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INFECTION: THE
INVASION BEGINS
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His delivery of one-liners and monologues carry the movie for most of the way and he's a believable protagonist you can actually root for at times. For a movie that's obviously low in the money pit, you have to give Wexler credit for juicing up the acting from his respective cast keeping the movie a solid effort all the way. Writer/Star Brewer keeps the pacing and characterization tight by adding a stern dread to the proceedings while also throwing in a few darkly comedic moments every now and then that work well. The two scenes that stand out as particularly intense is when the group is stuck in the sheriff's office, and when Deke punches one of the aliens, has little effect on them, and screams "Oh come on!" Very few science fiction films with a low budget manage to win me over but this did. I wanted to know more about these people and I was glad that Wexler and Brewer were able to keep the audience's attention for most of the way, because the premise is open to many realms and creative angles.
And I found the climax to be ultimately unsatisfying as Wexler throws in a surprise twist and a question mark finisher both of which raise a plethora of questions that go horribly unanswered leaving "Infection" a rather messy picture in the end. I'm not sure if this is the start of a bigger story or just one self-contained premise, but there were a lot of holes in the story that were never sealed. How did the government figure out the infection was happening if no one knew enough to report it? How did Deke figure out the aliens were weak around water and caffeine? Who the heck was tooley? And if he was such an advanced scientist why was he working out of a trailer? Where did the parasite that went in to him go? When did the sheriff become infected? Why didn't anyone dispose of the egg that crashed in to the town? Why did Deke's mom go from Stepford wife, to zombie, to lunatic, to normal again? Why did Deke stay young? How far in to the future did the story take place? What significance did 9-9-09 have to the entire premise? Who ripped out the papers from Sarah's diary? When did she keep a diary? Why was she locked up in an asylum? Did everyone else who survive be locked up? Why does the sheriff boast about his lack of emotions but is able to mock and laugh at Deke when he tries to stop him? What were the aliens protecting in the cave? And finally a big point deduction for Wexler for not showing more of Molly McDowell. I don't know if small towns have dispatchers as attractive as she is, but I am willing to scour the country to find out. I don't know who McDowell is, but I would have seen two hours of her taking calls at the sheriff's station and given it a rave review.
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A combination of the dark comedy from "The Faculty" with the dread of
"Slither," director Howard Wexler tells the tale of the beginning of the
apocalypse that begins in--you guessed it--an average small town in
America. Deke Evans returns to his old stomping ground after ten years
in jail for murder and he isn't particularly welcomed by his family and
friends. Little does he know that destiny comes crashing down his doors
as an alien menace has begun taking over the residents of the town and
now he has to stop it before it takes over the world. While the opening
is a bit rocky, director Howard Wexler's science fiction film is a very
entertaining B grade horror flick that constantly walks the line between
taut post-apocalyptic fiction and horror comedy as writer Bryan Brewer
takes on the lead role as the inadvertent hero Deke who is forced to
take down this parasitic alien monster that is turning the denizens of
the town in to flesh eating drones. One of the highlights of this film
is that Wexler is able to pull out rather great performances from his
cast of basic unknowns, and it's one of the aspects that relinquished my
insecurities going in to this at the beginning.
Sadly by
the time the last half hour rolls around this is where the movie
completely starts to fall to pieces. When we could be out exploring
the carnage of the alien menaces and what they're inflicting on the
populace of this town, we're instead focusing on these people stuck
in a house talking among one another and engaging in rather bland
dialogue that slogs through the forward progression and ruins the
momentum completely. Only occasionally does Wexler actually engage
us in alien carnage in the final half hour and we're then forced to
watch the characters come to terms with their relationships and it
just drags everything down. If that's not enough, the way Deke and
Sarah convince the sheriff of the infection is clunky and comical.
They're holding each other at gunpoint, the sheriff is tackled by an
infected person who runs away and this convinces him
the town is being overrun by aliens? Why, exactly? I didn't buy it
and I thought it could have been handled with much more finesse.
