Vampire Bats (2005) (TV)

Director:

Eric Bross

Writers (WGA):

Doug Prochilo (written by)
Doug Prochilo (characters)

Release Date:

30 October 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

It's Feeding Time.

Plot:

In Mercier, Louisiana, the freshmen friends of the Tate University Jason Ortiz, Aaron and Eden go to...

Plot Keywords:

Bat | Vampire Bat | Panties | Swimming In Underwear | Brassiere

Cast

Lucy Lawless	...	Maddy Rierdon
Dylan Neal	...	Dan Dryer
Liam Waite	...	Game Warden Jay Schuster
Timothy Bottoms	...	Hank Poelker
Craig Ferguson	...	Fisherman #1
Brett Butler	...	Shelly Beaudraux
Tony Plana	...	Sheriff Herbst
Jessica Stroup	...	Eden
Jerrod Paige	...	Wayne (as Jrod)
Arnie Pantoja	...	Jason
Brandon Henry	...	Aaron (as Brandon Rodriguez)
Robin Hines	...	Lizzie
Josh Segarra	...	Miles
Andrew Matthews	...	Keith Cline
Donna DuPlantier	...	Coroner

Runtime:

120 min (including commercials)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:M | Singapore:PG | Finland:K-13 | Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Company:

Sony Pictures Television

Trivia:

Production had to stop filming and evacuate the city of New Orleans once hurricane Katrina neared shore. Filming was continued in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Quotes:

Maddy Rierdon: WowWow, hang on Buster, I've got a better idea. You take Ramie to class and I'll take Violet, The students will love it.
Dan Dryer: You just don't want my sister watching the kids' right?
Maddy Rierdon: If she just looked after the kids that would be fine...
Dan Dryer: [sighs] Oh God.
Maddy Rierdon: You remember when my father was in the hospital and I went to stay with him. She rearranged all the furniture.
Dan Dryer: It's just furniture honey, so what.
Maddy Rierdon: IN EVERY ROOM OF THE HOUSE... She's like an over caffeinated Marry Poppins.

Movie Connections:

References "Blue's Clues" (1996)

Not too bad if you have no expectations

Aaron, Eden and Jason are back for another semester at Tate University in Louisiana. It is quite hot, so many of the guys and gals are showing off lots of skin as they have fun getting wet. The three students with lines want to party too, but in a different way. They all go to a party at night where there is drinking--and they do more than get drunk.

One of the students starts hallucinating and hearing weird noises. He even hears what might be bats.

Dr. Maddy Rierdon, who saved the world from locusts in another movie, teaches biology at Tate, and her husband Dan does as well. They are building a house, with the usual problems that causes, and their two kids need someone to take care of them while their parents are in school. That responsibility falls to the kids' Aunt Shelly, who likes to move things around even when Maddy and Dan have everything the way they want it.

Two of Maddy's students are arrested after another of her students is found dead. Maddy gets involved, but it's not just because she cares too much about her students. Her area of expertise allows her to figure out just why the student died the way he did (isn't this amazing!). It turns out the student has similar wounds to those found in dead deer in the area--and he has been completely drained of blood.

This may or may not be related, but Hank, the town's mayor, seems to be a little too friendly with Carbide, a company dumping toxic wastes.

The party animals find a new place for their next event--the steam tunnels under the campus. Their guests, as it turns out, include bats. In fact, Maddy and Dan also attend a party--a much more dignified one--and guess who also shows up?

Maddy comes up with a plan for getting rid of the bats. It's not perfect, but it might work. And her students are all too willing to help. Several solutions to the problem are found--all pretty unbelievable and none quite ideal, but entertaining nonetheless. Especially since the wildlife officer doesn't completely support Maddy's efforts.

I didn't see a lot of good acting in this movie, but Lucy Lawless seemed to do quite a good job in class as she explained to her students what was going on. Brett Butler did the best job as the annoying Shelly, who was nowhere near as caustic as the "Grace Under Fire" character, which I never saw except in clips.

The story wasn't all that scary. Most of it was investigation and problem-solving, which turned out to be enjoyable if not all that realistic. Maddy and her students would have to be absolutely brilliant and incredibly lucky. As for the bats themselves, I have to wonder why they were so selective with their targets and with their lairs. I didn't care for their ugly faces or the graphic violence (which probably lasted all of 15 seconds). Another thing: we are lucky rabies symptoms don't appear as quickly as they apparently did here. Once there are symptoms, there is no hope.

Maddy's students included Lizzie (Robin Hines), Eden (Jessica Stroup), Aaron (Brandon Rodriguez), Keith (Andrew Matthews) and Miles (Josh Segarra).

Overall, I found this enjoyable.