GORE IN THE STORE
REVIEWS BY FANS FOR FANS
5 STAR FAB - 1 STAR RUBBISH

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Directed By Alvaro De Arminan. Starring Eliza Dushku, Mike Vogel, Lilliam Kouri, Gary Piquer, Boris Martinez, Jose Casasus. Spain / USA 85 mins.

DVD release date 15th January 2010 - £9.99 from Play.com.

Growth is a very ambitious little flick, that has some good going for it but ultimately falls down due to its lack of originality, acting chops, and believable CGI.

The film follows the stock set of sexy teen types as they travel to the Lead Pretty Girl's inherited home on Cuttyhunk Island, the home of a bunch of scientist who may or may not have created a self sustaining race of worms. These aren't just your average killer worms though, these get inside you and turn you all arrogant, tough and kind of rotten. Can she save her friends, figure out what the heck is actually going with the weird townsfolk and get the hell off of Cuttyhunk Island?

I feel a slight twinge of guilt for ragging on the CGI on such a low budget production, I mean it was better than I Am Legend, but it was pretty poor. And there was lots of it. Which was a problem for me. Ambition is all well and good, but if the product at the end resembles a cut scene from a PS1 game, then you know you are in trouble. This isn't the forum to air my particular views on the death of practical effects, but this is one flick that would have benefited greatly from even a glimpse at a real worm. The film is devoid of any real humour, which I believe to be necessary in a killer worms movie. Especially one as unoriginal as Growth. Relying on well trodden tropes from all your least favourite slasher sequels, dumbed-down-to-infinity explanations from mid concept sci-fi flicks, and scenes from monster movies you wish you'd never witnessed, Growth does very little with the premise and with the talents of those behind the camera.
Writer/Director Gabriel Cowan is proficient in the chair, aided by a team of cinematographers who appear to be plucked from special features documentaries, they do a stand up job. Scenes without worms are crisp, clear and well framed. Cowan is clearly adept at building up the tension, to near infuriating levels. It is just a shame that he couldn't scare up a decent performance out of his leads. Cowan's script, however, is a mess of cliché and clunky exposition. There are plenty of confusing flashbacks presented in that same hazy way so often used to further the narrative in the most yawn-inducing way possible.

The acting was wooden at best, petrified at worst. I wasn't familiar with any of the actors but I'd be surprised if they weren't plucked from long running soaps and WB teen dramas. A couple of familiar faces pop up in the periphery, but they are “oh, its whatshisname from that thing...” type actors. You know the kind, the ones with lots of one episode credits for crime serials with initials in the title. I was convinced one of them was Wilford Brimley for the entire running time, until the credits told me I was fully wrong.

Growth is watchable, and shows plenty of promise from its director but relies to heavily on cliché, convention and CGI worms which ultimately left me cold. If you are particularly interested in low budget SciFi Channel productions then you may gleam some enjoyment out of this. Alternatively if you wanted to see Night Of The Creeps with all the humour sucked out of it by a giant fun-leech, then this will scratch that itch too. This movie is best left on the shelf, but I will definitely be looking out for Gabriel Cowan's next feature.

Among the standard scene selection and subtitles for the hard of hearing, there is a short documentary about the making of Growth which skims the surface of the production while explaining the plot, and making me feel even more guilty for saying that the CGI was rubbish. Gabriel is clearly passionate about his craft and his creation, and I can't wait to see him channel that enthusiasm into something with a little more substance.

Jamie Carruthers.

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