They Crawl

Another hokey Sci-Fi channel offering, this time the monsters on the loose are smart cockroaches that swarm around a lot. The cucarachas croak a bus driver who likes to smash his bus through office building lobbies, then somebody gets killed in a bombing. You guessed it: a government conspiracy is behind it all.

Our heroes include a Jordache Jeans commercial guy (brother of the bombing victim), and a lady cop who shoots anything she sees: roach swarms, boxes, trucks, cars, buildings, into mid-air, and occasionally even a bad guy. When Officer Ripley runs out of ammunition with one weapon, she grabs another gun and resumes firing. As for Jordache, he just sticks his nose everywhere, while bodies pile up. The cop captain is the usual skeptic who does nothing, and the head honcho nasty guy is a comical stereotype, who snarls when he talks. They even had the nerve to use the ridiculous "bad guy pauses to explain the evil plot to the good guys before shooting them" routine. The obvious poetic justice is served, of course.

But stay tuned for the grand finale. The debut of one of the most hilariously inept monster creatures ever spawned still awaits you. He was about as intimidating as a Teletubby, and the final scene had me laughing until I could hardly breathe.

A hilariously stupid movie.

This film could easily be a comedy, unless someone is 15 years old or younger. Rourke shows up only once and for about 5 min. The man obviously doesn't take his job seriously, not anymore... The whole concept of this movie is a joke! We 've seen it again hundreds of times. And the final scene! What an idea! Thousands of programmed mutant-robot-(god knows what else)-cockroaches come together to form a giant monster cockroach!!! GIVE US PEOPLE A BREAK!

With Mickey Rourke listed as one of the stars, I expected some straight to video drivel or a bad Sci-Fi original movie. Surprisingly, it was pretty cool save for (you guessed it)Mickey Rourke. His involvement is one of only two complaints I had about the movie (the other was the reuse of stunt footage from other movies i.e., Rush Hour and Red Heat). Credible special effects (particularly the end) and strong characters (especially the female lead) made this an enjoyable surprise.

Read between the lines here and you'll learn its yet another White House Cover Up. The American government has long been rumoured to be conducting experiments on bug genetics and in the future they'll stop spending money on bombs and simply drop a few 1000 of these mutant insects wherever they are at War next. Its the cheapest way ever of killing people and leaves no traces. These bugs are very angry and very hungry and can deplete a large size area in a matter of days. Checking the User comments few poeople have understood the political implications here. But the very last frame of a single cockroach leaves it wide open for They Crawl 2

There are some bugs, and some footage that is inserted from other films. Then there is a confrontation with a character called Tiny Frakes (Mickey Rourke)

Tiny (Rourke) mumbles for a minute or two then flees wildly, racing through the building and out of sight. Much like he should have fled his agents office when they suggested he cameo in this movie.