Claysaba
Excellent, Without a doubt!!
Hayden Kane
There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes
Donald Seymour
This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
Roman Sampson
One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.
Toronto85
An expert named Dr. Sheila Casper is brought in when "Bats" begin killing animals and people in a small town in Texas. Some bodies are first found all chewed up, and we discover the killers are large bats who have been injected with something thanks to a mad scientist Dr. Alexander McCabe. Those bats attack and infect a large number of other normal bats, and that's when it becomes feeding time. Whatever the scientist did to the bats he was testing gives them the ability to sense things that normal bats wouldn't, and also gives them the thirst for human blood. We see the bats attack our main group of characters, as well as the entire town until Sheila realizes the only way to stop them for good is to freeze them. Will this attempt to end their reign of terror work, or will the mutated bats live on and kill everyone in sight?'Bats' is pretty much an average "animal/mammal attacks" type of horror movie. It really gave nothing too special other than a few moments. Those moments which work are the scenes in the small town when the bats attack the townsfolk. We get nice location shots of them attacking a bar, a grocery store, the outside of a movie theatre, etc. That was really well done. Where the movie fails is it's ending portion. It drags on way too much in which the experts and Sheriff Emmett Kimsey tries to kill them. Plus an added plot point of making it that the government was creating killer bats as weapons in war or something fell flat. I don't know, I thought it was really silly.Acting was pretty good I thought. Lou Diamond Phillips as the Sheriff and Dina Meyer as the expert did a good job. The stand-out performance goes to Leon as funny guy Jimmy, he had some funny one-liners and delivered them perfectly. I'd recommend 'Bats' if you like these kinds of horror films where animals or birds attack. It wasn't bad, but could've been better.5/10
Leofwine_draca
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.
Vomitron_G
"Bats" had its theatrical run and was widely distributed on rental VHS/DVD. Videostores carried multiple copies which got rented fluently. Yet from the looks of it - its rating on here - most people thought this was bad. Boy, have they not seen 'bad' yet. Things would get a lot worse in years to come with these type of films. For one thing, try watching the alleged sequel to "Bats" called "Bats: Human Harvest". The thing was made in 2007, for TV and then dumped to DVD as well. Go watch it; it's about 5 times worse than this film. Then come back and tell me which is the bad film out of those two. Or go watch "Fangs" from 2001 (starring Corbin Bernsen). It's the silly version of "Bats". I tell you, things can get a lot worse than this modest piece of killer bats entertainment. It even stars Lou Diamond Phillips and Dina Meyer. In 'worse' movies, you can't even count on a cast like this anymore. So why the complaints & puss-poor ratings on here?I've seen quite some crappy horror-movies already, and you can say what you want about "Bats", but it's not a bad movie. Clichéd? Yes, kind of. Seen it all before? Yes, most likely. But the production values are more than just okay. It's well made. It looks good. Good camera work. The acting is more decent than what you normally can expect from a movie like this these days (like stuff produced by Sci-Fi Channel, The Asylum, need I continue?). I've seen much, much worse special effects when it comes to the CGI used in this one. And there are actually some cool shots of animatronic bats to be admired (from puppets with full body movement to close-ups of their heads with moving ears, grinning teeth and blinking eyes - it's always a kick to see SFX artists go the extra mile on this). The film's fairly fast-paced, keeps you going and never gets boring. It's basically a B-movie that looks damn good, sort of like stuff similar to "Tremors" (a fine early 90's monster movie classic) and its sequels. Or if you bump down the ladder a bit, you'll find a lot more (lower budgeted) genre outings telling pretty much the same story ("Skeeter" from 1993 comes to mind).Of course "Tremors" works better on a variety of levels and "Bats" isn't as great by a long shot. For one thing, it misses some wit, and that black guy (Leon playing Jimmy Sands) trying to provide it didn't do a lot of good either. Still, a fun popcorn-movie for the somewhat less demanding horror-fan. If you have this feeling that genetically altered killer bats might amuse you, then ignore the low rating on here and just watch it.Now, can someone recommend me a better movie with a whole bunch of killer bats in it?
thirdeye55
If i could give this movie a .5 I would. Im in 100% agree with the AWFUL category to which most reviews lean toward ... very very bad bad movie. There has never been a single movie in my life to which I've been able to actually say I did not like, perhaps hated, every single aspect of. Even for any other extremely horribly mind numbingly BAD movies... usually they at least have ONE good thing to say about them. The Postman for example... for it I could say, "Hey well the first half an hour is a pretty awesome flick!". Well so then Bats came along and took away X amount of time from my life to which I'll never get back and be horribly scared by for life.I was hoping ide enjoy the camp, as i often do... but no. Im usually very tolerant with movies as well and enjoy a wide range. This was just so damn bad.. oh god just saying "Bats" out loud or to type it makes me feel sick.This movie is just God Awful and hurts the brain. Never rent it, Never buy it and Never watch it simply because your obviously retarded friend suggests the idea. Run away if forced by someone and destroy it if given as a gift.There simply IS NO WAY and not enough space in the world to sit here and list / describe all the problems and questions this movie has and creates... this is why this review is simply over and over drilling into your brain how BLOODY BAD this movie is.Be aware. Stay Back. RUN AWAY.