Bait

Being a film maker is not easy at all, there is a lot of work behind the making of a film no matter what budget you have to work with. One of the most difficult challenges you have, especially if you are making low budget films is that you can only use the resources you have. You are not supposed to go over the budget that you have, of course that is not always easy knowing that things can change along the way. When it comes to practical make up effects especially withing horror films, this is a challenge itself when you know this puts pressure on the practical make up artists. Now, i will always defend pracitical make up effects any day of the week, no matter what the budget is on the film. I rather not have any CGI or AI effects at all if it´s possible. I fully understand that AI effects are here to stay, and for low budget film makers this is of course a way to save money. But let´s be completely honest here, no AI effects can never replace the charm, or the great looks of practical make up effects. It just does not look as good as it does seeing something created or crafted with practical make up effects. You can disagree with me if you want, i have no problem with that. This is just my personal opinion and i will always support make up artists all over the world. Since we are talking about practical make up effects, i do love to check out low budget monster films where they actually create monsters by using a costume and practical make up effects combined. For example, how many of you have seen the 2020 horror film Don´t Speak from director Scott Chambers? It´s actually not as terrible as you might expect being a British low budget horror film. A family head towards Grandmother´s house in the countryside to visit her, as they arrive she seems to be completely vanisheed. As the parents head into the small town they are about to discover that something is not quite right. A simple plot, with a monster design that actually works for a practical make up effects suit. I also appreciate the pracical make up effects on the flesh wounds, really old school effects. Don´t Speak is clearly inspired by the 2018 horror film A Quiet Place, and i have no problem with that at all. Worth a watch on Amazon Prime if you enjoy old school monster B movies. I have heard about a creature feature low budget horror film called Bait released this year, especially after i watched a review from British film critic Geek Legion Of Doom giving his opinion on this film. This seemed to be exactly something in my taste so i decided to check it out on VOD. A creature feature horror film with practical make up effects included, is Bait exactly what we needed this autumn or is this a lazy attempt of cashing in on horror fans who will accept any kind of horror film basically?

The Herring family is heading towards a family visit out in the countryside while it seems they are a bit lost, considering one of the main roads seems to be closed. They decide to take a different smaller road which ends up being a terrible mistake. Someone have put out Iron Sharp Barbed Wire on the road, causing their car to crash while driving over it. They are captured and taken to an unknown location where a male stranger is keeping them prisoners. But he is not alone in this building, some kind of creature is also there hungry for human flesh....

How many of you checked out the horror film Dangerous Animals with a serial killer feeding people to sharks? Bait follow a similar pattern such as that film except this is where the victims get eaten by a monster instead. The plot is neither original or interesting in that sense, but what makes this film work is that it´s a true throwback to monster practical make up effects classics such as the British cult horror film Rawhead Rex. The design of Rawhead Rex may look silly today considering this film was released in 1986, but it was a fun gory B movie with blood and flesh wounds, just the way we like it during British Sunday Dinner. Now, one of the biggest highlight of Bait is actually how gory this film is in certain scenes. Seeing the monster eating body parts straight from the body, all done by practical make up effects. This is exactly what the world needs more than ever, we need a throwback to classic low budget films where people did not need computers to be creative. The creature looks like a mutated version of actress Joan Rivers, after having too much surgery and botox procedures where chemicals went completely nuts. A fun design i have to say and especially seeing the creature eating human body parts, this was exactly what i wished for. So a big thasnk you to the practical make up effects team you did a wonderful job. When it comes to the acting you can´t expect really powerful acting performances, not from a low budget film such as this. But im completely fine with that and would say that most of the performances work, considering the characters we are dealing with here. I would probably say that i like British actress Natalie Hughes ( who i remember from the 2011 horror film The Hike ) as the character Angela in this film. Anything negative to say? I guess i could say that you can tell that the dialogue in certain scenes is not a strong point in this film, while some acting performances are not effective. Then again, this is a low budget horror film so i can accept some of the flaws considering we have fun with the gory scenes instead. Bait is not a film for everyone, you will most likely appreciate if you enjoy old school moster films like Rawhead Rex and similar. If you just want a good B movie night then Bait is worth a shot, i had a good time with this film. Director Andrea M. Catinella directed the terrible low budget horror film Piglet that i didn´t like at all, she really stepped it up in a positive way with Bait and she have my respect for this film.

Rating: DDD