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The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Bug Buster is set in the Californian town of Mountview thirteen years after the place was dusted with an experimental pesticide. Gil Griffin (Bernie Kopell) has brought a lodge in Mountview & together with his wife Cammie (Anne Lockhart) & teenage daughter Shannon (Katherine Heigl) move in, however what should be a dream life quickly turns into a nightmare as several dead bodies start popping up around the town. Bodies infested with Cockroach like insects, local veterinarian Laura Casey (Brenda Epperson Doumani) haven't seen anything like them before & thinks they may be a new species. A new species that are gradually wiping out the town...Co-produced & directed by Lorenzo Doumani this creature feature from the late 90's is a pretty forgettable & uneven mix of comedy & horror that feels like it was conceived as a cheap rip-off of Mimic (1997). The script by Malick Khoury has your standard creature feature scenario, some sort of genetically altered insect/animal starts killing off humans in some isolated location. Here for the most part it's Cockroaches although the script has plenty of holes in it. If these attacks started thirteen years after the pesticides were used what were these bugs doing for that amount of time? Why is there only one big mother bug when that Professor guy managed to make one hatch simply by putting one of the Cockroaches in water? There were also loads of eggs in the mine so why did none of those hatch? Then there are the character's whom are poor, the comedy relief bug buster General George is irritating, Shannon remains remarkably calm despite both of her parents being killed by the bugs, the fat garage attendant only there so he can sit on a toilet & fart a lot for more childish comedy relief as well as the subplot about a local resident who wanted the bugs to kill everyone so he could buy the whole town cheap & make money in the long-run which is forgotten about as soon as it is mentioned. The film also takes ages to get going, everyone goes round in circles for the first seventy odd minutes, people are dying & the local authorities discover that bugs are responsible & then spend ages going back & forth doing nothing in particular.Director Doumani misjudges the tone badly, there are some really childish, silly & just downright embarrassing slapstick comedy moments that don't work at all & are far from funny. Then the horror content is downplayed & neither the comedy or horror elements satisfy. It's certainly not scary, the scene showing Cockroaches crawling over Shannon while she is asleep is as creepy as it gets & as such the exact same scene is show no less than four times. There's no gore at all apart from one mouldy corpse. The special effects are poor too, the guy in a bad rubber suit mother bug at the end looks terrible as does the CGI. There are also lots & lots of blatant references to other films like in Scream (1996), from Jaws to The Wizard of Oz to Outbreak.According to the IMDb Bug Buster had a budget of about $8,500,000 which amazes me. In fact I am positive that Bug Buster didn't have anywhere near that much money, I think the IMDb has made a mistake & put one '0' too many. The film looks cheap & is forgettable in every respect. The acting is mixed, Randy Quaid is truly terrible & only turns up for the last twenty odd minutes. Katherine Heigl is alright & she is a real babe which helps. Two Star Trek actors make cameo appearances, James Doohan better known as Scotty & George Takei better known as Sulu have small roles. They never actually meet each other on screen though.Bug Buster is a poor creature feature that adds nothing new to the genre & is a badly judged uneven mishmash of comedy & horror. I was disappointed & I can't see too many people enjoying this.

In the small lakeside town of Mountview, in California, the Major decides to pulverize a dangerous substance to protect the local plantation. Thirteen years later, a harmful and lethal species of cockroaches appears nearby the lake, threatening and killing the local dwellers. The famous exterminator General George S. Merlin (Randy Quaid) is called to fight against the bugs.Yesterday I was walking around downtown of Rio de Janeiro, and I found this DVD on sale for less than US$ 3.00. When I saw the names of Star Trek crew James "Scotty" Doohan, George "Sulu" Takei, Randy Quaid and the delicious Katherine Heigl in the cast I immediately bought and saw it at night.The story of "Bug Buster" is simply ridiculous and the performances are awful, being difficult to highlight the worst in the "amazing" cast: the hero David Lipper, in the role of Steve Williams? Ty O'Neal, the smart Deputy Bo? Meredith Salenger, the slut Veronica Hart? George Takei, the crazy entomologist Professor Hiro Fujimoto? Randy Quaid, the exaggerated General George S. Merlin? I believe the correct answer would be all of them. Further, the cheap special effects are laughable. But this director Lorenzo Doumani is "hors-concours", seeming to be the reincarnation of Ed Wood. In spite of being so bad, the most impressive is that in the end I liked this flick, and I laughed a lot. It has also a great potential of cult-movie, a big joke, missing only the usual naked women, or the breast of Katherine Heigl to complete the appeal. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Baratas Assassinas" ("Cockroaches Killers")

Bug Buster is a remarkable achievement on several levels. The writers give us a firm bedrock with a story about a completely impossible parity that outdoes the worst of the horror fountains films, and mocks the most horrific ecological nightmare scenarios ever given voice. The director hones this brilliant script to make every turn and twist predictable, implausible, or inexplicable. The actors cop the treat with a collation of characterizations that range from comatose to stiff to over-the-top, often with complete disregard for plot consistency or anything the character has experienced. George Takai, in particular, does a wonderful job blending awful science expert performances by such luminaries as Edmund Gwenn (Them!), Peter Graves (The Beginning of the End), and Hugh Marlowe (Earth vs. the Flying Saucers). The rest of the cast rises to nearly this level, giving dead-on parodies of every sheriff, detective, cute blonde, and humble hick ever to populate a horror flick. And then the folks behind the camera combine to stun the audience with effects and camera work that could hardly look more inept. Amazing work!

Well, what can I say? What is wrong with you guys! Its pretty obvious you have missed the entire point of this film: to entertain! So the effects aren't great and the cast isn't A-list but who cares when you have old man Judediah bumbling round the town wide eyed and slack jawed ranting and peering through Katherine Heigl's window while she showers! And they say he is mad!Randy Quaid has been in a few duff films but this is by far his best to date! Watch the General George adverts to see what I mean. Its obvious that a country that finds Benny Hill funny would miss the point of a film like this. Just remember one thing, we only sent him to you because we got tired of his abuse of short bald old men.Who cares if the guy used to be in the Love Boat? Who cares about ex Star Trek cast members? So they were in ST, they aren't now so get over it. George Takei did very well considering all his scenes featured no other humans (including the opening scene!)A true classic of the B movie genre. You guys stick to your What Women Want and your Runaway Brides. I'm going to turn on, tune in and Kick Bug Ass.Its ok, the General said so.At ease.Peace, Out.If you enjoyed this film, may I recommend Leprechaun too?!