MovieChat Forums > Bug Buster Discussion > Can a movie really be this BAD???

Can a movie really be this BAD???

posted 16 years ago by phantasmda
4 replies | jump to latest

My god! I only rented this because it had what looked like a half decent cast, the ever reliable Randy Quaid, the gorgeous Katherine Heigl and Meredith Salenger and 2 of the old Star Trek cast (scotty and Sulu). I knew it was going to be pretty camp and cheesy but I wasn't prepared for the bucket of tripe that was Bug Busters.
The acting was attrocious at best, the dialogue is childlike and unfunny (the female news reporter just has to be seen to be belived).

The film itself looks like it's shot on a home camcorder and the special effects? Well, a man in a crap rubber suit, some really bad stop motion and the occasional splatter of dreadful CGI is about as good as you get. There's no redeeming features to this whatsoever, no gore, no gratuitous nudity, no scares, nothing. The music sounds like it's been done on a childs synthasizer, it really is that bad. The script seems to have been written by a 3 year old, I mean c'mon, 'what's that?' 'That was a vampire bat, it's one of the most deadly creatures on the planet, right up there with the black widow and the king cobra' WHAT THE??? Vampire bats are about as dangerous as kittens, dreadful.

It's by no means THE WORST movie I've ever seen but it still ranks up there in my top 20.
Avoid like a plague of cockroaches!

"Hasta la vista, baby."

[–] TheDuchessofM 16 years ago

LOL...I saw this movie about 7 yrs ago when I made an effort to watch anything the Roswell cast starred in...but it was horrendous. It's so bad it's funny.

http://edwardianpromenade.com

[–] phantasmda 16 years ago

Tell me about it, I love Randy Quaid to bits, he's a fine actor but my Lord, is he really THAT hard up that he agreed to star in this? lol

"Hasta la vista, baby."

[–] mikeflw1 13 years ago

Note: much of this reply addresses the first comment...

Far from the WORST movie I have seen, but it didn't work that well as a comedy or a satire either.

For Randy Quaid, this is a long way down from INDEPENDENCE DAY, but the personality of his characters in the two isn't all that different.

My "I can't believe they did this" is for the use of meal worms, centipedes, and African hissing 'roaches, all as the supposed offspring of the "mother bug". That had to be a budget issue or a really bad call in special effects. Was this the first use of a Scarfish in a movie? (I've seen a lot, and maybe someone thankfully decided sharks and pirahnas had been overused?)

And some of the bad dialog and continuity seemed to be more from trying to fit too much explanation and dialog in the movie. I believe a lot of that landed on the cutting room floor and garbled the movie.

Wasn't the newswoman in the later seasons of MARRIED WITH CHILDREN (Maria ... De La Cruz?) done before this movie? They seem to be made from the same mold. And wasn't Kelly (Christina Applegate) "The Verminator" also from MWC in the same timeframe?

BTW, you must have nodded off for the shower and bath scenes by a relative newcomer Katherine Heigel... Not award winning, but "present".

If you look into the credited roles most of this cast has, (prior to BUG BUSTER), possibly all can be tied to sci-fi shows. (Another reason I am always skeptical of "ensemble" cast movies...). (See my comment in the thread 'Meredith Salenger'). Obvious ones are Star Trek, but less obvious is T.J. Hooker (Shatner/Star Trek), Lois and Clark: New Adventures of Superman, Battlestar Galactica (1978), Buck Rogers, Fantasy Island, and others... Maybe they all needed a gig to keep their S.A.G. memberships and benefits in force?

[–] phantasmda 13 years ago

I didn't nod off through the shower and bath scene but you didn't see anything, she was covered in bubbles in the bath and the camera never dips down far enough in the shower scene so it's pretty pointless. If as you say, a lot of the film ended up on the cutting room floor, it would be interesting to see just what was left out, although if it's anything like the quality of what was left in I won't hold out much hope :-)

"Hasta la vista, baby."