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

Beyond The Rave
Hunter Prey
7th Dimension
Army of the Dead
Splintered
Basement
Meat Grinder
14 Blades
Manson Girl
The Blackout
The Torment
The Torment
(Second Opinion)
Hierro
Psycho - Blu-Ray
Pet Shop of Horrors
Kaiji:
The Ultimate Gambler
Shelter
Fullmetal Alchemist:
Brotherhood Part 1
The Final
Bubba Ho Tep - Blu-Ray
Picnic at Hanging Rock
Vampire
The Dead
Resurrecting
The Street Walker
The Haunting Of
Molly Hartley
Soul Eater: Part One
Rozen Maiden:
Traumend Vol. One
Bikini Girls On Ice
Diary of a Bad Lad
Satan's Baby Doll
Feast 111
Phobia
A Lizzard in a Woman's Skin
Valhalla Rising
City of the Living Dead
Dorothy
Daybreakers
Daybreakers
(Second Opinion)
Harpoon: The Reykjavik Whale
Watching Massacre
Harpoon:The Reykjavik Whale
Watching Massacre
(Second Opinion)
Feast 3:The Happy Finnish
Raging Phoenix
His Name Was Jason
Left Bank
Ju-On: White Ghost/White Ghost
Spiral
Ghost Machine
Stag Night
Bitch Slap
The Descent 2
The Descent 2-Second opinion
Dance of The Dead
Henry Lee Lucas: Serial Killer
House Of The Devil
The Twilight Saga
New Moon
Salvage
Salvage-Second opinion
Dread
The Haunted World of
El Superbeasto
Saw VI
The Horseman
Triangle-Second opinion
Triangle
Cabin Fever 2-Third opinion
Cabin Fever 2-Second opinion
Cabin Fever 2
Stan Helsing
Pandorum
Pandorum-Second opinion
Open Graves
Paranormal Activity
Growth
Growth-Second opinion
Train
Antichrist
Wrong Turn 3
Coffin Rock
Orphan
Sorority Row
Drag Me to Hell
Staunton Hill
Summer Moon
Driftwood
Messengers 2

 

Writer/Director: Gabriel Cowan. Starring Mircea Monroe, Christopher Shand, Brian Krause. 2009. USA. Si-Fi/Horror. 87mins

DVD release date 18th January 2010 - £12.99.

A young girl escapes an island after scientists attempting to advance human evolution create an experiment with parasites that goes horribly wrong! She returns to the island years later with friends, only to find that a new breed of parasite is preparing to take over… Disturbing past…Horrifying secrets…Crazy town folk… *Yawn*

The opening scene of ‘Growth’ plays out like an early episode of ‘The X-Files’, except not as cool. We have the typical date and location stamped out over the screen to give us a sense of where and when, and straight away a mysterious story emerges. A few nifty effects later (and an awfully executed title sequence, complete with cheap rock music and an obligatory back story heavily laden with various post-production tricks to give the impression of old footage) we realise we have been suckered into watching yet another low budget rehash of a series of higher budget sci-fi flicks.

A lot of effort has obviously been put into certain aspects of the production, unfortunately it is lacking in the area of narrative storytelling. The feel of a big budget just doesn’t quite pay off when the film is cursed with despicable dialogue and awful acting. The script is muddled and becomes too obvious and unoriginal. The audience will feel like they are being spoon-fed as unfortunately it has been dumbed down to an almost unwatchable level. The acting is so stale and two dimensional that it is so hard to relate to any of the characters, let alone care when they all finally drop dead. It’s not even fun to play the game of guessing who dies next. Any mystery has been alleviated by the time it actually matters.

The visual effects are probably the talking point of the film; it is being touted as an FX spectacular. Sadly, as good as the effects are, it doesn’t quite live up to this title. The effects are of a very high quality, especially for a low budget film, but they don’t really do anything that we haven’t seen before and ultimately just feel like a cheap knock off. It’s a shame because if the film had been handled differently, the effects could have really shone through.

Some of the sound design is quite interesting, a basic score is employed with sharp sound effects to create a sense of horror. It works to a point, but you feel that watching with an isolated score track might benefit the film as every time the music evokes some emotion we are dragged back to reality by characters spouting ridiculous and pointless lines at each other.

There is one redeeming factor; the film has been shot beautifully. Filmed with Red One cameras, it looks extremely high budget and with the help of a book full of low budget tricks the film is actually something special to look at visually. Elaborate Steadicam shots have been carefully crafted and it is obvious that all of the time and effort of the small crew has gone on making every part of the film look good. The locations look pretty and people and places are so nicely framed that we can almost forget about everything else that spoils the film, that is until we get to the ‘fight scenes’ which are terribly choreographed and suffer from the over use of motion effects. Bad move.

‘Growth’ probably isn’t worth the time and effort unless you are very much in need of entertainment and have nothing else to watch. If you are a fan of this kind of film it may be of interest but to be honest you would be better off re-watching more original films like ‘Invasion of The Body Snatchers’, ‘The Faculty’ or ‘Slither’. It is quite simply a one star film that is only elevated to two star status because of the absolute passion from the director that has gone into making this film and the quality of the image.

If you do happen to watch the film and last the full 87 minutes, be sure to stay tuned for one final insult after the credits. Pointless really.

The retail disc for ‘Growth’ contains minimal extras, just a six-minute featurette, which doesn’t go into enough detail. It’s a shame, as the production of the film seems a lot more interesting than the film itself.

Russell Gomm

© London FrightFest Ltd. 2000-2010