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Bats
DVD Review by Yanman |
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"Are you kidding me? I am not up to my chest in bat Sh*t!" OK quick try to guess what Bats is about. If you said that, it must be about some mutant Bats, which start attacking people, then you would be correct. Is it campy? Yes. Has it been done before? Lets see birds, bees, sharks, Aliens, or substitute any other beastie that you can think of. Make that a yes. What makes this one different then? A good cast, that doesn't take it too serious to believe. In addition, if you have read some of my reviews here before, you know that I really hate it when a Horror movie goes for a PG-13 rating just to make it more appealing at the box office. The movie Bats solves this problem by going for a PG-13 rating at the box office (and VHS) and releasing the DVD with an "exclusive R-rated director's cut." For my money good, scary, horror, should be R-rated. The DVD looks and sounds good, and there are plenty of extras to keep you busy. I'm not going to spend a lot of time going through the story here (the writers didn't), but I will summarize. A military scientist genetically alters some really big bats to create the ultimate killing machines. They escape, or are let out, and the killing of innocent civilians begins. So what do you do? Call the bat expert, (Dina Meyer) and the local sheriff, (Lou Diamond Phillips) and chase the bats all over town to try and destroy them. Of course, they are omnipotent omnivores, but you can't let that stop you. Just for fun, I came up with a few rules that you should consider if you ever find yourself in a natural disaster involving bats (or for that matter, any natural foe). These are a little like the slasher movie rules presented in Scream. 1. Never assume you are dealing with a "normal" situation (the bats, bees, sharks are ALWAYS bigger, faster, and smarter). 2. Stay away from the military guys, they are going to die. 3. The scientist that created the creature is always a little crazy. 4. And finally, if you want to live, stay real close to the civilian "expert". If these items don't help, you may want to read one of my favorite books - The Worst- Case Scenario Survival Handbook - it is sure to help. The Anamorphic widescreen video is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1. It very clean and artifact free, a great transfer. This is the crystal clear video that you expect from DVD. For those that care about such things, the layer change happens at 51:15, and is nearly invisible during a scene change. The Dolby Digital 5.1 (Which includes Dolby EX Enhancement) sound track is reference quality as well, filling the room from all directions with the scary sound of squealing bats. The LFE or .1 channel also comes alive, putting your sub thru its paces. Added to the long list of extras like a director's commentary, bats abound featurette, storyboards and more, there is something new here. Bats is the first disk that I've reviewed that has the cover art on the disc. Now you may be saying to yourself "so what", but what makes this a big deal is if you have a DVD library system that holds 200+ DVDs and CDs, then the cover art can be shown on the screen next to the name. A feature we saw demoed at CES. If you like edge of your seat non-stop action, without all of the thinking that may hurt your head, you will like Bats. Moreover, from a sheer "show off all this cool DVD stuff" perspective, the Bats DVD genuinely does deliver. Just one word of caution here don't step in the dialog, it's mostly guano.
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Bats OK quick try to guess what Bats is about. Staring: Diana Meyer Directed By: Louis Morneau Running time: 91 Mins. Bonus Materials
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