After a rash of strange deaths, a teacher in a small Louisiana college town comes to believe that the strange deaths are the result of a strain of vampire bats mutated from released toxic waste and must try to find a way of stopping the creatures from further spreading throughout the area.This here turned out to be quite the enjoyable and entertaining effort. One of the better parts to this one is the fact that there's much more to the main storyline on display here, and makes for quite a stronger story than expected. The first half where the police being the investigation into the first accident and let the murder investigation turn into the initial realization of the bats being the culprit before turning into the investigation of their appearance there. That does lead into this one managing to feature some rather impressive action scenes here once they do learn of the creatures as the first attack on the boat-bound fisherman comes off rather well, the rather impressive double-attack where the bats simultaneously attacking the ferry's party and the rave at the same time which is rather fun how they're cross-referenced in order to play out at the same time and the chilling night-time sequence in the pool where the teens are attacked while trying to have a date- night in the pool are all quite chilling here. The finale is also quite fun with the confrontation in the church with the bats and their attempt at getting the bats to leave gives this some rather enjoyable fun to give this a high-end finale. With some solid- looking bat puppets used for their scenes, it looks quite nice overall. While these here are quite fun, this one does have a few minor issues against it. The film's biggest issue here is the fact that there's just not a whole lot of screen time with the bats in here, though there's some rather nice scenes of them here. There's several factors that hold up the pacing, with a large part of it due to the film's incessant and rather overlong explanation scenes where they go about tending to the kids and how they go about finding the different rationalizations that bring the bats to their attention, and it really seems to keep the attacks to a minimum while really figuring on the extended downtime here to this one. Being filled with the kinds of scenes that really just holds the creatures to these few scenes and really focuses on the other elements which is where the main problem with this one lies. Likewise, the fact that this one goes for the environmental cover-up in the second half is another rather strong factor in this one which really doesn't need to be here and really stretches this one out on bat-attacks as well as going for quite a clichéd plot line. As well, there's also the rather big issue with the CGI featured, which is quite a rather large issue here with the utterly terrible scenes in here showing their flight through the air or the plainly bad sequences of the multitude of creatures in one scene. These here really manage to hold this one down.Rated Unrated/PG-13: Violence and Language.

I'm a huge fan of creature features, even the dodgy ones in which CGI monsters run amok and tear overacting cast members to pieces. Hell, I got a kick out of ATTACK OF THE SABRETOOTH and AZTEC REX, which is saying something. But VAMPIRE BATS, a sort-of modern-day version of NIGHTWING, turns out to be a deathly dull and completely senseless addition to the genre.Originally shown on Halloween in 2005, this is a short TV movie which nevertheless feels like it goes on for ages. The entire production is padded with dull SCOOBY DOO-style scenes of the characters creeping around and investigating a series of mysterious murders. It's all routine and predictable as you'd expect. Oddly, this is a sequel, a follow up to LOCUSTS which also starred Lucy Lawless.Needless to say that the acting is extremely bad, even from Lawless who would later go on to enjoy a mini career renaissance with her great role in the gory TV show SPARTACUS: BLOOD AND SAND. The special effects are a mix of silly CGI bat swarms and some slightly more convincing rubber models. One of the worst things about it is that there's no gore to speak of, no decent attack scenes a la THE BIRDS, just mindless, mind-numbing plotting with no wit, style or imagination. Give it a miss.

Aaron, Eden and Jason are back for another semester at Tate University in Louisiana. It is quite hot, so many of the guys and gals are showing off lots of skin as they have fun getting wet. The three students with lines want to party too, but in a different way. They all go to a party at night where there is drinking--and they do more than get drunk.One of the students starts hallucinating and hearing weird noises. He even hears what might be bats.Dr. Maddy Rierdon, who saved the world from locusts in another movie, teaches biology at Tate, and her husband Dan does as well. They are building a house, with the usual problems that causes, and their two kids need someone to take care of them while their parents are in school. That responsibility falls to the kids' Aunt Shelly, who likes to move things around even when Maddy and Dan have everything the way they want it.Two of Maddy's students are arrested after another of her students is found dead. Maddy gets involved, but it's not just because she cares too much about her students. Her area of expertise allows her to figure out just why the student died the way he did (isn't this amazing!). It turns out the student has similar wounds to those found in dead deer in the area--and he has been completely drained of blood.This may or may not be related, but Hank, the town's mayor, seems to be a little too friendly with Carbide, a company dumping toxic wastes.The party animals find a new place for their next event--the steam tunnels under the campus. Their guests, as it turns out, include bats. In fact, Maddy and Dan also attend a party--a much more dignified one--and guess who also shows up?Maddy comes up with a plan for getting rid of the bats. It's not perfect, but it might work. And her students are all too willing to help. Several solutions to the problem are found--all pretty unbelievable and none quite ideal, but entertaining nonetheless. Especially since the wildlife officer doesn't completely support Maddy's efforts.I didn't see a lot of good acting in this movie, but Lucy Lawless seemed to do quite a good job in class as she explained to her students what was going on. Brett Butler did the best job as the annoying Shelly, who was nowhere near as caustic as the "Grace Under Fire" character, which I never saw except in clips.The story wasn't all that scary. Most of it was investigation and problem-solving, which turned out to be enjoyable if not all that realistic. Maddy and her students would have to be absolutely brilliant and incredibly lucky. As for the bats themselves, I have to wonder why they were so selective with their targets and with their lairs. I didn't care for their ugly faces or the graphic violence (which probably lasted all of 15 seconds). Another thing: we are lucky rabies symptoms don't appear as quickly as they apparently did here. Once there are symptoms, there is no hope.Maddy's students included Lizzie (Robin Hines), Eden (Jessica Stroup), Aaron (Brandon Rodriguez), Keith (Andrew Matthews) and Miles (Josh Segarra).Overall, I found this enjoyable.

*** May contain spoilers. *** Any viewer who has sit through three or more made-for-TV "attack of nature" movies will not find any clever plot twists in VAMPIRE BATS. However, the appealing elements of this movie more than make up for an unremarkable story.First, VAMPIRE BATS has no 11-year-old snotty nosed whiz kid upstaging the grown-ups. Please see my reviews of previous made-for-TV movies to see how many other films have been ruined by kid this Steven Spielberg wannabe convention. In VAMPIRE BATS, command of science remains in the adult realm.Second, but not least by all means, VAMPIRE BATS captures countless moments of attractive young females moving about in skimpy clothing. We are not talking just quantity here (although I dare say that this film can hold its own with the best R-rated horny teenager movies) -- no, we are talking QUALITY. The director of VAMPIRE BATS simply loves young, ripe, female curves in motion, and often proves this fact to the viewer.Don't expect GLADIATOR. Don't expect high drama or an epic film score. But if you are a heterosexual male who watches a lot of commercial TV, you can plan on having some fun with VAMPIRE BATS.