Released to TV in 2007, "Bats: Human Harvest" chronicles events after info is uncovered in an Alqueda camp in Iraq on the location of an important weapons specialist, American Dr. Walsh (Tomas Arana). It turns out the doctor has found an alternative funding source and sets up a new research facility deep in the mysterious Belzan forest in Chechnya, Russia, where he is developing weapons and selling them to Chechnyan rebels. A Delta team is sent on a covert mission to retrieve the doctor and his technology before the Russians find him and his lab. What the team soon discovers is that the doctor's latest weapon is a flock of large carnivorous bats that have been genetically altered to desire human flesh. The Delta team includes characters played by David Chokachi, Michael Jace and Melissa De Sousa with help by a Russian biyatch played by Pollyanna McIntosh.This is a sequel-in-name-only to 1999's "Bats," which was a conventional nature-runs-amok flick about government-funded mutated bats that escape and harass the citizens of a West Texas town. You have to give credit to "Bats: Human Harvest" for trying something different. Practically the entire movie takes place in or near the supposedly cursed Russian forest with the various militaristic groups fighting each other and the mutated bats. So there's a lot of action, albeit in a comic booky manner a la "Rambo: First Blood Part II." Speaking of the bats, they're more menacing here and there are some close-ups, but they're still a relatively weak "monster." Thankfully, the movie is well made for what it is, a made-for-TV creature feature, and there are plenty of stunning visuals in the forest, the bats, etc. And the soundtrack rocks. Unfortunately, the babe factor is almost zero. Don't get me wrong, De Sousa is an exotic curvy beauty, but she's clothed in military fatigues the entire flick. As for McIntosh, she's definitely an interesting character, but she lacks sex appeal (for me, anyway). Lastly, whereas there's a lot of action and cool visuals the story generally fails to pull the viewer into the events. That said, I DID care when a certain character buys the farm. The film runs 87 minutes and was shot in Sofia, Bulgaria.GRADE: C

It's called "Bats: Human Harvest", I'm pretty sure I can end the review there. You know it's going to be good for some marginal entertainment, you know it's going to be bad in any other field you can think of. What's up with the special effects in this one? CGI always looks laughable in low-budget movies but Jesus, this is just insane. The acting is universally terrible, but the Scottish chick who tries and completely fails to do a Russian accent ought to receive special mention. The weirdest thing about that though: this movie was shot in the former Soviet state of Bulgaria! How hard is it to find someone with a genuine Russian accent there? The logics behind a B-movie production, I guess I'll never get it. The comic relief scenes look like they've been written by Germans or something, most awful lines ever. Check out the hilarious interplay between the first victims, move over Laurel and Hardy. When a bunch of corpses are found in the forest, one guy reacts: "Who did this? Stalin's ghost?". Even Ed Wood would throw that in his wastebasket. The movie's filled with action though, it's not a total bore. If you can get over the fact that it sucks, you might even have fun with it.

I have yet to watch the first entry in this series, however, fortunately, I was still able to follow the complex and intricate plot, with all its unexpected twists and turns, and I applaud them for the utter originality of the concepts herein. In case there is any confusion, let me leave no doubt as to the fact that everything I've just said is coated in pure, carefully nurtured sarcasm, the kind that flourishes and grows exponentially when exposed to crap like this flick. A clear sign that this is unimpressive is that it was directed by a visual effects creator, whose only other credit in that field is a Henry Rooker film that wasn't well received. The acting is average at best, and I defy anyone to not find... Scottish computer-woman(come on, seriously, what is with that last name?)'s Russian accent laughable and/or irritating. There is an attempt or two at stylization in this, and they are reasonable. The action isn't terrible. Cinematography and editing are fine. The music is cool enough. Language is infrequent, if even that. Violence is fairly bloody. I recommend this solely to fans of B-movies, and I will say that you can do worse than this. 1/10

An elite American military team which of course happens to include two good looking women and a guy who can't quite grasp teamwork, lots of bats, some terrorists, and a Spetznaz team that acts like the gang that can't shoot straight -- all thrown together in a jumbled plot with mediocre acting. This one has nothing much going for it. The characters are not compelling. Even the setting, which has great possibilities, looks like something out of the middle of rural Pennsylvania, not an exotic Boreal forest in Eastern Europe.The bats are certainly ferocious looking. They can even pick up a man and fly with him for a few feet (harpies?) or chop off an arm. You see Delta force surrounded by hundreds of bats with a guys shooting assault rifles and pistols at them and bat flopping to the ground. It would be like trying to shoot skeet with a rifle from a distance of 3 feet. Utterly clueless. The dialogue is rancidly unrealistic, with boy/girl jokes and flirts in the middle of tense parts of the mission. One of the team is blown up by a mine and the first one on the scene just stares sadly at his body, stunned, not even bothering to take cover or secure the area. In fact AFTER the rest of the group shows up he talks about how the area is laid out like a minefield -- thanks for the heads up bub.If you want a contrast in how a horror movie involving a small military group can be done well on a low budget check out Outpost. Harvest is not the movie you want to see. In fact I think I'm going to give it a two instead of a three if I can make it through the second half. Seems unlikely at this point.