The beginning of the movie left me already winding myself in my seat and my first reaction was "oh no, not another one of these terrible low budget movies". But the further the movie progressed, the more I got sucked into it. This is one of the movies where you shouldn't care about the plot, the dialogues or even the characters themselves. Instead just focus on the practical effects they used and how they add more and more layers of film art step by step. This is one of the movies known for the audience leaving the cinema because they couldn't take it anymore at some point. And I can totally understand where this is coming from. If you have a problem with vomiting, slime and goo... or insects in particular, you might not enjoy this movie at all. Those who can sit through something like this will get rewarded with an awesome example of how to create a creepy creature and using just the right lighting to not ruin things. I applaude this movie! Thank you for the love of detail, no matter the budget. If you liked the visuals of The Fly, you will love Bite. If this movie would have the acting and the writing of The Fly, it could be maybe even become another classic of our time.

'Bite' drew me into seeing it, with a cool poster/cover, an oddly interesting but very potentially silly premise and as someone with a general appreciation for horror. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there, made me though apprehensive as well as the low rating and poor reviews.

It is sadly however yet another film seen recently, hence some reiteration because the exact same strengths and flaws those films have are present here, that to me was incredibly disappointing considering its potential which it doesn't do anywhere near enough with. 'Bite' is weak, with so many enormous problems. Hardly anything is good here and a lot is wrong.

Lets start with the couple of positives. The lighting is sometimes atmospheric and spooky. Likewise with the setting.

There are reviews saying that the best performance comes from the dog. Cannot disagree, and this is being genuine and not a joke.

Unfortunately, they are not done justice by the rather direct to video schlocky way it's shot and edited and the drab colour palette, so much so it was hard to appreciate it, it was very clear that the film was made in a rush with no care or enthusiasm. The camera work is an eyesore.

Going on further to the negatives, the story does feel paper thin, disjointed and over-stretched and some of it feels vague, under-explained in the last third where the film especially became duller, more predictable, more senseless and less scary. Too many characters are too sketchy, very shallow and with nowhere near enough to make one want to endear to them. Their annoying and illogical decision making and behaviours frustrates.

Making the film feel bland and forgettable with not enough heart put into The sound quality is obvious and utilised cheaply (being too loud in the build ups and people's reactions and dreadfully recorded),the music is needlessly melodramatic and the acting is a mix of the indifferent and the histrionic

Dialogue can be stilted and rambling, with lots of clichés, and no depth whatsoever, while the pace goes to a standstill very quickly and drags on forever with very little going on worth caring about and useless padding, never recovering. This wouldn't have mattered quite as much if the character development was present or engaging, instead nowhere near enough is learnt about the characters, and the few attempts to do so are neither interesting or illuminating, actually dragging things down. Found too many of the supposedly shocking moments not surprising or unsettling and the supposedly sense of dread dreary. Due to the excessive obviousness, a lot of dumb and vague moments and explanations when attempted, the excessive melodrama and the lack of tension and suspense. Would not have minded the lack of originality (the film is extremely derivative and in a dumbed and watered down way),if the story and atmosphere were at least alright in execution, in reality they were both very poorly done.

A lot of 'Bite' has a lot of undercooked moments lacking in any development or depyj and often nonsensical and confusing character motivations, while too many of the things to make you shocked are far from creative or nail-biting and are pretty tame and easily foreseeable straight off the bat. The ending didn't satisfy and instead came over as dumb and the whole thing felt like an over-stretched-to-beyond-breaking-point short film.

There is not enough threat, and what there is of it tends to be used poorly and so laughably done it doesn't frighten at all. The film is completely unimaginative and more odd than creepy, with ridiculousness and implausibility being taken to the maximum extremes. Everything here is neither creative, suspenseful or nail-biting. Some badly sagging momentum too. The direction is leaden and like their heart was not in it or ill at ease, with the chemistry between the characters and actors coming over as constantly random and shallow. Suspense and creativity are zero, just non-stop predictability, monotony and dullness with overuse of unnecessarily gratuitous elements.

In summary, weak but have seen worse. 3/10 Bethany Cox

BITE is yet another cheap and nasty digital horror flick, this time hailing from Canada. The plot is a simplistic reworking of Cronenberg's THE FLY, but lacking any of that film's finesse or depth. What we have here is cookie cutter filmmaking and an exercise in makeup and practical effects as a young woman is bitten by a mysterious insect before transforming into a flesh-eating creature. It's tired and lacking in any likeable characters whatsoever, and the whole thing just looks and feels grubby and dirty.