I was surprised when I saw this scary movie was directed by Barry Levinson (Diner, The Natural; Good Morning, Vietnam, Rain Man), the description for it sounded good, and it was rated well by critics, so I was looking forward to whatever it had to offer. Basically the film opens explaining that the footage was confiscated by the U.S. government until an anonymous source leaked the footage for the entire world to see. On July 4th 2009, Independence Day, a seaside town in Claridge, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, on the Chesapeake Bay, thrives on water and is ready to celebrate the annual Crab Festival. But two researchers find the water has a staggering level of toxicity, Mayor Stockman (Frank Deal) is alerted, but he refuses to take action fearing it will cause a panic, and the result is a deadly plague being unleashed. The outbreak is thought to have been caused by a combination of agricultural pesticides, random pollutants, and steroids-in-chicken-manure that have been dumped into the bay, whatever it is it has turned humans into hosts for a deadly, mutant breed of the parasite Cymothoa exigua, i.e. parasitic crustacean isopods. The creatures start infecting townspeople one by one, several stories are seen as the overwhelming chaos takes over, particularly local young inexperienced news reporter Donna Thompson (Kether Donohue) and her cameraman, who were reporting on the 4th of July festivities , she is also explaining the occurrences in an off-screen personal recording. Other stories seen include two oceanographers who first discovered the parasites, two police officers on duty investigating the residential area, a young unsuspecting couple swimming in the lake, a teenage girl sending a desperate message to a friend on FaceTime, Dr. Jack Abrams (Stephen Kunken) informing the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) of the developing situation at the local hospital, and a young married couple with an infant aboard sailing on a vessel toward the family home, unaware of the horrific unfolding events on the mainland. Also starring Will Rogers as Alex, The Cabin in the Woods' Kristen Connolly as Stephanie, Argo's Christopher Denham as Sam, Nansi Aluka as Jaquline, Kimberly Campbell as Nurse Rebecca, Beckett Clayton-Luce as Charles and Dave Hager as Fisher Jerry. The combination of "found footage" from news broadcasts, phone cameras, Skype, CCTV and webcam, accompanied by narration of the young newscaster, makes for an interesting take on the scary movie genre, you could call it a cross between Paranormal Activity and Jaws, and of course the special effects make up and little CGI to bring the isopods and their hideous body eating antic to life is fantastic, it is scary to think that isopods are real, it is well put together and definitely gives you the jitters, a terrific horror thriller. Very good!