Bats

Absolutely surprising carnivorous bats tale , derived from abysmal story . The film starts in Skull Valley , Arizona, where the scientific Casper (Dina Meyer) and his assistant Jimmy (Leon) are investigating about bats . They're brought by a government scientist (Bob Gunton) to a small town called Callup , in Texas . There appears a pack of carnivorous bats that prey on citizens , terrorizing the small community . The chiroptera specialist Casper , his helper , along with a policeman (Lou Diamond Phillips) attempt to stop the genetically altered flying foxes before the military comes into action , bombing the caves.

This is a slam-bang chiller about flying foxes , full of scares and lots of blood and gore . It delivers the goods with suspense , tension and hair-raising chills ; plus , the astonishing special effects of this nature , as the ferocious bats seem alive . It's an eerily effective thriller , quite entertaining , though many will undoubtedly find repulsive when the bats attack and eat their victims . The tale can't bear such close scrutiny , but while this thrills ride is going, you won't mind . With a final budget of 5.25 million, the film went on to gross well over 30 million worldwide in theatrical , DVD , Digital and Television sales . Although considered somewhat unsuccessful at the time, the film recouped its entire budget during its first week of release . The vampire bats are splendidly made by means of Animatronics in charge of Robert Zurtzman , Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger . The bats in the film were a combination of Animatronics, CGI , and 2 live bats. The 2 original bats in the film were brought over from Indonesia . The acting is uneven , an attractive Dina Meyer , Lou Diamond Phillips as the patrolman who along with the scientific facing off the creepy bats and killing them in their caves . Bob Gunton is an oddball baddie acting as a mad doctor and the comic relief in charge of Leon .

Interesting screenplay by John Logan , today writer for blockbusters (Aviator , Last Samurai , Star Trek : nemesis , Time machine) . Produced in just under 6 months , the picture continues to hold one of the top spots for fastest produced 35mm feature films to receive a wide-release . The motion picture was well directed by Louis Morneau , in his best movie . He's a B series director, with no much success (Hitcher 2 , Retroactive , Quake , Soldier Boyz , Carnosaur 2). With similar premise , ten years earlier (79) was shot the movie titled ¨Nightwing¨¨ directed by Arthur Hiller with Nick Mancuso , David Warner and Kathryn Harrold , but it was a flop, this one is a superior film .

"Bats" had its theatrical run and was widely distributed on rental VHS/DVD. Videostores carried multiple copies which got rented fluently. Yet from the looks of it - its rating on here - most people thought this was bad. Boy, have they not seen 'bad' yet. Things would get a lot worse in years to come with these type of films. For one thing, try watching the alleged sequel to "Bats" called "Bats: Human Harvest". The thing was made in 2007, for TV and then dumped to DVD as well. Go watch it; it's about 5 times worse than this film. Then come back and tell me which is the bad film out of those two. Or go watch "Fangs" from 2001 (starring Corbin Bernsen). It's the silly version of "Bats". I tell you, things can get a lot worse than this modest piece of killer bats entertainment. It even stars Lou Diamond Phillips and Dina Meyer. In 'worse' movies, you can't even count on a cast like this anymore. So why the complaints & puss-poor ratings on here?

I've seen quite some crappy horror-movies already, and you can say what you want about "Bats", but it's not a bad movie. Clichéd? Yes, kind of. Seen it all before? Yes, most likely. But the production values are more than just okay. It's well made. It looks good. Good camera work. The acting is more decent than what you normally can expect from a movie like this these days (like stuff produced by Sci-Fi Channel, The Asylum, need I continue?). I've seen much, much worse special effects when it comes to the CGI used in this one. And there are actually some cool shots of animatronic bats to be admired (from puppets with full body movement to close-ups of their heads with moving ears, grinning teeth and blinking eyes - it's always a kick to see SFX artists go the extra mile on this). The film's fairly fast-paced, keeps you going and never gets boring. It's basically a B-movie that looks damn good, sort of like stuff similar to "Tremors" (a fine early 90's monster movie classic) and its sequels. Or if you bump down the ladder a bit, you'll find a lot more (lower budgeted) genre outings telling pretty much the same story ("Skeeter" from 1993 comes to mind).

Of course "Tremors" works better on a variety of levels and "Bats" isn't as great by a long shot. For one thing, it misses some wit, and that black guy (Leon playing Jimmy Sands) trying to provide it didn't do a lot of good either. Still, a fun popcorn-movie for the somewhat less demanding horror-fan. If you have this feeling that genetically altered killer bats might amuse you, then ignore the low rating on here and just watch it.

Now, can someone recommend me a better movie with a whole bunch of killer bats in it?

"Bats" was a treasure i found on the shelves of Blockbuster video way back in the 90's, a great time to be obsessed with movies like i was as there was constantly new & exciting looking movies out all the time & with Cool artwork on the covers & one that caught my eye was BATS.

The case looks Awesome & the cast was great with the super stunning & beautiful DINA MEYER, who i loved from Starship Troopers, here she was with the Cool LOU DIAMOND PHILLIPS (Young Guns flicks) as the two leads in a Creature Feature about killer mutant Bats & i was sold.

Although "Bats" is a B-movie at heart it still had a very decent budget of around 5 million & every penny is well spent in it's production. The look & setting is perfect B-movie Horror with it's All American little town that gets attacked by mutant bats, it's a great setting that felt like "Critters" or something & our two leads are great together with sexy Meyer as an expert/scientist type & Philips as the tough local Sheriff, a perfect old school 1950's sci-fi B-movie story just transported to the 90's.

The special effects are fantastic as they use everything from practical puppets & c.g.i to real Bats & all expertly done. Great mutant bat designs.

The music is exciting & there's some really thrilling set pieces such as the Town attack sequence!!! A few years later i felt the same sort of sequence of the towns full attack was very similar in another Throwback B-movie Creature Feature called "Eight Legged Freaks" the big budget spider movie. I love these small towns under attack from creatures films & "Bats" is one of my favourites, a real GEM.

"Bats" is pure 90's Monster fun & a great late-night film & a treasure amongst the B-movies of the 90's & with two good leads.

This is what the direct-to-video market was all about, good entertainment & a fun nights viewing.

I really liked this movie. Of course, if you're cynical, you might be better off not going to see this. Just stick with whatever movie you saw a long time ago that you think is better than everything now a days. On the other hand, if you really like movies for what they are, you'll probably have fun watching this movie. Everybody in the audience I was in seemed to have a great time watching this as did I. The dialogue was funny and not ALL that predictable. The acting was not bad, it was actually pretty good. I really liked Dina Meyer in this (although she looked better with curly hair). Anyways, this movie will be liked by kids and anyone who goes to the movies as a form ENTERTAINMENT. I'll probably see this once more and get it when it comes out on DVD. Don't let ME influence you, though. You should always make up your own mind. (8/10).

Bats, a film that should have premiered on the Science Fiction channel on cable, somehow got a theatrical release. If it had been made fifty years earlier I can definitely see Boris Karloff or Bela Lugosi in the part that Bob Gunton plays as the mad scientist.

The scariest thing about Bats is not the creatures themselves although they are the ugliest looking things this side of the Black Scorpion. The scariest part of the film was Bob Gunton's portrayal of the mad scientist who created this race of killer omnivirous Bats. He's identified as working for the Center For Disease Control. I was watching this figuring out how this creep got government clearance.

Yet Gunton is the most enjoyable thing in this film. And you got to love the fact that he had all these government facilities to work with, he's not hidden away in some laboratory in an old castle the way Karloff and Lugosi used to be. He's bred this race of flying fox bats from Indonesia which are aggressive to begin with and they've taken up residence in a bat cavern in Lou Diamond Phillips's county where he's the sheriff.

After several suspicious deaths with mutilation, the cause is identified and zoologists Dina Meyer and Leon Robinson are brought in to clean out the bat cave. If you care about how and if they do it by all means watch the film and the hint is, think blob.

Bats will never go down as a great science fiction classic, but it does have a certain campiness to it. And Gunton is a hoot.