Spoilers! After an accident in his basement, a scientist's household becomes a rain forest that transform all who enter it. Yikes! What a stinker. Rented this despite mixed reviews and wish I hadn't. This film has the distinct honor of being THE only film I've ever seen that actually put me to sleep! Writer/director Rene Daalder's script is occasionally interesting and intelligent, but the high school bully's dialogmy favorite line being; "Yo organs n' skin gonna melt like stew!"is laughable, and character development is minimal. And there was one really, really troubling line that is unfortunately scared in my mind:
"You ever heard of hygiene? Even animals lick themselves clean! I spend a lot of time with my boys in the shower, and I teach them that even body odor isn't just smell: it's bacteria, it's germs!"
Wow, that's unsettling. I really, really hope that when Daalder was writing this line, he intended it to be funny, if not, I shutter at what kind of childhood he must have endured! His direction is wildly uneven at best. The film was shot on a High Definition Sony video, giving it a distinctly blurry, ugly look, it felt like watching one of those really bad day-time soap operas.
The actors are passable, no one was really awful I suppose, given the material they were working with, but no one gave a truly solid, note-worthy performance either.
So, what in this film actually worked? Well for one, the set looks great. Kudos to the production designer Claude Paré for creating a wonderfully disgusting jungle of a set, considering the budget was pretty low and time was probably limited, the set/prop constructors definitely deserve a pat on the back of their work. The visual effects, though obvious and easy to spot, were overall decent; I've seen much, much worse CGI from much bigger-budget films (Resident Evil, anyone?). And then, there's uh I guess that's all that really worked in Habitat. Shame. The plot is actually half-decent, with more money this could have been a good sci-fi/horror blend, but alas, it's nothing but your usual direct-to-video fodder. It's boring, stupid, and confusing. Avoid it.
1.5/10.
"You ever heard of hygiene? Even animals lick themselves clean! I spend a lot of time with my boys in the shower, and I teach them that even body odor isn't just smell: it's bacteria, it's germs!"
Wow, that's unsettling. I really, really hope that when Daalder was writing this line, he intended it to be funny, if not, I shutter at what kind of childhood he must have endured! His direction is wildly uneven at best. The film was shot on a High Definition Sony video, giving it a distinctly blurry, ugly look, it felt like watching one of those really bad day-time soap operas.
The actors are passable, no one was really awful I suppose, given the material they were working with, but no one gave a truly solid, note-worthy performance either.
So, what in this film actually worked? Well for one, the set looks great. Kudos to the production designer Claude Paré for creating a wonderfully disgusting jungle of a set, considering the budget was pretty low and time was probably limited, the set/prop constructors definitely deserve a pat on the back of their work. The visual effects, though obvious and easy to spot, were overall decent; I've seen much, much worse CGI from much bigger-budget films (Resident Evil, anyone?). And then, there's uh I guess that's all that really worked in Habitat. Shame. The plot is actually half-decent, with more money this could have been a good sci-fi/horror blend, but alas, it's nothing but your usual direct-to-video fodder. It's boring, stupid, and confusing. Avoid it.
1.5/10.