Bats Released By:
Destination Films, Distributed By Columbia/Tri-Star Home VideoFeatures:
1999; 91 Min; Rated R; Dolby Digital English 5.1 EX; Dolby Surround English; Anamorphic Widescreen (2.35)Extras:
Audio Commentary By Director Louis Morneau and Lou Diamond Phillips; "Bats Abound" Featurette; SFX And Storyboard Comparisons; Isolated Score; Cast And Crew Biographies; Theatrical Trailers.Review:
When I first saw the preview for Bats I said to my self, rental title. It looked stupid. Guess what folks, it delivers. But, this is not necessarily bad... unless you count Wild Wild West. One of the best things about Bats is that it doesn't take itself too seriously. Bats attack humans, shredding them to pieces, come on. Anyhow, Bats is in the great hi-concept tradition of today's modern movies. Simply put: "Jaws with bats."There are five principle characters in this movie. We are first introduced to Dr. Shelia Cusper (Dina Meyer, Starship Troopers) and her assistant Jimmy (Leon, Cool Runnings & Cliffhanger). Shelia is a zoologist, with a concentration on bats. Jimmy, her assistant, is the comic relief, or "audience" as mentioned by director Louis Morneau. They are drafted by a government agent investigating some weird happenings in a small Texas town.
When Shelia and Jimmy arrive in the town, the other key players of the story are introduced. Lou Diamond Phillips plays Sheriff Kimsey, a man bent on saving his small hick town from destruction. Bob Gunton plays Dr. McCabe, our Dr. Frankenstein for this adventure. He's done some genetic manipulation to create the ultimate military weapon, a omnivorous bat. The final characters, of course, are the bats. The bats are hungry and indiscriminate, plus they must be destroyed by any means necessary.
I'll admit, for a horror flick it didn't scare me that much, but it takes a lot to do that now a days. But for cheap thrills, Bats does succeed as a Jaws knock off.
While the movie is pretty absurd, I have to give credit to Morneau, the production values are top notch. I figure this film was fairly low budget, by Hollywood standards, but it doesn't feel that way. The bat effects were great, they were a fairly seamless blend of CGI and animatronics. Unlike Deep Blue Sea, where I could tell the difference between most of the effects, i.e. CGI or animatronic, Bats fooled me a few times. One of the best things Columbia has done with this title is provide storyboard and SFX comparisons for the film. It's pretty amusing to see the preliminary work print before the CGI elements are added.
Bats has been released on DVD by Columbia, thus their typical standards are achieved. The anamorphic widescreen picture is solid, quite an accomplishment considering how dark this film is. The most note worthy aspect of Bats? Besides an actual Lou Diamond Phillips sighting, it is the first DVD releases to officially boast about having EX encoding. True, Austin Powers and The Haunting have already been released, but there were no markings on the packages.
The sound mix is great, it's never over done. The mix is subtle when it should be, but when the bat attacks occur, this disc shows off. I don't have a receiver with EX decoding, but I can take an educated guess as to where the most aggressive uses of EX were. In chapter 8, "Too many," the first major bat attack occurs and they're all over the place. When the bats engulf the Bronco pickup, you feel like you're in the truck with Shelia and Kimsey. During "Panic in the streets," there are a few decent audio effects where the bats swirl around you, as well as go straight up the middle. Fortunately, I think my sound field is compact enough that I experienced most of the the center rear effects.
How are the extras of this disc? Pretty decent. Considering Columbia picked up this film from Destination Films, the supplements delivered aren't too bad. There's a short, cheesy documentary call "Bats Around," that's only about five minutes long, no big deal. The best extras are the afor mentioned storyboard and SFX comparisons, plus there is an audio commentary featuring Morneau and Lou Diamond Phillips.
I only listed to about 1/3 of the commentary, but it's entertaining. It looks as if Morneau and Phillips went the way of a John Carpenter/Kurt Russel commentary. They're both just sitting in front of the films doing a running commentary, although, they weren't cutting up quiet as much as Carpenter and Russel. I will say this, apparently when scouting a location, they forgot two important things. Check weather patterns for when you want to shoot, plus Utah closes up shop a little early for a film production.
A few other bonuses that are included on the disc are five trailers: Bats, Vampires, Fright Night, The Tingler and Night Of The Living Dead (1990). I hadn't seen any of the trailers, excluding Bats, plus I don't think the trailer included for Vampires was on the original Vampires DVD. For film music buffs, the score has also been isolated on the disc for your listening pleasure.
While Bats is an entertaining movie, I only can recommend it for rental, even for horror fans who usually snap this stuff up. If you feel the need to own every EX encoded title, go for it, I'm sure there will be worse films down the pipeline to make this look better. Wait, it may have already happened, The Haunting's been released.
Oh, one final note. Unlike the theatrical and video tape release, this is the R rated edition of the film, which probably just contains more gratuitous autopsy shots.
Movie: 4
Picture: 7
Audio: 8
Extras: 6Dan Linzmeier, FIT Productions
Fitprod@aol.com
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