Locusts (2005) (TV)

User Rating:

3.4/10   

Director:

David Jackson

Writer (WGA):

Doug Prochilo (written by)

Release Date:

24 April 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Sci-Fi | Horror | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

The swarm is the storm.

Plot:

Dr. Maddy Rierdon, an investigator for the Department of Agriculture, is the only person who can protect America from a deadly breed of bioengineered locusts. |

Plot Keywords:

Locust | School Bus | Destruction | Airplane | Farm

Cast

Lucy Lawless	...	Maddy Rierdon
John Heard	...	Dr. Peter Axelrod
Dylan Neal	...	Dan Dyrer
Gregory Alan Williams	...	General Miller (as Greg Alan Williams)
Mike Farrell	...	Lyle Rierden
Natalia Nogulich	...	Lorelei Wentworth
Mike Gomez	...	Secretary Morales
Esperanza Catubig	...	Vivian
Sam Temeles	...	Wyatt Reynolds
Mark Costello	...	Director Rusk
Caroline McKinley	...	Terry Axelrod
Daniel Joseph	...	Dr. Jonas Hanauer
Margaret Lawhon	...	Senator Clauston
Nicolas Roye	...	Jimmy
Andrew Seeley	...	Willy

Also Known As:

Locusts: Day of Destruction (Australia)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Australia:M | UK:PG | Australia:PG (DVD rating) | New Zealand:PG | USA:TV-PG

Filming Locations:

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Company:

VZS Productions

Trivia:

The footage of the doomed airplane's second engine blowing out is a mirror image of the footage for the first engine.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: The "Welcome to Indiana" signs shown are not located in either Floyd or Clark counties in southern Indiana, where the swarm is reportedly entering. The real welcome signs in these two counties are located at the end of the three bridges spanning the Ohio River between southern Indiana and Louisville, Kentucky.

Quotes:

[to Willy]
Gina: Oh, please. They're grasshoppers, not tarantulas.

Movie Connections:

Features Solitaire (1981) (VG)

Not that bad if you weren't expecting much

Gina has to feed the locusts in Lab C-12 at the Virginia Agricultural Institute. She's not concerned about going in the room with the locusts because, after all, they're just grasshoppers ...

Dr. Maddy Rierdon (whose robe is open and doesn't cover her underwear), an Undersecretary of Agriculture, answers the phone and finds out she has to investigate yet another crisis involving insects. This bothers Dan (who is wearing a towel). Eventually he wants to break up with Maddy because she spends too much time on work. Later, Maddy calls him while he at his job as a United Nations Agricultural liaison, giving a tour to a group of Africans. In one of the film's few really funny moments, the translator explains that Americans have relationship problems, which makes the Africans laugh.

Dr. Peter Axelrod (John Heard) has developed a hybrid locust from the Desert Locust and the Australian Plague Locust. It has a shorter gestational period and a longer life span than normal locusts, and it migrates faster ... and it's resistant to all known pesticides. Dr. Rierdon orders his lab shut down, and Dr. Axelrod is fired. All the locusts are destroyed. Well, almost. A couple get away down a drain, and another small group gets shipped, with a special warning label, to a California Air Force Base. At the base, there is an accident, and the locusts get out.

Dr. Rierdon is in California anyway to check on a West Nile Virus threat. The locusts from the base have multiplied into a giant swarm and attacked a couple of campers and some Spanish-speaking farm workers.

Meanwhile, in the East, Dr. Axelrod has still not found work (though a defense job is a possibility), but he goes to the gym so he can at least keep in shape. On the way there, he encounters the descendants of the second group of escaped locusts--and so do his daughter Sofia and all the kids on her school bus.

Wyatt, a meteorologist in Oklahoma, advises both Dr. Rierdon and Dr. Axelrod on the weather conditions that might determine where the swarms will go next. Unfortunately, at this point, Dr. Rierdon wants Dr. Axelrod to stay out of the investigation.

Pittsburgh is such a beautiful, modern city, which has overcome its image as a dirty and industrial. No longer is the city covered by dark clouds ... oh, wait.

Only one thing will kill these evil creatures. Saddam Hussein used it on his people. If nothing is done, world famine will result. Perhaps it is worth sacrificing some Americans to save the country's food supply.

The eventual solution to the locust problem is as unbelievable as the fact such a swarm could form in the first place.

If you enjoy movies like this (and I do) this was pretty good. I'm not saying this was a good movie. Almost nothing about it suggests quality except the visual effects. These swarms were scary (to me, anyway), even in the lab. And there were a few brief, well-done shots of what appeared to be real locusts eating. As for any attempts at scientific accuracy, I don't think anyone was really trying.

I found the characters in Stacey's office in Pittsburgh appealing enough that I would like to have seen a whole movie about them. Oh, well ...

Mike Farrell got old! I didn't even recognize him at first in the first scene where he appeared, talking with his daughter Maddy on the phone. He was really good in that scene, but later he wasn't anything special. Other good performances came from the translator and the farm workers.

If you like bad horror movies, this is a good one.