I had the DVD lying around for a year or two and didn't watch it yet, because those many bad reviews made me think it would be a waste of time - but now that I finally watched it, I realize I strongly disagree with most reviews and actually think this is a good example you can make a passable little genre movie with limited budget and unknown actors. The story of "Parasite" revolves around Doctor Hansen who wants to use an abandoned oil rig as a testing ground for an enzyme intended to help clean anything polluted with oil. Although that sounds like a good idea, environmental activists led by her ex-boyfriend Mickey appear on the rig. They suspect the company wants to sink it. Jacob Rasmussen, Hansen's right hand man, ruins the enzyme experiment with an overdose of the biological substance. Little worms grow to gigantic size, start eating the crew members, and there is nowhere to run on the oil rig...Surely "Parasite" holds some of the clichés and stereotypes of the monster genre, but it has original ideas as well. Mickey looks like a terrorist with his black mask, but he'll be more useful to Hansen than Jacob who ought to be the hero, but fails miserably, trying to save only his own life. The two women are the most skilled crew members on the whole rig, though.*** spoiler *** I waited for the typical monster movie ending, you know, "one beast survived in the left corner, now wait for the sequel", instead Hansen has her revenge on the evil company which is a much more enjoyable solution. Bravo! *** end of spoiler *** Some cheap special effects, especially the explosions painted with a computer program, are below average TV quality, but it was a really good idea to have the activists film their actions with a hand-held video camera and use the footage for a certain "Blair Witch" documentary style effect, dark, poorly focused, but it's pretty much like you were on the rig yourself: whoosh, what was that? A lot of action towards the end with an increasing number of worms, and finally it was 90 enjoyable minutes for me, of course nowhere near a masterpiece such as "Alien", but considering what you can do with a low budget, a nice effort.

This movie was awful. I mean, let me add up all the bad things: bad acting, bad special effects, bad script, the clichéd 'girls losing all their clothes', improbable events, dumb characters. There was not one single redeeming quality about Parasite. Not one. I think my favorite part though were the explosions that were obviously fireworks. That has to be a new low. There's also the 'Let me rip off a piece of my already-very-short shirt to help hold off the monster!'. Apparently the director feels that women should be chosen for their roles based on how they look in tiny shirts rather than actual acting ability. Well, for that matter, the men couldn't act either. No one could act in this overly-processed joke of a movie. Avoid at all costs!!!!

"Parasite" is one of the weaker Sci-Fi channel films.**SPOILERS**A small group of extreme activists break into an oil company's head office and steal incriminating information about the company's future plans. The company enlists Dr. Christine Hansen, (Saskia Gould) to coordinate a team to clean up an abandoned oil rig to test their newest chemical creation before being exposed to the world. The team, including leader Jacob, (G.W. Stevens) engineer Nils, (Gary Condes) and grease monkey Kim (Margaret Thompson) and others, arrive on the oil rig and begin their assignment. When Dr. Hansen arrives on the rig to begin the experiment, the team of activists also arrives to sabotage the affair. Unknowingly, the team accidentally sprays the chemical on a small parasitic worm and mutates it into a larger parasite, attacking one of the cleanup crew. The rig begins to break down in certain areas, making the team get a little antsy. When the cleanup crew is taken hostage by the activists, the parasites follow them and attack the group. Convinced of the threat to them, the two teams' band together to survive the creatures, which are now growing bigger and threatening to envelop the entire rig.The Good News: The beginning of the film isn't the most action-packed, but with most Sci-Fi films, the film heats up in the second half. Once the discovery of the creatures has been revealed, the film kicks it up a notch and becomes a bit more entertaining. Granted, the beginning isn't exactly all that action-packed, so the last half of the film is it's major saving grace. The ending is the best, as the rig explodes in a giant explosion as the survivors try to kill off the last few parasites. With explosions going off in every location and the fire coming in closer, it adds to the suspense of the scene. Even the designs of the parasites are pretty creepy, based on a general worm look but with a few modifications to the head and a minor design change on the body make the creatures look a bit terrifying at first viewing. Their jaw-lined mouths were perfect for scaring the workers on the rig.The Bad News: The beginning of the movie is extremely weird. Shot through night-vision lens, we see a group of men enter a building under the pretenses of a bomb threat. They then steal information about the company's drilling activities and leave the sight, leaving you to wonder what was really going on: is it a heist film, is it an espionage film, why is this classified as a killer creature film? All these questions come in to play in the beginning. Also pretty annoying is the constant whining between the two sets of protagonists. Because they all have similar backgrounds but just play for different sides, we get a lot of bickering about what is morally ethical or not about what the project is doing to the environment. I could care less about this type of film, but I can't stand all the conversations being about the same thing. It gets boring after a while. Even with all these problems, the worst of all is the unbelievably bad CGI used. When a routine shot of a helicopter flying in a storm is done with CGI, you know the film isn't a high budget film. Even worse, the entire exploding oil factory is done in CGI, as the whole affair simply loses any sense of realism or believability. This is a major offense as the high action finale is ruined by the inclusion of something that ruins the movie. Even for those that don't mind CGI, it is so obviously bad and distracting it destroys the mood of the ending.The Final Verdict: Based on the major flaws involved, I can only recommend this to those who love getting drunk and bashing a film to shreds. This is the only way to enjoy this movie. Watching this one sober is like getting castrated and then watching the video minutes later.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Adult Language, and Brief Nudity

I highly recommend this film.I wrote down the synopsis as I think it may be helpful:The costs of decommissioning an oilrig after its lifespan has ended are huge. Yoho Oil believes that it has found a solution that allows defunct rigs to be decommissioned safely by developing an enzyme that feeds off prevalent harmful commodities. A cleaning crew is assigned the task of spraying the Johnny Alpha rig with the enzyme. They have 24 hours to clean it and lay explosives that will release it from the seabed.The rig's interior is sprayed with the enzyme, but, in its depths the bacteria are reacting with the remains of the oilrig's dead cat and a breeding ground is forming fast.With the rig soon doused with bacteria, crew leader Hansen radios to the helicopter to pick them up. The reply comes back that a storm is approaching and there will be an overnight delay. Accustomed as they are to such setbacks, the crew makes the most of their situation and hold a party~ But something is moving in the lower bowels of the rig. Kim and Jacob go to the roof of the rig and are getting more intimately acquainted when they notice a stream of slime dripping from above them and hear screams from below. Carefully they make their way to the noise and are shocked by what they see! In the depths of the rig, there are giant parasites and they are growing rapidly, moving onto puddles of bacteria continually growing in size. Gio catches up with Kim and Jacob and they try to catch a vicious parasite but it spits acid in Gio's face. Kim goes for help as she recognizes this as the beginning of a mutation over which they have no control.The power suddenly runs down and the rig is cast into darkness. By torchlight the remaining group start to construct makeshift weapons out of the backpack tanks. Each carrying 'flame thrower' packs, they go to the generator room but discover that the cables that support the power have melted through in many different places and are covered in slime. Jacob slowly extends his hand towards the comer and touches something slimy and horrible.As he pulls back his hand his flesh bubbles painfully and he is hit in the face by a thick spray of acid. The parasites are certainly in control!There is just one way to be sure that all of the bugs are killed; the rig must be blown up. But where can the remaining team hide?If you like scary, suspenseful movies, you'll love PARASITE.