Parasite (2004) Reviews

• Familiar, but OK

  willywants2004-12-12

  An abandoned oil rig in the middle of the North Sea. Dr. Christine Hansen (Saskia Gould) is charged with the task of testing an experimental cleaning fluid which could revolutionize the oil industry. Hired to carry out the tests is Jacob Rasmussen (GW Stevens) and his rough and ready crew of deconstruction engineers. But within hours one of them is missing under suspicious circumstances. Things go from bad to worse when environmental activist Mickey Hennessey (Conrad Whitaker) and his hard-bitten associates seize control of the rig, taking everybody on board hostage. But very soon oil workers and environmentalists will be compelled to join forces in an evolutionary battle for survival. For a savage new life-form has made its home on the rig. And it is hungry. Not an especially bad movie, but far from being a great one. A dumb script (courtesy of 5 screenwriters) and weak acting destroy the tension. Special effects weren't great but that's to be expected. It's an OK time waster, but it's very familiar and highly unsatisfying. 3/10.

• One of the weakest Sci-Fi channel films

  slayrrr6662005-06-04

  "Parasite" is one of the weaker Sci-Fi channel films. **SPOILERS** A small group of extreme activists break into an oil company's head office and steal incriminating information about the company's future plans. The company enlists Dr. Christine Hansen, (Saskia Gould) to coordinate a team to clean up an abandoned oil rig to test their newest chemical creation before being exposed to the world. The team, including leader Jacob, (G.W. Stevens) engineer Nils, (Gary Condes) and grease monkey Kim (Margaret Thompson) and others, arrive on the oil rig and begin their assignment. When Dr. Hansen arrives on the rig to begin the experiment, the team of activists also arrives to sabotage the affair. Unknowingly, the team accidentally sprays the chemical on a small parasitic worm and mutates it into a larger parasite, attacking one of the cleanup crew. The rig begins to break down in certain areas, making the team get a little antsy. When the cleanup crew is taken hostage by the activists, the parasites follow them and attack the group. Convinced of the threat to them, the two teams' band together to survive the creatures, which are now growing bigger and threatening to envelop the entire rig. The Good News: The beginning of the film isn't the most action-packed, but with most Sci-Fi films, the film heats up in the second half. Once the discovery of the creatures has been revealed, the film kicks it up a notch and becomes a bit more entertaining. Granted, the beginning isn't exactly all that action-packed, so the last half of the film is it's major saving grace. The ending is the best, as the rig explodes in a giant explosion as the survivors try to kill off the last few parasites. With explosions going off in every location and the fire coming in closer, it adds to the suspense of the scene. Even the designs of the parasites are pretty creepy, based on a general worm look but with a few modifications to the head and a minor design change on the body make the creatures look a bit terrifying at first viewing. Their jaw-lined mouths were perfect for scaring the workers on the rig. The Bad News: The beginning of the movie is extremely weird. Shot through night-vision lens, we see a group of men enter a building under the pretenses of a bomb threat. They then steal information about the company's drilling activities and leave the sight, leaving you to wonder what was really going on: is it a heist film, is it an espionage film, why is this classified as a killer creature film? All these questions come in to play in the beginning. Also pretty annoying is the constant whining between the two sets of protagonists. Because they all have similar backgrounds but just play for different sides, we get a lot of bickering about what is morally ethical or not about what the project is doing to the environment. I could care less about this type of film, but I can't stand all the conversations being about the same thing. It gets boring after a while. Even with all these problems, the worst of all is the unbelievably bad CGI used. When a routine shot of a helicopter flying in a storm is done with CGI, you know the film isn't a high budget film. Even worse, the entire exploding oil factory is done in CGI, as the whole affair simply loses any sense of realism or believability. This is a major offense as the high action finale is ruined by the inclusion of something that ruins the movie. Even for those that don't mind CGI, it is so obviously bad and distracting it destroys the mood of the ending. The Final Verdict: Based on the major flaws involved, I can only recommend this to those who love getting drunk and bashing a film to shreds. This is the only way to enjoy this movie. Watching this one sober is like getting castrated and then watching the video minutes later. Rated R: Graphic Violence, Adult Language, and Brief Nudity

• A mixture of trouble!

  fibreoptic2004-09-08

  This movie sucks! Why? Well, what happens when you combine 'Aliens' with 'Tremors' with 'Deep Rising' with terrible acting, poor story and mediocre CGI? Parasite! This is about a renegade business man who works for an oil company who has plans to mess around with bio-hazard chemicals to produce some kind of monster which he can study and probably sell to the highest bidder. Add a bio-hazard team, an environmentalist terrorist team and an ex environmentalist terrorist (who is now working for the oil company and renegade business man) and some mini CGI 'Tremors' worms into the mix and yet again we come up with this steaming pile of dog doo called Parasite. This movie could have been good, it really could but the cast and crew of this movie have no right to be in the movie business. They have obviously set their sights too high. It is a blatant rip off of the movies i just mentioned and (get this) these giant slugs have acid for blood. Even a couple of scenes are very similar to a couple of scenes from 'Aliens'. *Slight Spoiler (if that's possible)* This movie is very boring too, it is really slow to get started and judging by the quality of a few scenes the director has just come out of film school or something. The directing is just plain awful! It's really pathetic when this woman (of the bio-hazard team) and this guy (of the environmentalist terror team) get into a fight. One second they're fighting and with a bit of bad direction and bad editing (and terrible acting) there is some sexual tension. It's really badly put together. One scene has the leader of the environmentalists rushing down a ladder because there is one of the monsters following him and he falls and breaks his leg. He can hardly move but does the monster worm go and eat him? Nope. It just waits for him to be saved and attacks when the lit petrol is about to explode. ARRRGHHH stupid bloody film! The whole story might sound like a good idea but trust me, it sucks! You've seen it all before so why see stuff you've already seen, done badly? One CGI effect was alright where the woman was like half eaten but still alive but that's near the end of the movie. Stay away and see something else. 2/10

• Reasonable 'Creature Feature', nothing special though.

  poolandrews2008-06-28

  Parasite is set in the North Sea where the decommissioned Johnny Alpha Oil Rig is about to be sunk, the company behind the rig Carmine Oil wants to test out a new cleaning enzyme which is supposed to dissolve oil & make it clean & safe to sink into the Ocean. A four man clean-up crew is sent in by helicopter, Jacob (G.W. Stevens), Nils (Gary Condes), Gary (Luka Spencer) & Kim (Margaret Thompson) get to work straight away & start spraying the rig with the highly experimental enzyme. Then the enzyme's creator Dr. Christine Hansen (Saskia Gould) turns up to oversee the cleaning & generally take notes. Unfortunately the enzyme has the unwanted side-effect of genetically mutating living organisms & as such a small parasitic worm like creature has grown to huge proportions & using the dark corridors & air vents lies in wait picking the crew off one-by-one... This British production was co-written, co-produced & directed by Andrew Prendergast & is a reasonable if very generic by-the-numbers 'Creature Feature'. I would probably say that Parasite is maybe just about above the usual Sci-Fi Channel made stuff standard but that's hardly any sort of recommendation. The script by Prendergast, Alan Coulson & Paul Mackman really is very generic & unoriginal as it uses all the 'Creature Feature' clichés & plot stand by's. There's the isolated location. There's the small group of humans who are trapped there. There's the usual mix of scientists & everyday people. There's the friction between several of them for varying reasons. There is some sort of animal or creature that is created due to genetic experiments gone wrong. There are lots of scenes of various character's wandering around dark corridors & air vents. That's about it, that's about all there is to Parasite. There's no attempt at trying to highlight a relevant issue, despite being set on an oil rig about to be sunk & the environmental implications that has nothing is made of it & even the revolutionary cleaning enzyme doesn't come to much. The character's are alright if a little dull, the dialogue is alright too but at over 90 odd minutes in length Parasite really drags at times with far too many scenes of people walking around near pitch black corridors or air vents & it gets very annoying. Director Prendergast does alright actually, Parasite is better made than most of the Sci-Fi Channel 'Creature Feature' stuff with good sets & some nice moody lighting although there are times when it is too dark. The CGI computer effects are a mixed bag, the actually giant monster which looks like a cross between a giant snake, a worm & a slug looks pretty good actually & is wisely kept in the shadows for the majority of the film but the other CGI is poor especially the helicopter shots at the start which look terrible. There's not much gore here which is a shame, someone has their head bitten off, there's a dead body with it's stomach ripped open & a few scenes of mutilated bodies with blood & guts splattered everywhere & bloody bones lying around. Parasite has the unwanted distinction of having the worst most unrealistic countdown in cinematic history. The last two surviving character's find out that the oil rig has escape pods but they need to activate the rigs power to launch them & once they get the power working the pods have a countdown before they are launched. At one point we see a computer screen which says there are 12 seconds left yet the woman is half way across the rig & over five minutes of actual screen time elapses including fighting & killing the monster, opening stuck doors, avoiding explosions & helping her injured friend before she gets to the pod which says there's still 3 seconds left! Technically the film is quite good, it has decent enough production values & is reasonably well made with tight claustrophobic sets & some nicely lit photography even if it is a little dark at times. Apparently shot in Oxfordshire here in England. The acting is alright from no-one I have ever seen before. Parasite is an utterly routine, predictable & generic 'Creature Feature' of the sort the Sci-Fi Channel churns out by the bucket load. Probably slightly better than usual but that's no great recommendation. Not to be confused with the much more well known Demi Moore horror flick Parasite (1982).

• I hate to say a movie is the worst movie ever, but...

  JKristine352007-07-25

  This movie was awful. I mean, let me add up all the bad things: bad acting, bad special effects, bad script, the clichéd 'girls losing all their clothes', improbable events, dumb characters. There was not one single redeeming quality about Parasite. Not one. I think my favorite part though were the explosions that were obviously fireworks. That has to be a new low. There's also the 'Let me rip off a piece of my already-very-short shirt to help hold off the monster!'. Apparently the director feels that women should be chosen for their roles based on how they look in tiny shirts rather than actual acting ability. Well, for that matter, the men couldn't act either. No one could act in this overly-processed joke of a movie. Avoid at all costs!!!!