I was out of town for a couple of days and missed a few
movies from my list. But I’m home again
now and back to the horror movies.
I’ve watched a lot of bad movies over the years, low-budget
movies with lousy special effects and talentless actors, movies directed by
film-makers who make Ed Wood Jr. and Colman Francis look like auteurs. Sometimes you get lucky and one of those
creature-feature B movies actually turns out to be something interesting. This is not the case with the Canadian made
for television movie Black Swarm (2007).
It begins as a horror movie should, with a plausible premise
that plays on the fears of the age. And
this fear isn’t a new one, it’s a fear that’s been exploited by story tellers
for as long as there have been scary stories: the fear of man’s works turned
against him, of science and technology (that could be used for the good and
prosperity of mankind) being turned into agents of destruction and death. And
the genetically altered weaponized wasps of Black Swarm that turn their
victims into zombie-esque drones and breeding hosts make for a particularly nasty
type of monster.
While it begins well, the movie fails as most B-movies do. Around the 45 minute mark it starts to go a little weird, and after 1 hour it’s spiraled off into a buzzing incomprehensibility. The characters behave in an inexplicable manner, there are chasms in the plot – let’s not call them “holes.” Even horror veteran Robert Englund starring as the basement dwelling ‘mad-scientist’ can’t bring this movie anywhere near scary, let alone social commentary.
While it begins well, the movie fails as most B-movies do. Around the 45 minute mark it starts to go a little weird, and after 1 hour it’s spiraled off into a buzzing incomprehensibility. The characters behave in an inexplicable manner, there are chasms in the plot – let’s not call them “holes.” Even horror veteran Robert Englund starring as the basement dwelling ‘mad-scientist’ can’t bring this movie anywhere near scary, let alone social commentary.
But what if it had been different? What if the director had been able to make a
compelling story from this premise?
The story takes place in the fictional town of Blackstone,
New York – a town name that brings to mind the English jurist, William
Blackstone, whose Commentaries on the Laws of England helped to codify English common law into a
just and fair system applicable to all citizens. Without law, without justice there is only chaos. The movie has plenty of chaos, and even
though one of the protagonists is a sheriff (deputy sheriff, actually) there’s
very little application of legitimate law.
Late in the film we’re told that the weaponized wasps are
the result of one of those “secret government programs” to develop biological
weapons. The only problem is that
they’re unable to distinguish friend from foe.
The wasps, once agitated will attack anyone in the area, and since they
are all but indestructible, it’s impossible (except for the film’s heroes) to
stop them. Here again is potential for
great story telling, and for great social commentary. … Something about great
power and great responsibility, perhaps?
Or …he who lives by the sword, dies by the sword?
I wish that this could have been one of those lucky finds,
one of those creature-features that rises above the rest of the snarling and
growling beasties. Black Swarm is a movie with promethean potential but…
that’s all. Potential.
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