Larva (2005 TV Movie) User Reviews

High body count

[MartianOctocretr5 · 4/10 · 7 October 2006]

Another evil conspiracy is in the works. This time it's a rich guy who owns a beef distibuting company, in league with genetic engineers, trying to make his product sell more, or better, or something. In any event, they're messing with the beef, by treating it with some kind of parasite. Guess what? Something goes wrong, and the parasites go on a rampage.

It's actually creepy and scary enough to work, in spite of the recycled plot devices. The movie offers exploding stomachs (Alien), the conspirators covering up their actions at the expense of more lives (X Files), dumb sheriffs (lots of movies), and dumber townspeople (also lots of movies). There's also lots of bloody bodies, both humans and creatures. The acting is fairly decent, and the quasi-bat like design of the rapidly proliferating monsters is ugly enough for this sort of flick. The action is paced rather well, gory scenes balanced with scientific analysis exposition, even some "Don't look behind that door!" type stuff. Of course, they run the obligatory victim mauling scenes, including the usual couple-making-out-gets-killed routine.

All in all, a capably managed low budget horror movie, which manages a fair number of good old fashioned scares.

Just 'another' movie in this genre, nothing special about it.

[apfraats · 4/10 · 10 April 2005]

Having watched 1000+ movies, this one is just another one in the genre. It's has no exciting extra's at all. The story and plot are well known. Only a little different on the outside. Watching this movie is just as filling in the same mathematical formula, with other values for it's variables. Nothing new. The effect's are really bad done. Especially the 'monsters'. They just look like an old coat that is in someway washed but never ironed. The color is also not realistic. It's yellowed. Done with a meaning ? I don't know, it's just irritating to watch. I hate things like this to give a special setting to a movie. Do it with good acting, good special effects and a good story. Not with Yelowing the whole movie, I rather watch them in realistic coloring. All by all, if you're young and new to the movie-watching scene, it maybe worth a view. But if you're older and have seen a lot of movies, you really fall asleep by looking this one.

you seem it before

[greenflea2 · 3/10 · 4 January 2007]

This movie is trash, but well made and obviously much was spend on the production. Rachel Hunter with her strong Australian accent seems totally out of place in this movie. Whats the most daft scene in this story, is when the townspeople are making emergency calls to the Sheriff, he just Sat's there and does nothing, does not response or seems to care, despite his town is been over-run by flying string ray creatures. The special effects are rather good, and does prove this movie had a good budget. There is a lot of thrown away characters who show up in one scene, only to be kill off in the next scene.

More stupid behavior from the main characters, when they discovery the creatures, they don't seem too worry in warning the local townspeople, or calling for help outside the township. Of course its up to them to save the day, which happens at the end as usual.

There is nothing new in this movie which you have not seem before in countless other horror movies.

One thing i always hate about these movies, its always the new guy in town that saves the day, never a local. In these movies, the locals are made out to be dumb hill billies who know nothing, and only the new guy who knows all the answers can save the day.

I also wonder why the local fire brigade or ambulance service are never call in, during this movie, or maybe they not bought in, to save costs.

Predictable but watchable

[willywants · 22 January 2005]

A leading meat-providing corporation takes a turn for the worst when an experiment involving seeds that beef-up cattle end up creating mutant creatures within the stomach's of those who ingest the beef. I caught "Larva" by accident this afternoon, sat down and watched it and was reasonably impressed. The plot offers nothing new, that's for sure. You've got your usual collection of characters--the greedy company CEO, the disbelieving sheriff, the throw-away creature fodder victims, etc. the film is also quite predictable. But the technical aspects of the film are well done. Director Tim Cox's visual style is strong and adds lots of credibility to the films. I loved the yellow-golden Cinematography that he bathes the film in. Acting is all-around decent, especially William Forsythe who's quite amusing as the clichéd wacko farmer. The special effects were pretty neat. Once we actually see the creatures, their somewhat disappointing, kind of like a Horseshoe crab spliced with a sting ray. Sounds pretty cool, looks rather silly and unbelievable. The make-up effects were quite impressive. Don't be fooled by the fact it's a made-for-cable monster movie, it's gory as hell (Can't wait for the DVD release). I dug all the yucky parasite business as well.

Despite the clichéd plot and characters, it's a pretty decent, watchable movie, especially for fans of gore. Worth a viewing.

6/10.

Best line: "Um, sheriff, their's aliens in my backyard. They look like kites."

This movie is a crime.

[boost2029 · 2/10 · 2 September 2006]

Okay this is my first review. Till now I have never had the need to write one but this movie was too much for me.

The only reason I watched it to the end is because I put on it 5% of my brain. The other 95% was focused on working on my laptop.

I would like to say I have no problem with bad movies, usually I even enjoy them. The problem is when a really bad movie takes himself death seriously. Then you got a crime.

The main flaw of Larva is a really bad, absurd, lame, boring script *PLUS* the director shot it thinking he was going to make Alien. You get colored shots (T2 - blue, Matrix - green, Larva - Yellow), good non-cgi special effects, and acceptable acting. But instead of working for the movie it all goes against it.

About the script... where to begin? Well the intro scene is so stupid one has to choose between instantly forgetting it or immediately stopping the player. The whole movie is plagued with the most stupid lines I have ever heard. Just a quick example: typical running_away_from_the_monster scene. One can expect to see someone getting back to get his asthma thing, to warn someone, whatever. But never, never, never, "to get my candy". "TO GET MY CANDY" !?!

To finish with the review... to say that the script doesn't deliver what was promised would be a bad joke. Take this concept, multiply it by one trillion and you get Larba's ending.

2/10

Attack of the killer drapes

[tyranid_slayer · 1/10 · 29 September 2007]

Ugggggghhhhhh.

Why did i watch this.

One night, very bored i decided to watch a thing on the sci-fi channel called; The Scariest Night On TV. First film showing was Larva.

What a waste.

The film starts off with a new vet arriving in a town called host. But a parasite is lurking in the towns meat and cows. People who have eaten infected meat soon start growing the parasite within them, when the parasite is fully grown they burst out the chest. (No i actually don't see any resemblance to alien what-so-ever.) First of all the CGI is crap. It's clunky,fuzzy and drab.

The creature design was a mess like c'mon, the parasites look like drapes or rugs.

The acting is hammy.

Ladden with plot holes.

Never look at hamburgers the same again

[KHayes666 · 4/10 · 30 July 2005]

When I saw this movie I had just purchased Burger King, after it ended I was thinking that eating BK wasn't such a good idea. First Look Home Entertainment seems to love parasite thrillers (Mosquito Man, Deep Evil, Larva) and this one surely is on the gross list.

Vincent Ventresca stars as veterinarian and is forced to look into a cow problem that's driving a local farmer (William Forstyhe)in Host, MO crazy. The town is seemingly a normal redneck habitat, everyone earns their living one way or another from a meat corporation. One day the cow infestation makes its way to humans and all hell breaks loose. Ventresca must join Forsythe to stop the ongoing infestation.

This wasn't a horrible movie but it wasn't great either. Made for TV movies usually don't get as much press as others so I can see why not many people have heard of it. The point of the movie was to freak people out, and while it didn't freak me out...it did make me look twice at the BK I had for pests. Highlight of the movie is the opening scene when the kids run away from the larva inside the cow...smartest kids in movie history.

Weird movie.....4 out of 10

Lots of things that didn't make any sense.

[lordzedd-3 · 4/10 · 27 May 2006]

Although the characters were well written and they had fun. What they wanted is another "MAD COW" scare and I'm not sure how true the MAD COW thing was or how much was hyped up by rating grabbing TV news. Anyway, let's see what else is wrong with this. Why did the parasites live though the cooking process? Also, I would assume that healthy cattle would have parasites. I might be wrong on that. Also, where the FDA during this? As far as I know the FDA has to test all new hormones and drugs before they would even dream of allowing human testing, so where was the FDA, and why didn't Dr. Eli Rudkus call them on the matter. Finally, allot of stupid little things that didn't make sense, one, the husband called his wife at home on her cell phone. Big company owner can't afford a house line? Two, after removing her bra a creature pops out of her boyfriend's stomach, so in a mad panic, she puts her bra back on. I'm sorry, who bothers to dress in a screaming mad panic? But there is some clever writing and a good cast. There are some good stuff in this movie, but it's hard to see under all the cow pies. I give it 4 STARS

Watchable, but pretty lame

[TheLittleSongbird · 4/10 · 5 June 2012]

I'll be honest in saying that I wasn't expecting much, and although it was better than expected I didn't get much either. The opening scene is actually quite good having a nice atmosphere to it, the make-up is generally impressive and there are two actors who do try hard and on the most part succeed, Vincent Ventesca is a charismatic lead and William Forsythe plays his role with crusty demeanor that suits him and his character well. However, the monster effects seem cool on paper but look silly on screen, consequently I found it difficult to be menaced by them. The haphazard editing also doesn't help, nor the generic and sometimes sluggish-sounding music. The action and gore is actually not badly paced or done, just that they are derivative of other films that have done certain scenes better, such as Alien with the exploding stomach idea. But the real problems with Larva(or MorphMan) are the clichéd characters(plus none of them are really that likable or well-developed, just how many times are we going to have the "dumb" sheriff idea?), formulaic and very predictable story(the ending you can actually see coming well before it happens because again I have seen endings like that before), the terrible, cheesy script such as someone going back for candy when they are running for their lives and the lack of any real suspense or thrills. I have definitely seen much worse acting, but acting-wise here only Ventesca and Forsythe really stood out. So all in all, lame but at the end of the day not too bad. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Surprisingly Funny and Entertaining B-Movie

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 3 July 2008]

In Host, Missouri, the newcomer Dr. of Veterinary Science Eli Rudkus (Vincent Ventresca) is called by the farmer Jacob Long (William Forsythe) to exam one of his cows. The veterinarian finds a strange parasite in the animal and sends it to a friend in the Department of Agriculture for research. Later, he finds the same parasite in a creek and he summons the population for a meeting, warning that the cause might be the animal food. However, Fletcher Odermatt (David Selby), the wealthy owner of the local Host Tender Meals that has been providing free animal food for the farmers, brings his lawyer Hayley Anderson (Rachel Hunter) and discredits Eli. When a huge mutant parasite attacks Eli and Jacob, they discover that the meals are actually an experimental genetic cocktail that is growing parasites inside the kettles and people.

"Larva" is a surprisingly funny and entertaining B-movie. The flawed story is silly and trash and it is hilarious to see, for example, the veterinarian Eli using his bare hands touching the mutant parasite that has just been killed, or the chase in the hospital. Nevertheless the absurdness of the plot, I believe that fans of B-movies may like "Larva". My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Homem Larva" ("Larva Man")

This movie owes me a lap dance

[Phillemos · 3/10 · 29 August 2006]

The opening, pre-credit scene in this movie features two guys and two girls late at night in a field where they spot a cow. The girls offer to strip naked and do lap dances if the guys tip the cow. So the guys knock the cow over, and to their horror realize that the cow is dead and has some "things" crawling inside it. So off we go, to learn about parasites. We learn that if the parasites are REALLY nasty, they turn into flying, bat-like creatures with the capability of swarming a small Missouri town. We also find out what we already knew: 1) All companies in sci-fi movies are run by morally bankrupt CEOs who don't care about human life; 2) All medical experts who move to a small, rural community in sci-fi movies are mistrusted as quacks by the townsfolk; and 3) all rural townsfolk in sci-fi movies are complete morons. Great fodder for your run-of-the-mill SciFi Original. But the pair of guys and girls disappear, never to be seen again after the opening credits. Where is my lap dance?!?!? Just for that, I'm giving this movie a 3.

Another great Sci-Fi Channel original film

[BrandtSponseller · 9/10 · 23 January 2005]

Veterinarian Eli Rudkus (Vincent Ventresca) has just moved to the small town of Host, Missouri. Host is primarily a beef farming community, and is home to Host Tender Meats, a successful corporation now running tests for enhanced feed on many local farmers' cattle. Rudkus discovers a cow infected with a strange parasite, and soon after, other animals with evidence of the same parasitic infection. Something is wrong in Host, and it is growing to epidemic proportions.

This is a great, fun film, which is only slightly marred by a somewhat rushed ending (oddly characteristic of quite a few Sci-Fi Channel original movies). My final score was 9 out of 10.

The first thing that struck me as refreshingly unusual about Larva was director Tim Cox's emphasis on shades of orange, including various browns and some almost monotone sepia-colored shots, ala tinted silent films. The coloring reflects the horrific menace--worms, and also emphasizes how often cinematography and production design are not oriented towards particular colors, except for blue (such as Gothika (2003)) and the occasional green (such as The Matrix (1999)). This is an aspect of film-making I'd like to see directors experiment with much more.

The story, although probably somewhat predictable overall (there almost seems to be a formula, which I won't detail here for fear of spoilers, to these "bugs out of control" horror films) is executed very well here. Anyone who knows me well knows that I do not subtract points for predictability. Lots of things in life are predictable, but that makes them no less enjoyable. As long as a story is gripping and entertaining, I don't mind predictability one bit.

Although Sci-Fi channel original films seem to suffer some characteristic flaws, they also tend to benefit from excellent casts. They often focus on severely underrated or relatively unknown actors, especially character actors. The standout in Larva for me is William Forsythe (as Jacob Long), with star Vincent Ventresca not far behind. Both are perfectly cast, with Ventresca playing the nervous newbie with a questionable past and Forsythe the intelligent and aggressive yet paranoid farmer who becomes Ventresca's sidekick.

Cox knows how to build tension, and towards the middle of the film, each scene tends to top the previous one (although the hospital sequence is a particular stand-out and not topped for the remainder of the film). He's aided by spectacular creature effects, which make Larva begin to seem more like an entry in the Alien series, or perhaps a precursor spin-off of Starship Troopers (in more of a Friday the 13th-styled small town atmosphere).

The horror in Larva is grounded in current news and some popular cultural attitudes. Namely, "meat scares" such as E. Coli and Mad Cow Disease, combined with anti-corporate paranoia. Both of these are fairly conspicuous, but they're incorporated smoothly just the same, and may make the film even more effective for many contemporary viewers.

As a 9 out of 10, Larva is definitely worth a look, and no, I didn't adjust my scale to "compensate" for this being a made-for-television movie. It's a 9 out of 10 on the same exact scale I use for everything. If only there could have been made-for-television horror films this great when I was growing up.

Entertaining enough and worth a look

[The_Void · 6/10 · 19 October 2008]

Finding out that a film is a 'Sci-Fi Original' is usually enough to put me off and indeed that is the reason I haven't seen many of them; but to my surprise, Larva is actually a well made and entertaining film that delivers the thrills along with an interesting storyline. The plot focuses on a small town somewhere in America in which the farmers are getting a good deal from a meat company as they're getting free food for their cattle. The free food also increases their productivity; but there's a side effect because it contains a parasite that eats the cattle from the inside out. This is discovered when a new vet comes to town; but it's not long before the parasite has gotten out of the control and has become a problem for the whole town. Naturally the story has holes and the acting is not the best you'll ever see; but Tim Cox's film gets over this by focusing on the storyline. Obviously it's not completely original and has been seen in many films before, but nevertheless it works well in this one. The special effects are decent when the parasite is in its first stage; although it does have to be said that the quality takes a bit of a downturn once the parasites start to grow a bit larger. However, it's not a big problem really; you've got to expect cheap effects from a film like this and it delivers the goods in other areas. Overall, this is certainly fun entertainment and I would recommend giving it a look.

Larva

[Scarecrow-88 · 4/10 · 8 August 2009]

Genetically engineered feed(..to enhance the meat from cattle) has given birth to parasitic larvae, drawn to blood and grow / evolve at an alarming rate, bursting from their animal hosts seeking further nourishment from humans in a small town whose business directly comes from the beef bred by local farmers.

Business-as-usual in regards to this Sci-fi channel creature feature which treads all too familiar ground. Decent cast. David Selby(Dark Shadows)is Fletcher Odermatt, the executive who operates the business, Host Tender Meats, which profits and benefits from the meat supplied by the farmers in his rural area. William Forsythe is Jacob Long, a local farmer who doesn't appreciate how his town has surrendered their livelihood to Odermatt, one of the only citizens who sees how corrupt Fletcher really is. Vincent Ventresca is a beleaguered scientist, Dr Eli Rudkus, seeking to re-establish his tainted reputation due to a miscalculation caused in a recent case which resulted in massive profit loss..but, when he notices the unusual larvae's attraction to, and sudden growth from, blood(..opened from an accidental cut to Rudkus' finger), Eli might just restore his name while saving others in the process. Eli's good will might find resistance due to Fletcher's power and influence over the town, further aided by his intelligent attorney, Hayley Anderson(Rachel Hunter). But, once the large parasites begin bursting from the bodies of both cattle and humans(..those humans who ate meat with larvae, that is), Eli will join forces with Jacob, hoping to discover a way to kill them off before the creatures find their way out of the town possibly endangering others as well. Soon, Hayley will see the error of her ways, tagging along with the boys.

As is typical with these kinds of films, Fletcher will pay the ultimately price for his misdeeds and Jacob will concoct a plan to draw the army of larvae parasites into one location(..amazing how these movies always find a way to draw the swarm, of whatever creatures inhabit a film, altogether in one location so that they can be destroyed). Some good bursting scenes enhance this otherwise average sci-fi flick. Forsythe is a welcome presence, but Ventresca and Hunter add little value to their roles.

Standard monster movie

[bus7821 · 23 January 2005]

The main monster movie formula hasn't changed since the 1950s: The pet evil technology of the time (radiation, pollution, germ warfare, genetic engineering) in conjunction with the pet villain of the time (mad scientists, the CIA, right wing militias, evil industrialists) turn some natural creature into a dangerous mutated version of itself. Fighting it is made harder by clueless citizenry, corrupt politicians, and head-in-the-sand bureaucrats. Frequently the good guys are aided by a guilt-wracked insider, who often gets killed in the process.

This movie is straight out of that mold, and is as silly as such movies usually are. The sloppy way that it was edited for showing on the SciFi channel created a few extra head-scratching moments that may not be present in the video store version. The best of these was a continuity classic where a girl in a car goes from bra off, to on, to off, to on in about 5 seconds.

MorphMan

[a_baron · 3/10 · 29 June 2015]

Is this a horror film or sci-fi? Or maybe it is a not-so-subtle dig at the evil corporations that are forever riding roughshod over us little people in their relentless search for profit. Let's face it, nobody ever lost any friends for railing at big business, heck, even businessmen have bought into this narrative to some extent.

Here we see a new vet arriving in a small town that is on the cusp of a farming revolution, only thing is the company that is backing it has somehow created a mutant parasite that infects not only the new feed but the cattle, and then morphs into a giant bat, or something of that nature. Naturally our idealistic newcomer and his allies are engaged in a desperate rush to quarantine and destroy this pest before it takes over the state and the world, while the agents of the wicked corporation are intent only on hushing the whole thing up lest news leaks out and everybody turns vegetarian. And of course, the wicked capitalists have also succeeded in corrupting the local law enforcement.

As fairy tales go this one is fairly anodyne, that's if you don't read between the lines.

"Aliens" with silly monsters bad actors and and bad plot

[siderite · 5/10 · 17 June 2005]

I am giving this movie a 5, because it had nice gory things in it. That's it! That's the only good part. Everything else is like a zillion other movies with monsters growing up inside a human and bursting out through the belly and the shirt.

This time it's liver worms mutated into Spawn like bat creatures that eat humans. By the end of the movie they are so many that it is impossible to kill them by any reasonable scenario, so they just use a big explosion to blow up "the nest".

The main actor is the guy from The Invisible Man, average by any standards, the plot silly, the sound average, as it is the soundtrack. Overall, a great average 5 with gory stuff.

This had a worthwhile premise that with better execution could have been very good

[kevin_robbins · 3/10 · 17 August 2023]

Larva (2005) is a movie that I recently watched on Tubi. The storyline follows some experiments on larva that get out of the lab and into the local cattle. As the cattle are slaughtered and turned into meat for the locals the cattle might not be the only ones infected by the parasites.

This movie is directed by Abram Cox (Mammoth) and stars Vincent Ventresca (The Invisible Man), Rachel Hunter (The Benchwarmers), William Forsythe (Raising Arizona) and Mercedes Peterson (Rattlers 2).

This has one of those predictable storylines where the entire movie you're waiting for the "experiment gone wrong" explanation. The acting is better than the writing and the dialogue is frustrating at times. The horror scenes are disappointing and the CGI isn't very good. The kills are just okay, which is too bad because there's a worthwhile concept buried deep in here.

Overall, this had a worthwhile premise that with better execution could have been very good. Unfortunately this falls short of its potential. I would score this a 3/10 and recommend skipping it.

Not ground-breaking, but better than it has any right to be

[knuckles03 · 7/10 · 7 March 2010]

I cringe at any movie released on the SciFi channel, but I felt an inborn need to watch this since it was set and filmed in my home state of Missouri (which almost never happens) if for no reason other than to get mad when they messed it up. I went in with the lowest of expectations of this and I'm happy to report that I was was very surprised by this.

Right off the bat I got hit with 3 good points: 1)Vincent Ventresca is the lead. I've loved Vincent's work ever since The Invisible Man, so seeing him as the star definitely brought my hopes up. 2)The effects weren't terrible. The CG is a little dodgy in spots and it's obvious that it is CG, but these still look really good for a low budget straight-to-DVD affair. 3) They actually got the people right. I was so pleased to see that none of the actors were talking in Southern accents, people seem to think that any state that fought for the south is full of people with deep Carolina drawls, but fortunately the accents are appropriately neutral and the culture reflects a non-Southern rural culture which pleased me to no end.

William Forsythe is surprisingly great in this and manages to capture the demeanor of a Missouri cattle farmer pretty much spot-on. Granted he fulfills the trope of having an armory hidden away in his barn but that's pretty much par for the course at this point.

The story is pretty straight-forward genetic testing causes bad effects that result in the mutation of indigenous species, causing them to grow large/dangerous and wreak havoc on a small town and only our hero, a mild-mannered veterinarian and a local gun-nut farmer can stop the evil corporate CEO and warn the town in time.

This movie misses a few cues, for one thing there's only about 4 characters that matter and everyone else is 100% expendable and the story barely acknowledges anyone else. There's a few plot threads that appear only to just disappear with no explanation later on. And there's not much going on in the way of build-up until the monsters arrive.

But once the monsters do get there there's a fair amount of blood and gore, the movie's never really suspenseful or scary but it doesn't disappoint in the action department and has a suitably explosive and violent finale.

The acting is good for what this is and a few people like William Forsythe and Vincent Ventresca do a very good job with their characters even though they're not given much to do with them.

This movie isn't going to be remembered for generations to come, but as a bargain-bin monster movies go it ranks up there with Komodo as a surprisingly good and fun movie that's good for a rental or even a buy. It's worth watching more than once and I plan to pick it up myself.

Makes ya wonder what's really in your hamburger

[Churchyard_Keeper · 10/10 · 22 January 2005]

Didn't really know what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised. Top-notch acting. Great story. Cool Special FX. A little gore and screaming. Good popcorn flick for Horror and Sci-fi fans.

The following is from Sci-Fi Channel Host, Mo., is a quiet ranching community where everyone knows everyone else, and almost everybody earns their living from a local meat-products packager, Host Tender Meats.

New to town is veterinarian Eli Rudkus (Vincent Ventresca of Sci-Fi's 'Invisible Man'), who makes Host his home after his predecessor retires, leaving a professional vacancy that Eli is happy to fill. However, when Eli is called to the ranch of Jacob Long (William Forsythe of 'Once Upon a Time In America' and Rob Zombie's upcoming 'The Devil's Rejects'), a local cattleman, the young veterinarian's seemingly routine house call exposes a dangerous secret about Host Tender Meats that could annihilate this small town.

Eli's efforts to warn the town are thwarted by Fletcher Odermatt (David Selby known to most as Quentin from "Dark Shadows), the owner of Host Tender Meats. Odermatt is willing to go to any lengths to keep his company's dark secret buried. To that end, he enlists cutthroat attorney Hayley Anderson (Rachel Ward) to smear Eli's reputation.

Before long, though, Eli and Jocob convince Hayley that what started as a small "parasite problem" is now a disaster on the verge of becoming too large to contain. As catastrophe looms, the trio races against time, nature and science to save their town — and perhaps the world.

Do I recommend it? Yup, and when it's available on DVD this April, I'm getting it.

Decent creature feature.

[poolandrews · 6/10 · 22 September 2007]

Larva is set in the small Missouri town of Host where slimy businessman Fletcher Odermatt (David Selby) runs 'Host Tender Meats' beef company, he supplies the local farmers with free cattle feed & they supply him with cheap cattle he sells at an inflated price. Dr. Eli Rudkus (Vincent Ventresca) is the new vet in town & his first call is to Jabcob Long's (William Forsythe) farm where one cow is dead & another is ill, Eli takes a sample of cow sh*t & back at his lab examines it & discovers an entirely new breed of worm like parasite which gestates in a living host feeding on it's blood before it reaches adulthood & bursts out in search of more blood, all caused by genetically altered cattle feed from Fletcher's company. It's not long before every cow in Host is dead & the huge mutated flying parasitic creatures have turned their attentions to the human population, Eli must find a way to stop the parasites & prevent a worldwide epidemic...

This made-for-TV German American co-production also known as MorphMan internationally was directed by Tim Cox & I thought it was a pretty good creature feature considering the crap Nu Image Films usually put out. The somewhat predictable script by Dave Goodin, Kevin Moore, J. Paul V. Robert & T.M. Van Ostrand (did it really take four credited screenwriters to come up with this?) certainly moves along at a nice enough pace, it has enough gory monster mayhem to keep most Sc-Fi channel regulars happy & overall I thought it passed the time harmlessly enough even though it wasn't anything I would describe as spectacular. The character's are alright, the story is OK & like a lot of these types of films it has the moral message about us humans tampering with nature & it turning into some hideous monster that will bite us on the bum. This isn't exactly going to win any awards or anything & is far from a masterpiece but as 90 odd minutes of gory fun I didn't think it was half bad & that's what it boils down to & it's one of the few horror films that I have seen which has the balls to kill off an annoying blonde haired young boy.

Director Cox does alright but the film is just too dark & dull, even scenes set during the day or in building which are supposedly well lit there's not much colour or picture information in the frame. The films looks OK, the most stylish moment is near the start as there are close-ups of beef burgers being cooked on a barbecue & then the camera pans up & reveals a cow standing in a field opposite & it lets out a loud moo! It's a scene which just made me smile. There's some OK gore although it never becomes excessive, there are various mutilated cows & dogs, a few stomachs exploding & a fair amount of blood splatter. The CGI special effects on the worm like parasites are good but once they reach adulthood & turn into what can only be described as flying blobs of browny black stuff they aren't so impressive.

With a supposed budget of about $1,500,000 this is well made & has decent production values although some of the CGI computer effects look a little poor. The exterior shots were actually filmed in Springfield in Missouri. The acting is alright, Forsythe is slumming it & 80's fashion model Rachel Hunter turns up as the obligatory love interest.

Larva is a perfectly decent way to pass the time if your a creature feature fan, it's not the best example of it's type but it's far from the worst either. I thought it was worth a watch if you can find a copy going cheap or watch it on the Sci-Fi channel for free.

Run of the mill killer critter flick

[gtc83 · 23 January 2005]

I guess I was expecting this to be better than it was, as Vincent Ventresca was quite a good actor in The Invisible Man series he did for sci-fi. But he gives what I would call a rather dull performance here, bringing little life or personality to his character. This is just your run of the mill story of greedy industrialists fiddling with science to create (unintentionally) a killer creature. Actually a bunch of them. They go on the usual rampage, kill the usual nameless bunch of extras, and there's the usual climactic scene involving a large explosion.

Nothing really drew me in to this picture, it was just there, on the screen, running its course. None of the characters made me care about them, though at least they weren't too obnoxious. The whole plot seemed a bit silly - I was left feeling as if the evil industrialists were intentionally trying to kill everybody, which made the whole greed motive seem stupid. It just wasn't very well done in that respect.

The beginning half of the film features some orange-bathed cinematography and good theme music, which gave it quite a nice atmosphere, but that was about it. As soon as the set-up scenes were done and the characters started talking, it got a bit boring.

Overall, it's not a bad movie, nor a good one. Just an overly predictable and uninteresting one.

Pretty good parasite/monster movie

[robertemerald · 6/10 · 28 October 2018]

The plot here is typical of its genre, experiments gone bad, quick-witted scientist/good guy, action side-kicks, a few silly teenagers caught up in it all. Unlike a lot of monster movies of its day you don't have to wait right to the end to see the monster, or the monster growing up, so to speak, and toward the end the thrills do start flying, so to speak. The actors are good, well cast. The horror is gory and plenty of splatter, though the tension needed to be better done. That might have been achieved with better film, but perhaps that was just my dvd, which seemed to have been bleached of some clarity and the colour blue (everything seemed to be a 'midwest red'). It's not a bad movie, though one can't approach it with too much anticipation, and certainly if one is into collecting classic monster movies, then you do need a copy of Larva, if only for a look at Rod Stewart's old girlfriend.

damn fine TV

[freakhouse · 10/10 · 28 January 2005]

From the 70's style score to the tobacco filters to the gore that pushes the envelope on what's allowed on broadcast television, this creature-feature delivers in a way most SciFi channel movies don't even try.

The acting is superb, especially the comic interplay between Forsythe and Ventresca. The SFX are superior to anything I've seen on this channel. The smooth, deft pacing creates the kind of tension most directors have either forgotten about or never learned in the first place.

The story (Corproate greed destroys yet another small town, go figure) isn't Shakespeare, but is endearing for the simple fact that it never takes itself too seriously. I'd like to see more of this kind of TV movie, especially more from its director - Tim Cox - he's obviously one to watch.

More dangerous than mad cow disease.

[michaelRokeefe · 6/10 · 11 May 2005]

Predictable, but really a pretty good Sci-Fi flick. Eli Rudkus(Vincent Ventresca)is the new veterinarian in Host, Missouri. Host is a small ranching community where your business is everyone else's business. Most of the ranchers make their living providing beef for Host Tender Meats owned by millionaire Fletcher Odermatt(David Selby). Odermatt provides the ranchers with his own formula of feed. Long time cattleman Jacob Long(William Forsythe)needs the new vet to take a look at a couple of his animals. This will not be your routine house call. Dr. Rudkus discovers a deadly cattle infestation that just could be an epidemic putting the towns populace in grave danger. The special effects are real good and there is enough action to hold your interest. The visuals are borderline stomach turning. Also in the cast is Rachel Hunter, who plays a PR person for the meat company...that ends up teaming with Rudkus and Long trying to convince the community of the seriously dangerous situation. Better than your typical creature run amok features.