Poster // Shoreline Entertainment via IMDb
‘Giant… zombie.. bugs?’: reviewing “Insecticidal” and its reviews
By: Magnus Blanchard-Rockhill
Media Writer & Advertising Co-Manager
This review contains spoilers for the entirety of “Insecticidal” (2005).
Welcome to the bad-movie review, where we watch films that others have agreed are terrible and decide for ourselves. Our first feature is “Insecticidal”, a 2005 film that earned a whopping 3.3/10 on IMDb.
Directed by Jeffrey Scott Lando and written by Jeff O’Brien, “Insecticidal” is a horror comedy about mutant bugs attacking a sorority house, and it has reviews that are pretty consistent with the rest of its subgenre. I would say that overall, it really is a pretty passable movie that got some very genuine laughs out of me. Intentionally, too.
The script, while it definitely has some problems, is funny and carried very well by the main actresses. In particular; the performances of Meghan Heffern as Cami, Samantha McLeod as Sophi and Rhonda Dent as Josi really sold me on this movie. If you noticed something about the character names I have just listed…yes, every female character in this movie has a name that ends in an “i”.
Also, a full seven minutes of this movie contains full nudity. The reason I know this is because the version I found cut all of it out, taking it from an 81-minute run time to a 74-minute run time.
Before we dive into the reviews, a quick summary. Our protagonist, Cami, is a biology student attempting to prove that bugs were once the dominant species on the planet. This is not really explained, but Cami has a genuine love for the bugs she is researching, naming each of them and being completely devastated when one of her housemates, Josi, attempts to kill them with bug spray. I say ‘attempt’, because what this actually ends up doing is activating a gene that causes them to start to grow much larger and attack everyone at the party currently being held in the sorority house.
Of course, I have some problems with this movie. Most pressingly… the bugs look right out of a PS2 game, and it’s super distracting. There is exactly one moment where a bug is brought to life using practical effects, and these two leech puppets actually look really cool, which just makes me more sad that every other bug is CGI.
Even more annoying is that the producers knew it would look terrible if they had the actors and the CGI bugs on screen at the same time, so the actors almost never interact directly with the bugs.
Next: Vicky Huang plays the one Asian character in this movie, and in her introduction she is practicing some kind of martial arts with two sai (swords). While she is one of the final characters alive and is part of the core group that we see, she ultimately dies after losing in hand-to-hand combat with a…praying mantis.
I don’t even really know what to say about that, other than it feels like the writer may have been trying to do some kind of ironic parody of tropes around Asian women, but nothing interesting is actually being said. It isn’t irony if you don’t say something new or critical about it. Really, I think this statement applies to a lot of what I dislike about the movie in general. It wants to be a parody of a sexed-up creature feature horror movie, but ultimately it’s just a sexed-up creature feature horror movie.
I did enjoy some parts, like the performances. Meghan Heffern portrays Cami really earnestly, which is perfect because Cami is intended to be such an earnest, awkward person. She genuinely wants to talk to people about her bugs and prove herself in both the scientific community and socially, but struggles a little on both fronts.
Her sister Sophi is also played so perfectly by Samantha McLeod. At first, her line deliveries kind of confused me, but as the movie went on I started to find a lot of joy in how unbothered she seemed by every single event. The performance might not be for everyone, but she has some of the funniest moments in the movie and is probably my favorite character.
Josi, played by Rhonda Dent, is like if Heather Chandler of 1988’s “Heathers” got possessed by bugs instead of killed partway through. I genuinely do not know how the bug possession thing is supposed to work, because sometimes it seems as though the bugs are acting through her but most of the time she is just the classic mean-girl character who sometimes has to eat an entire stick of butter and occasionally sics a bug on someone. Perfect performance, no notes.
I think I liked this movie. I went back and forth as I watched it, especially in the last half. The last 20 minutes feel like a tutorial on how to open and close doors really quickly because of how often it happens, but Sophi using the base of a blender attached to a really long extension cord as a weapon throughout the entire house was hilarious. Electrocution being used for two different big kills felt a little lazy, but the steady progression of Josi’s decay being displayed with special effects makeup was fun. There was a lot that I liked and a lot I thought could be better.
The dedicated reviewers over on IMDb do not seem to entirely agree with me. A 3.3/10 is a pretty low score but, for a horror comedy, I expect it. Even a horror comedy as well-known and as culturally impactful as “Scary Movie” only has a 6.3/10.
I won’t say I believe that this movie deserves a higher score than it has, but many of the reviews I read don’t seem to realize that it’s a comedy, rating it low on the basis of it being ‘silly’. One goes on about the girls not being hot enough. Many of them cite the nudity as unforgivable. This movie has a lot of issues, and it’s not something that everyone will enjoy, but if you want something to put on in the background of a Halloween party and become accidentally invested in as the night goes on, this might be a good option.