Infected |
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 • Canada • 2008 • 90m •   • Directed by: Adam Weissman. • Starring: Gil Bellows, Maxim Roy, Bruce Dinsmore, Mark Camacho, Judd Nelson, Jesse Todd, Isabella Rossellini, David Schaap, Neil Napier, Glenda Braganza, Lori Graham, Carlo Mestroni, Suzanna Lenir. • Music by: Ned Bouhalassa.     In Boston, there is an unknown epidemic and the population is consuming the Hydropure water and vegetables from Whitefield Corporation. The City Hall Secretary, Taylor Lambert, contacts a newspaper journalist, Lisa Wallace, expecting to give evidence of a conspiracy that his partner Connie is collecting. However, Glenda is captured and murdered by the guards, and Lambert shoots the Mayor and takes a sample of his blood to give to Lisa. Lambert is hunted and wounded by the police. He meets the journalist, Ben Mosher, who writes for the sensationalist column 'Mystery Science' in the same newspaper. Lambert gives Ben a vial with the Major's blood before he dies and Ben gives the sample to his friend Knutt Jourgensen for analysis.
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Review:
This Canadian production was directed by Adam Weissman & I actually watched Infected by mistake as I thought I was going to watch the mutant killer bug film Infested (2002), with only one letter difference it was an easy mistake to make so shut up. Anyway what could have turned into a pleasant surprise ended up as a disaster as Infected is crap, I'm sorry but that's what it boils down to I'm afraid. The script is most at fault here, the first twenty odd minutes isn't too bad to be honest as there's still some mystery behind the sinister events with an assassination, fights, escapes, murder, alien maggots & bad CGI computer effects but it all goes downhill rather quickly thereafter. The film about aliens disguised as humans planning an invasion from within as it were is lifted straight from genre classics like Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) & The Thing (1982) & was probably made to cash-in on the far more recent not a genre classic at all The Invasion (2007) with Nicole Kidman & Daniel Craig. The plot is full of holes & didn't work for me at all, why did Taylor have to kill the Mayor to get a blood sample? Stick him with a needle & draw some blood while he was still alive, at least that way Taylor wouldn't have had every cop in the City after him & his face plastered all over the news. There's a big difference between murder & sticking a needle in someone. Also why was Lisa so convinced that the vial had the Mayor's blood in it? There could have been anything in there, Taylor would have had plenty of time to switch the blood for something else so why put so much trust in him & the vial? Despite a worldwide plague that is affecting billions of people the authorities don't have a clue what is causing it or what it is yet after half a day of investigating Lisa & Ben discover the truth mostly with the help of an internet search (which just happens to bring up a website that has all the answers) & a school laboratory! Then there's the one in a billion chance that Ben the only person on Earth along with Lisa who know's about the alien invasion has a one of a kind genetic disease that actually kills the aliens, what are the odds on that? Bit of a coincidence wouldn't you say? There are many plot holes in a really poorly thought out script & after the first twenty odd minutes it all falls apart & becomes very dull.
The opportunity for lots of tension & paranoia that is so brilliantly used in The Thing & Invasion of the Body Snatchers is totally absent here, the opportunity for the makers to really crank the tension up is wasted as there's no major twist's & all the bad guy's are really easy to spot since they wear suits & try to look hard & evil. I am not sure if the version I saw was cut but there's not much blood or gore here, there's a few burrowing alien maggots seen & a headless body but not much else. The aliens when finally revealed look like big Cockroaches & while the CGI computer effects aren't as bad as some films out there I would struggle to call them anything approaching good.
Although set entirely in Boston this was shot in Montréal in Québec in Canada, the production values are alright but it does have the look of a made-for-telly film. The acting is nothing more than average, the two leads are alright while Isabella Rossellini looks terrible & gets decapitated.
Infected is a plot-hole ridden piece of sci-fi junk that is boring & tedious with the only positive aspect the first twenty minutes before all the plot-holes kick in.
Review by Paul Andrews from the Internet Movie Database.
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