Director: Chad Archibald
MPAA Rating: NR
Run Time: 90 Minutes
A few years ago, I reviewed a movie called Contracted, a nasty little body-horror film about a girl who, after sleeping with a mysterious young man, begins undergoing a horrifically gross transformation. The reason I mention this title is that Chad Archibald’s newly released Bite is very much the same film, and my criticisms of the former pertain exactly to the latter.
Bite stars Elma Begovic as Casey, a young woman who heads to Costa Rica with her two friends for a bachelorette party before taking the leap into marriage. After learning about a secluded swimming spot from a sketchy local, the three find the location, but Casey’s gets bitten by an unknown creature in the water.
After returning home, Casey discovers the bite area has grown in size and is starting to produce a slimy discharge. She finds that, all of the sudden, her senses are heightened as well, allowing her to hear people and things from long distances. Too bad for Casey, this is only the beginning of her problems, as her transformation continues in a more grotesque way that puts herself and those around her in jeopardy.
Like Contracted, Bite puts an emphasis on grossing out its audience, with some truly disgusting sequences involving lots of ooze, vomiting and slimy eggs everywhere. The effects work is on point for the most part, save for some questionable CG near the finale, and I was adequately grossed out by the proceedings. Also, I really liked the opening and closing title cards so bonus points for that.
This is unfortunately where my praise for Bite ends however, as everything else in the film is formulaic and poorly crafted, beginning with the illogical decisions made by the lead. If you have a giant horrific hole in your thigh that is growing and spewing bile, causing you to have super hearing, one would think you’d immediately go to the emergency room.
Not in this movie though; you have gross sex with your fiancé instead. When your eyes literally change shape and your hair falls out and your finger nails fall out and thousands of eggs periodically pour out of your vagina, you will no longer have a “wait-and-see” attitude. The filmmakers make a half-hearted attempt to justify this by having Casey call a doctor, but he doesn’t answer so she just leaves a voicemail. Sorry, but any person in real life would not just be like, “Oh well, I tried; let’s see how this plays out,” in a situation like this.
Portions of the film are told in found-footage style, another stylistic choice that instantly turned me off, as it was unnecessary and unwelcome. The three friends are so obnoxious right from the get-go that I couldn’t care less about what happens to them.
If you’re in the market for a good body-horror film featuring a gross transformation, go check out Cronenberg’s classic remake of The Fly, and skip this one.
