Ticks

Director - Tony Randel (Children of the Night)

Starring - Seth Green (The Attic Expeditions), Alfonso Ribeiro (Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), and Ami Dolenz (Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings)

Release Date - 1993

Genre - Horror

Tagline - "Something hungry is about to hatch"

Format - VHS (Personal Collection)

Favorite Quote - "O' party hats.  Now I know where Chuck's head is at"

Rating (out of 5):

     When I was little I watched this on TNT and loved it.  A few months later I was with my Dad at a flea market just looking around.  I found this and a few others on VHS and begged my dad for them.  He finally caved in and let me buy it.  When we were finally home he let me watch Ticks again.  When I threw it in the VCR it did not work.  I was around 8 or 9 at the time and I was pissed.  I tried the other VHS' I grabbed and they all worked fine.  It wasn't until I was in high school, and that same rental store I mentioned in an earlier post, went out of business, and was able to grab this for fifty cents.

     The film opens with chemicals, used on pot pants, are accidentally spilled on a sack of tick eggs.  This mutates the ticks in to giant killing machines.  This is unfortunate because a group of city kids are going on a camping trip for troubled youths.   The ticks start to hatch and attack one of the pot farmers (Clint Howard) and burrows in his face.  The ticks then make their way to the camp and attack Panic's (Ribeiro) dog.  Tyler (Green) and one of the counselors take the dog to a local vet to see what the cause of death is.  Panic is pissed and runs away from the camp.  On his way back to L.A., Panic crosses paths with the owner of the pot fields, Sir, and his goon.  Sir shoots Panic after shooting one of his booby traps and setting the forest on fire.  This flushes the ticks out of the woods and headed straight for the cabin.  At the vet, Tyler and the counselor discover that it was mutated ticks that killed the dog.  Once they arrive at the cabin, Sir and his goon arrive and want in.  Against his better judgement, the counselor caves in and let them enter.  Not long after this Panic staggers back to the cabin and collapses.  The counselor discovers he was shot and that was what lead to his death.  Sir then pulls a gun on them all and orders them to turn over the van.  Panic's body then convulses and starts splitting apart revealing a giant, man-sized, tick in side him.  They are able to get away from Sir and barricade themselves one of the rooms.  Sir is tick food and the group are able to jump out the window and make it to the van before the forest fire makes it way to the propane tank and explodes.

     I really enjoyed this movie when I was little but I did not appreciate it like I do now.  Movies that I liked before because they were "good movies" when I was little I now look at with a different point of view.  I now see all the work put in to the story, acting, special effects, and so forth and this is one of those films that were made and very few people were able to see it.  Sure, the story is ridiculous, but filmmakers and cast are still able to deliver a solid flick.  The acting, by the main cast, was very good.  However, the supporting cast are horrible actors, but that is typical in a 90's horror films.  I also really enjoyed the practical effects in this.  Howard's face, once the ticks burrow inside it, looks cool as hell and so does the giant tick transformation scene. I also really liked the pacing of the film.  It does not take long before we are thrust in to the action.  This is a big pain point with me and many of the films I watch.  I do have a few complaints about this film.  The first is the role of some of the characters.  An example of this is the sheriff.  They introduced him and immediately killed him.  The only thing this serves is to scare two campers.  A few of the characters are completely pointless to the story.  My other complaint is, once again, the ending.  The ending is extremely anti-climatic.  The film just ends.  Nothing to it what so ever.  Because those are my only complaints then you know this one is good.  This one will be released on DVD and Bluray in January, so pick it up.