A strain of mutant larva threaten the safety of the residents in the sleepy small country town of Host, Missouri. It's up to earnest newbie veterinarian Dr. Eli Rudkus (a fine and engaging portrayal by Vincent Ventresca) and scruffy rough'n'tumble farmer Jacob Long (robustly played with mucho macho aplomb by the always dependable William Forsythe) to stop the lethal critters before it's too late.Director Tim Cox treats the blithely silly story with admirable seriousness, keeps the pace racing along at a snappy clip, grounds the premise in a believable workaday reality, offers a flavorful evocation of the remote rural region, generates a good deal of tension, and delivers a satisfying smattering of gore. The sound acting by the sturdy cast keeps this picture humming, with especially praiseworthy contributions from David Selby as shifty CEO Fletcher Odermatt, Rachel Hunter as spunky lawyer Hayler Anderson, Robert Miano as ineffectual on the take lawman Sheriff Lester, and Sean Kissner as conflicted executive Milo Turner. The compact script by David Goodin, Kevin Moore, J. Paul V. Robert, and T.M. Van Ostrand warrants some extra points for its spot-on stinging criticism of corporate greed, amorality, and omnipotence. The CGI effects are adequate and acceptable. The slick cinematography by Stephen Lighthall and Dave Rutherford provides a pleasing polished look. John Dickson's shivery score hits the shuddery spot. A fun little flick.

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.

This movie was great!! It showed the American spirit for what it actually is. Create a mess, and lie and cover it up with everything that you have. This is the real nitty gritty American persona, especially that of the government and the wealthy in this country! We see it everyday, and people still say "no, they wouldn't do that". But, YES, they would, and they're doing it daily to the average man in the street, us. I especially loved the part when the Mom tries to tell her little boy there are no monsters in the closet, and the parasite is already eating him on his bed, because, in most movies, even horror movies, they never want to kill children, yet, children die everyday, and in horrible ways, example WARS. Governments lie, heads of companies lie. People who make profit from other peoples deaths lie, and lots of times they make you pay for them killing you. This had to do with trying to make beef better, bigger, and therefore more profitable, but instead they got a killer parasite out of it, (hint, mad cow disease? From feeding livestock it's own dead, diseased not excluded), why attack a movie who's whole point is just trying to show the reality of these practices? Boy, do some people miss the point of some movies. Disregard the acting, and listen to what is being said. Of course, nothing is ever done, in real life, against corporations who gouge, and kill it's consumers, so why should an ignorant person who watches a movie that tells him/her they're taking it up the a-- even stop to think about what they're seeing??

This movie is trash, but well made and obviously much was spend on the production. Rachel Hunter with her strong Australian accent seems totally out of place in this movie. Whats the most daft scene in this story, is when the townspeople are making emergency calls to the Sheriff, he just Sat's there and does nothing, does not response or seems to care, despite his town is been over-run by flying string ray creatures. The special effects are rather good, and does prove this movie had a good budget. There is a lot of thrown away characters who show up in one scene, only to be kill off in the next scene.More stupid behavior from the main characters, when they discovery the creatures, they don't seem too worry in warning the local townspeople, or calling for help outside the township. Of course its up to them to save the day, which happens at the end as usual.There is nothing new in this movie which you have not seem before in countless other horror movies.One thing i always hate about these movies, its always the new guy in town that saves the day, never a local. In these movies, the locals are made out to be dumb hill billies who know nothing, and only the new guy who knows all the answers can save the day.I also wonder why the local fire brigade or ambulance service are never call in, during this movie, or maybe they not bought in, to save costs.