Swarmed (2005)

Directed by Paul Ziller [Other horror films: Pledge Night (1988), Snakehead Terror (2004), Beyond Loch Ness (2008), Yeti: Curse of the Snow Demon (2008), Troglodyte (2008), Ba’al (2008), Iron Invader (2011), Ghost Storm (2011)]

Swarmed is one of those films that I think will be largely forgettable. I have this on somewhat good authority, given I’ve seen it before, and most of the movie still felt new to me. It’s not an overly poor TV movie, though – it’s entertaining at times, and some performances are fine – but it’s not a film that I’m likely to ever watch again, either.

I can’t say when I first saw this movie. I know I watched it back on SyFy when they were still Sci-Fi, and I wasn’t any older than 14. Given I’m 28 at the time of this writing, it has been quite a long time. I’ll say that, in defense of the film, it’s a more enjoyable film than many post-2010 Syfy movies, which counts for something.

The story isn’t anything particularly interesting. Dealing with a pesticide that inadvertently improves the surviving wasps’ strength and venom accidentally unleashed on a small town, it’s the average fair when it comes to these types of films. There’s even a coroner who is exactly like Roy Brocksmith’s coroner from Arachnophobia – eating nonchalantly while dealing with corpses. So much of the film is stereotypical, and the ending is also exactly what you’d expect.

One thing I have to give the film minor props for, though, is the fact it takes place in southern Indiana. No doubt the town is fictional, and the movie is filmed in Canada, but an Indiana setting does warm my Hoosier heart, so though it doesn’t add much, it’s sort of fun seeing my state representin’.

None of the performances here are great, but I think some of the central performances were admirable enough. Michael Shanks (who is likely most recognizable as Dr. Daniel Jackson from Stargate SG-1, but also starred in Mega Snake) was decent. Richard Chevolleau’s character, despite his errors, ended up being pretty decent. Tim Thomerson (Unseen Evil and Fade to Black) was sort of funny (“How about them apples?”) in a generic way, and Carol Alt (Snakehead Terror) was serviceable.

On the flip-side, there was Ellen Dubin. I don’t blame the actress, but boy, her character went downhill quickly. Her boss is killed by a wasp, and she basically loses it. She attempts to kill the wasp with a shotgun, and even after she does that, she begins thinking that there are more wasps around, and drowns in paranoia. These portions weren’t particularly fun to me, and while they don’t last long, the performance was just painful.

As you might be able to imagine, the special effects here aren’t what people would generally describe as ‘stellar.’ Don’t get me wrong – they’re leagues above the atrocities you might see in films like Sharknado and 2-Headed Shark Attack – but they’re not great. There was a decent scene of a wasp stinging someone’s eye, and another had a wasp winding up in someone’s mouth, so there are occasional glimpses of something interesting, but for the most part, Swarmed doesn’t have a lot to boast about.

It’s not a movie that I had a terrible time with. It’s below average, of course, but it’s not nearly as bad as many other horror films can be, and though Swarmed isn’t going to be a movie that I’ll likely watch again, for some classic Sci-Fi, it’s not the worst time.

6/10