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[Growth]
Plot:In 1989, a breakthrough in advanced parasitic research on Cuttyhunk Island, gave scientists a jump in human evolution. Initial tests proved promising as subjects were experiencing heightened physical and mental strength and awareness. But, something in the experiment went horribly wrong and the island mysteriously lost three quarters of its population.
Jamie Akerman (Mircea Monroe, Tekken) fled the outbreak, which took her mothers life, twenty years ago. She now returns with her boyfriend (Brian Krause, Charmed) and step brother (Chris Shand, Bumper), to sell the family property. There, they uncover the key to Jamie’s disturbing past, and the horrifying secrets long suppressed by the town leader, Larkin (Richard Riehle, Hatchet).
Now, a new strain of parasite has emerged, and threatens the island once again. Jamie struggles to survive and escape the obsessive pursuit of the local islanders who suspect that she has inherited more than she could ever have imagined.
Cast:Alexi Wasser,
Richard Riehle,
Brian Krause,
Robert Culp,
Chris Shand,
Nora Kirkpatrick,
Mircea Monroe,
Yousef Abu-Taleb.
My Thoughts:Decent sci-fi/horror trip.
Review:"Growth" is in the vein of those indie/B-grade sci-fi/horror films where experiments for the betterment of mankind, have gone horribly wrong, and end up unleashing something worse upon mankind. While movies like this usually end up sucking really badly, "Growth" does just enough things right to separate itself from the pack and manage a decent outing. The film follows a scientific breakthrough which took place back in 1989 on an island, where parasite-related research ended up evolving into a major medical breakthrough for human evolution.
Unfortunately, the parasites within the test subjects went rogue, turning their hosts into killers. Now fast forward years later, a group of teens inhabit the island due to one of them having a connection to the aforementioned research, and her mother having died in the process. Now she's returned to find out the dark secrets behind her mom's death. The property however has been cordoned off, and no people are supposed to be there due to the parasites having infested the area. So a scientist, involved in the original experiment involving human evolution, shows up to try and get one of the teens to sell off the property for a cool 75 grand.
But with the property being worth 2 million, she refuses. It's at this point that one of the parasites invades one of the group of young people, and that's when the films kicks into "Night Of The Creeps" mode, with creepy-crawlies all over the place, getting under the skin, so to speak...of anyone and everyone they come into contact with. The reason why this film worked for me is because films with creepy crawlies always manage to make my flesh crawl.
Even as a guy, films like "The Faculty", "Night Of The Creeps", "Slither", and "Growth" always bother me because of the antgonists being slug-like creatures that burrow inside people and ride them around like human SUV's. I could also throw "The Ruins" into the mix since that film had tiny plant vines crawling into peoples bodies as they slept or were distracted. It's just something about that whole deal that bothers me, mostly the fact that it's small parasites causing all of the trouble, and not something larger that you can see and avoid before it gets too close.
These thing can slip into your house through a crack in the door, a crack in the wall, an open window, etc. And you'd never know it until it was too late. And then there's the fact that if you're sick with the flu, or asleep, you're extremely vulnerable to being acosted by the little buggers. Unlike films with monsters or slashers where their usual entrances of crashing through the front door or a window will give you time to get up and escape, horror films with creepy crawlies are always quiet, so you'll never see them coming and then could end up waking up with one inside you.
They're the worst kind of horror films villains because the element of surprise, along with their size and weight give them a huge advantage on getting the drop on people. So this picture creeped me out on more than a few levels simply because it's creatures were tiny little parasitic beings that could get you at your most laxed moments. The acting in the picture is quite decent for a movie like this, and the whole experiment angle worked because it had nothing to do with the U.S. government, rogue and shady military people, or an evil corporation.
These people were simply scientists who were looking to make a breakthrough, and it went horribly wrong. Although the picture does still hold the age old connotation, that experimenting on human beings nine times out of ten, will always result in big time disaster. The blood and gore levels in "Growth" aren't very high, but are still expounded enough to help progress the movie overall, but this movies weak points lie with it's dialogue and fight scenes. See the parasites give the host person super strength, advanced hearing, and other abilities.
But when this movie gets down to the fight scenes, and much of the dialogue, it really puts it's weaknesses on display. Then again, the films main characters are teenagers, so there are very few writers that can write dialogue for teenagers in a non-annoying and mature fashion. And fight sequences in most indie horror films are usually not very well done due to budget and other restrictions.
So I cut the movie some slack on those two areas. "Growth" has a strong third act also, and concludes in a non-predictable fashion, setting up for a sequel in a modestly clever way. Overall, it's an indie B-sci-fi/horror flick that's worth seeing atleast once.
Positives:Decent performances, the creepy crawly parasites are always good for a flesh crawl or two, interesting story angles involving the experiments and the effects of the parasites on the people they infect. Nice ending.
Negatives:Some very poor dialogue and badly choreographed fight-scenes.
Overall:Three out of four stars.
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