Bats is a very generic late-'90s killer animal flick that follows most of the genre rules to the letter. All of the expected characters are present and correct—untrustworthy government scientist, brave local sheriff, doomed-to-die deputy, dedicated (and sexy) animal expert, wise-cracking sidekick—and the plot develops in an extremely predictable manner, opening with young couple alone in the dark falling victim to the bats, before introducing a whole townful of potential victims, and climaxing with our brave heroes risking their lives in a showdown against the deadly critters.

It all gets very silly at times, with perhaps the most unbelievable scene being the securing and electrification of a whole school by just four people in the space of a few hours, but it still proves to be quite a bit of fun, director Louis Morneau keeping the action moving at such a swift pace that such nonsense is fairly easy to forgive (unlike the director's tendency to 'skew', stretch and blur the image during the frenzied bat attacks, which I found bloody irritating).

What really helps to elevate this formulaic nonsense to slightly-above-average are the solid cast and some fairly decent special effects. Dina Meyer (of Starship Troopers fame) and Lou Diamond Phillips make for a likable protagonists, and Leon is far less objectionable as 'token comedy relief black guy' than one might expect. As for the bats, they're a mixture of more than reasonable CGI and nifty puppetry from KNB; my only gripe, FX-wise, is a lack of splatter—a bit more gore would have been very welcome.

Dr. Sheila Casper (Dina Meyer) is called upon to help save a small town annoyed by killer Chupacabra bats that escaped from an experimental lab. She teams up with Sheriff Kimsey (Lou Diamond Phillips) to kill bats who don't want to die.

The film used camera shakes for effect. The muppet-like bats were not overly impressive. Passes for entertainment.

Guide: f-word. No sex or nudity.

Twenty years after Hollywood made NIGHTWING they decided to tackle the subject of killer bats once again with results that turn out to be less than inspired.

It's not that BATS is a particularly bad film; it isn't. It ticks all of the boxes and runs through the scenarios with a modicum of energy and drive. The problem is, as with most Hollywood films made recently, a series lack of originality or indeed intelligence. BATS turns out to be cheesy and predictable in equal measures, delivering up its threat of genetically-modified bats without much in the way of passion or intrigue.

The plot follows the likes of THE BIRDS and other classics fairly closely. Moments between the set-pieces are dull, while the bat attacks are spoiled by some average CGI effects work (Hitchcock's superimposed birds are still superior to the creatures here). In close up, the rubbery menaces are about as realistic as the bats in Hammer's SCARS OF Dracula; not Greg Nicotero's finest moment, that's for sure.

Cast-wise, it's pretty lacklustre. Lou Diamond Phillips goes through the motions and STARSHIP TROOPERS' Dina Meyer displays a singular lack of presence. Leon's character reveals everything that's wrong with Hollywood's reliance on the clichéd "funny black guy" in otherwise straight films. All in all a largely forgettable movie that disappeared as quickly as it arrived; go back to Hitchcock for a decent winged-menace movie.