fun entertainment and I would recommend giving it a look.

Larva is set in the small Missouri town of Host where slimy businessman Fletcher Odermatt (David Selby) runs 'Host Tender Meats' beef company, he supplies the local farmers with free cattle feed & they supply him with cheap cattle he sells at an inflated price. Dr. Eli Rudkus (Vincent Ventresca) is the new vet in town & his first call is to Jabcob Long's (William Forsythe) farm where one cow is dead & another is ill, Eli takes a sample of cow sh*t & back at his lab examines it & discovers an entirely new breed of worm like parasite which gestates in a living host feeding on it's blood before it reaches adulthood & bursts out in search of more blood, all caused by genetically altered cattle feed from Fletcher's company. It's not long before every cow in Host is dead & the huge mutated flying parasitic creatures have turned their attentions to the human population, Eli must find a way to stop the parasites & prevent a worldwide epidemic...This made-for-TV German American co-production also known as MorphMan internationally was directed by Tim Cox & I thought it was a pretty good creature feature considering the crap Nu Image Films usually put out. The somewhat predictable script by Dave Goodin, Kevin Moore, J. Paul V. Robert & T.M. Van Ostrand (did it really take four credited screenwriters to come up with this?) certainly moves along at a nice enough pace, it has enough gory monster mayhem to keep most Sc-Fi channel regulars happy & overall I thought it passed the time harmlessly enough even though it wasn't anything I would describe as spectacular. The character's are alright, the story is OK & like a lot of these types of films it has the moral message about us humans tampering with nature & it turning into some hideous monster that will bite us on the bum. This isn't exactly going to win any awards or anything & is far from a masterpiece but as 90 odd minutes of gory fun I didn't think it was half bad & that's what it boils down to & it's one of the few horror films that I have seen which has the balls to kill off an annoying blonde haired young boy.Director Cox does alright but the film is just too dark & dull, even scenes set during the day or in building which are supposedly well lit there's not much colour or picture information in the frame. The films looks OK, the most stylish moment is near the start as there are close-ups of beef burgers being cooked on a barbecue & then the camera pans up & reveals a cow standing in a field opposite & it lets out a loud moo! It's a scene which just made me smile. There's some OK gore although it never becomes excessive, there are various mutilated cows & dogs, a few stomachs exploding & a fair amount of blood splatter. The CGI special effects on the worm like parasites are good but once they reach adulthood & turn into what can only be described as flying blobs of browny black stuff they aren't so impressive.With a supposed budget of about $1,500,000 this is well made & has decent production values although some of the CGI computer effects look a little poor. The exterior shots were actually filmed in Springfield in Missouri. The acting is alright, Forsythe is slumming it & 80's fashion model Rachel Hunter turns up as the obligatory love interest.Larva is a perfectly decent way to pass the time if your a creature feature fan, it's not the best example of it's type but it's far from the worst either. I thought it was worth a watch if you can find a copy going cheap or watch it on the Sci-Fi channel for free.

Having watched 1000+ movies, this one is just another one in the genre. It's has no exciting extra's at all. The story and plot are well known. Only a little different on the outside. Watching this movie is just as filling in the same mathematical formula, with other values for it's variables. Nothing new. The effect's are really bad done. Especially the 'monsters'. They just look like an old coat that is in someway washed but never ironed. The color is also not realistic. It's yellowed. Done with a meaning ? I don't know, it's just irritating to watch. I hate things like this to give a special setting to a movie. Do it with good acting, good special effects and a good story. Not with Yelowing the whole movie, I rather watch them in realistic coloring. All by all, if you're young and new to the movie-watching scene, it maybe worth a view. But if you're older and have seen a lot of movies, you really fall asleep by looking this one.