Bug Buster

So low-rent it almost makes Roger Corman’s flicks look expensive, Bug Buster is an absolute failure of a horror movie that follows a small town as they attempt to combat increasingly hostile insects. The film’s cast is teeming with familiar faces – Katherine Heigl stars, while Randy Quaid, James Doohan, and George Takei pop up in supporting roles – and yet there’s virtually nothing here to hold the viewer’s interest. The complete lack of scares – a problem that’s compounded by the thoroughly ridiculous special effects – certainly doesn’t help matters, nor does the film’s emphasis on unreasonably broad bits of comedy (Quaid’s disastrously over-the-top performance is an ideal example of this). The many deficiencies within Malick Khoury’s incompetent screenplay are exacerbated by Lorenzo Doumani’s lifeless directorial choices, with the end result a piece of work that’s flat-out interminable for much of its running time.

1/2* out of ****