While on her bachelorette party getaway, Casey, the bride to be, gets a seemingly harmless bite from an unknown insect. After returning home with cold feet, Casey tries to call off her wedding but before she’s able to, she starts exhibiting insect like traits. Between her physical transformation and her wedding anxiety, Casey succumbs to her new instincts and begins creating a hive that not only houses her translucent eggs, but feeds on the flesh of others. As her transformation becomes complete, Casey discovers that everything can change with a single bite.
When I started this website about a year ago, Bite was one of the big indie titles that was making waves. Horror websites all paraded the news that people had been seen vomiting and such at the screenings, apparently due to the gore. It turned out later that it was perhaps nothing more than just a couple of drunken kids. That didn't matter though; Bite had already made a name for itself and I was intrigued. Unfortunately for me, the time between the Canadian release of the movie and the international one was roughly a year.
Ahhhh, exotic outdoor bathing in far off places. Normal bachelorette party antics for sure.
Now let's not hyperbolise the facts here, Bite is and always was going to be a B-grade The Fly knockoff. That's cool with me though. I'm never one to shy away from some Cronenberg-light. B-movies can often hold their own, especially with a seasoned cast and a solid script. A little passion and panache can go a long way.
“What do you mean I should see a doctor? I feel fine.”
Fifteen minutes into the movie and it most definitely felt like a B-flick. The acting felt forced and disingenuous, though not terrible. The makeup on the other hand was fantastic; the bites, sores, pustules and skin alterations were horrific in all the right ways. The movie really shone when it came to the set design in the latter half of the film and all the insectoid elements, with the bug caviar scenes been by far the most memorable. It’s one of those moments you really cannot unsee, although you’ll probably wish you could.
Sushi anyone?
Elma Begovic, our leading lady, definitely showed off her acting chops once we hit about midway through the film. I could find little fault with her performance as the femme fatale fiancé turned creature feature. She really put her heart and soul into that role and it showed. The same, unfortunately, cannot be said for her co-stars. I've watched (a lot) of porn with better supporting casts.
“Die shitty supporting cast!”
One of the most impressive parts of the movie, oddly enough, was the score. I was thoroughly entertained with the creepy buzzings and chirpings that accompanied Casey's transformation into millennial Kerrigan. It is very rare that a score really stands out in a flick, but when it does it can often personify the film itself, like it did for Jaws or Halloween. Sadly, I don't think Bite will have the popularity to immortalize the “creepy chirpy twitchy neck,— but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
“Chirp Chirp Chirp” *Twitch*
The film really does build well, that is until one of Casey's “friends— re-enters the fray. Once Kirsten (Denise Yuen ) enters Casey's apartment, (which at this point looks like something out of an H.R. Giger wet dream… good job SFX crew!), everything takes a turn for the worse. How best to explain this? I suppose one could call her reactions painfully unrealistic. She opens the door on a scene that looks like Satan and Beelzebub recently had a masturbation tournament wherein which the winner was clearly determined by a best-out-of-three, and then proceeds to walks around like she is shopping for sweaters at an H&M. “Unrealistic” may be downplaying her reactions somewhat.
Bite me
I'm going to stop myself here as to avoid story spoilers and just get down to the facts. Solid protagonist and poor supporting cast. Great score, wonderful effects and well edited. Pace is great and the movie is thoroughly enjoyable if you love some goopy, gory horror. Solid entertainment and better than a lot of the films that the industry is currently putting out.
Grab a look at the trailer below.
