Bats

This is not a very good movie. If I had seen it at a theater, I would have felt ripped off, certainly. But at home, I watched it with an undemanding mood, and with the feeling this was a basic update of a low budget animal-attacking movie of the '70s. Seeing it that way, the movie was good enough to pass the time. No more, but I wasn't bored.

Certainly, there's a lot of the movie that's dumb. Some of the puppets and computer generated effects look really bad. The black character is only there for humor, and his treatment is somewhat offensive. Lou Diamond Phillips can't act. Sometimes you can't tell what's going on with all the close-ups of flapping wings and bad editing.

There are a few good things. Some of the cliches I was expecting actually didn't happen. (For one thing, the authorities are quick to the danger for once.) The cinematography is excellent, and occasionally the movie has a "big" feeling that makes it look more expensive that its $6.5 million budget.

So if you like B movies, are feeling undemanding, and can see it cheaply or for free, you might want to give it a try.

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" 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.

"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?

I have always liked these kinds of creature feature movies. They are a lot of fun and unlike Friday the 13th, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street etc it is clean enough that I don't mind the kids watching it. With Halloween around the corner they are already all about the scary, spooky, fun movies but the boys are only (almost) 10yrs old and finding fun stuff that doesn't have nudity and sex throughout isn't easy. We mostly have to stick to the old black and white spooky classics to avoid it. With the exception of a few things like this. Overall, a fun little watch that shouldn't be taken too seriously.