BITE ME!

It was with great uncertainty and trepidation that I loaded up this disc in my DVD player. Why, you might ask? Well, you see, I am often sent many appallingly awful B-movies to watch, that I fully expected this to be more of the same - which was not a prospect that I was really looking forward to, hence my trepidation and the expectancy of having trawl through another 90-minutes of camcorder hell. So I sat back and fully expected yet another test of my viewing endurance and…I was pleasantly surprised that in spite its obviously low-budget origins, Bite Me! managed to be damn entertaining and a whole lot of fun.

The premise is simple but effective - how can mutant insects not be entertaining? The story revolves around a strip joint run by the overbearing Ralph Vivino (played with obvious relish by Michael R. Thomas) who buys a crate of 'enhanced' marijuana. Unfortunately, all is not what it seems and it turns out the crate is also home to a nest of mutant bugs, which begin to hatch and start to overrun the club. Much mayhem and chaos ensues, as the patrons and performers attempt to steer clear of the creatures. Along the way we are introduced to a gallery of weird and wonderful characters, all of whom keep the movie fresh and interesting - and of course there's plenty of naked flesh on display, this being a strip club. So if horror with lots of nudity is your bag, then you won't be disappointed.

As I already said, I found the movie to be fun and it never outstays its welcome. Director Brett Piper handles the material extremely well and the FX are suitably impressive. This is also the first Misty Mundae film I have ever viewed - and I have to admit the girl certainly can act, even though she is seemingly better known for her..erm…other 'assets' (which are certainly not ignored in this movie, either).

Overall, it's a very entertaining and fun movie, albeit not one that will exactly the strain the grey matter - but who cares? You've got mutant creatures, lashings of nudity, and colourful characters - what more do you want? Okay, so it won't win an Oscar - but we're not really interested in dull Hollywood movies, are we? No, of course not. If you were, you wouldn't be reading this. Hehehehe.

The disc also comes packed with a whole pile of extra features. There's a decent behind-the-scenes featurette in which we get to see behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the cast and crew, all of whom are intelligent and articulate. It was interesting that Misty was originally intended for another role, but she switched because that character smoked, but Misty had quit cigarettes (albeit temporarily, as she's puffing on a smoke in the interview). Brett Piper talks in depth about how the film came about, the casting, filming locations, and so forth. This is an above-average featurette that's well worth watching. There is also a longer dedicated interview with Misty Mundae (which is not advertised on the box) where she talks at length about her career and working on Bite Me! Again, this is well worth your time. Next up is footage of screen tests, which is interesting to see how things might have turned out. And the rounding out the dedicated Bite Me! supplements is a featurette on how the car crash stunt was engineered and executed.

Also included are featurettes of the film's screening at the Rue Morgue Festival of Fear, including the filmed reactions of viewers after the screening, which is very enthusiastic, to say the least. But it's a nice featurette and really does capture the flavour of the Festival. The remaining extras on the disc are a music video by CKY, which features Misty Mundae. It's a good track, actually, and the video is suitably deranged. Accompanying this video is a short behind-the-scenes featurette on the shooting of the video - I like the guy's house! Very cool. And finally, rounding out the supplementary features, is a handful of trailers for other Shock-O-Rama DVDs.

One thing Shock-O-Rama Cinema cannot be accused of is not giving value for money. This is an excellent all-round package and gives fans plenty of bang for their buck, as the saying goes. The film itself is nicely presented with a crisp 4:3 transfer which is free from any visible defects and the audio is solid with the dialogue always clear and audible. My only concern is that this appears to be shorter the cut - IMDB (however accurate that may be) lists the uncut version at 88 minutes, whilst the film on the DVD comes in at a somewhat shorter 84 minutes 45 seconds. So, make of that what you will, I just thought it was pertinent to mention it.

All-in-all it's a very entertaining movie and the DVD comes full of supplementary features. I enjoyed it immensely - for all its shortcomings it kept me interested and entertained. You can't ask for more than that.

Review by C J Otter