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It never ceases to amaze me that how just a few bucks in the right hands can lead to very special things. I just watched a screener of GROWTH, knew nothing at all about it when I put it in the player so I went into this one completely cold.
I was pleasantly surprised at what I saw. It's a parasite infestation flick. Like SLITHER only with a much less comedic take. While the story is strong I did find the rather cartoonish CGI to be a distraction. I am rarely a fan of the completely computer generated stuff and a film with this kind of outcome is exactly the reason why.
That alone though isn't enough to tell you to stay away from this one. If you can work past the fact that the creatures look so hokey the rest of this one is actually a winner. Well directed, well written and well acted GROWTH is a testament to the fact that money alone isn't, nor should it be the main ingredient in any project.
The story is actually quite impressive. A rather daunting undertaking. It goes like this:
n 1989, a breakthrough in advanced parasitic research on Cuttyhunk
Island, gave scientists a jump in human evolution. Initial tests proved
promising as subjects were experiencing heightened physical and mental
strength and awareness. But, something in the experiment went horribly
wrong and the island mysteriously lost three quarters of its population.
Jamie Akerman fled the outbreak, which took her mothers life, twenty
years ago. She now returns with her boyfriend and step brother, to sell
the family property. There, they uncover the key to Jamie's disturbing
past, and the horrifying secrets long suppressed by the town leader,
Larkin. Now, a new strain of parasite has emerged, and threatens the
island once again. Jamie struggles to survive and escape the obsessive
pursuit of the local islanders who know that she has inherited more than
she could ever have imagined.
That synopsis was courtesy of the IMDB. They summed it up better then I ever could.
Like I said, a pretty hefty undertaking and for the most part director Gabriel Cowan pulls it off, he really does. Working mostly with a cast of unknowns ( I think I only say a face or two in the film that I recognized) Cowan manages to build very likable, sympithietic characters that by the end of the first third of the film you actually care about what might happen to them. The complicated backstory is laid out via an old tape that is found while cleaning up the property for sale. The families rather ugly truth is revealed but a little too late as one of the kids gets them nasty little bugs inside him and all hell breaks loose.
Unfortunately that's also about the point that the CGI really kicks into gear and things get a little bit silly. While the idea of what they are trying to do is impressive I don't think they had quite enough money to pull the effects off correctly and for me it ruins the film. I think I would have rather seen less FX but having what we did see be impressive physical stuff. Spent the same money just on a little stuff that looked great as opposed to a lot of stuff that looks bad.
Overall though GROWTH delivers and other than the groan-able FX moments I found the film to be smart, well paced and well worth my time.
Go ahead and give it a spin, just be aware that those SyFy movie of the week moments are coming and I think you'll be just fine.
GROWTH is hitting DVD on Sept. 7th from Anchor Bay. They always do a great job on their releases and there is no reason to believe that this disc will be any different.
I don't have special feature info for you. I haven't received final review product yet but as soon as I do I will update this review with all that info.
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