Bats (2021) User Reviews

Just wait till you see the dude in the horrible costume...

[paul_haakonsen · 2/10 · 26 June 2021]

Right, well the track record of creature features with bats haven't really been the most successful, famous or entertaining. Yet, there is something alluring to me with these creature feature movies, so of course I sat down to watch the 2021 movie "Bats: The Awakening" from writer Scott Jeffrey.

But wow, this movie was just altogether bad. The storyline was rather simplistic, to the point where I was starting to wonder if writer Scott Jeffrey actually had written anything, or if it was just left up to directors Scott Jeffrey and Rebecca Matthews to make things up as they went along.

The acting in the movie was adequate enough. Nothing outstanding, mind you. But the actors and actresses were doing okay enough jobs with their given roles and characters, taking into consideration the lack of a well-written script and storyline.

Then there was the bat creature. Well, no, just no. It didn't work on any level. It was so painstakingly clear that it was just a guy in a hairy costume, wearing oversized latex hands and a dubious latex mask with really poor quality fake fangs glued on to it. I was baffled by the sheer level of crappy craftsmanship that had gone into constructing that costume. It was such an eyesore, and it made it utterly impossible to take that creature seriously as a dangerous creature of the night.

You might want to do yourself a favor and stay well clear of the 2021 movie "Bats: The Awakening" and instead opt to sit down to watch the likes of the 1999 movie "Bats" or the 2005 movie "Vampire Bats".

My rating of the 2021 movie "Bats: The Awakening" lands on a mere two out of ten stars. This was definitely not an outstanding creature feature, nor an impressive addition to the horror genre.

avoid at all costs

[squishyjh · 1/10 · 27 June 2021]

Straight dog water. Literally makes no sense. Save yourself and don't watch this. I could write so much more but it's not worth the effort.

The first few minutes were intriguing, but...

[Mister-Creeper · 3/10 · 27 June 2021]

Once the family of talentless acting ability took over the story it was pretty much all downhill from there. The attempts at fake crying I'm sure was enough to make most people cringe and stop the movie (if they even made it that far). However, onward I tread so I could write this review.

This is not a remake or sequel to the movie BATS (1999, starring Lou Diamond Phillips) as I had originally thought based on the title alone. In fact, this movie isn't really even about bats at all. So if you're looking for a movie about bats, then you may wanna skip this one. This one is closer to the 1974 film THE BAT PEOPLE. As bad as that movie is, it's still better than this one. So again, if you're looking for a movie about bats, then you'd be much better off watching literally any other movie that's actually about bats, such as the aforementioned BATS (1999), it's 2007 sequel BATS: HUMAN HARVEST, genetically altered bats in FANGS (2002), the TV movie VAMPIRE BATS (2005), or the 1979 classic, NIGHTWING. I've also recently read about another movie, THE SILENCE (2019), which may be worth a look as well, though I have yet to view it.

Others have complained about the poor quality of the creature effects, whereas I didn't really mind them all that much, but it is true, the special effects aren't really that special. I have seen worse though (Danzig's Verotika quickly comes to mind). But, I am an avid horror fan and have sat through some of the absolute worst b-horror dreck in existence. While I wouldn't lump this into the "Worst Movie Ever" category, it does rank towards the bottom of the barrel regardless. I did enjoy the score throughout most of the running time though. So there's that.

Not what is says on the tin.

[hannawaigh · 2/10 · 7 March 2021]

The description and tagline to not represent this film. I would love to watch the film in the description but sadly I watched Bats: The Awakening instead.

Something odd about this one.

[joelgriffith-980-835469 · 2/10 · 29 October 2021]

I agree with the other reviews about the shortcomings of this tepid little outing. But I had to add that ALL of these actors appear to be British and are speaking with an American accent that they cannot account for. The location is clearly a older country house in the U. K. Was this done under the misguided idea that it would make the film have wider appeal?

Barely a bat in it

[matrix11001 · 1/10 · 27 June 2021]

Where to start? I would like to say there was one positive thing to say about this film but there really isn't. None of the film makes any sense and isn't helped at all with the atrocious acting. The start of it was ridiculous and had the one decent person in the whole film who had any likeability or could act a bit. From the end of that first scene it runs at a snails pace and doesn't improve at all. The creature looks ridiculous and doesn't act like the predator were supposed to believe it is. Also bats have good ears so with all the shouting i I don't know why it left them alone. They basically do everything that would get them attacked. No real suspense or thrill to it at all. The other bats films are so bad they're good, but this is so bad all round. They're supposed to be a family but they could just be a bunch of strangers or acquaintances. No one to root for and you basically want them all to die horrendous deaths just so the film can end. Don't waste your time with this. The earlier bats films are so much better. The ending is cliché and so laughable how she kills the creature of which there seems to be only one is such poor writing. I was hoping for a bit of redemption but there was none - give this film a wide birth and ank me later.

Well.....

[sun-creek · 1/10 · 9 December 2021]

I understand that in a zero to ten rating system that minus numbers are not possible, but if I could I would give this movie a -3.75. It's not a full minus 4 movie, but almost as bad as that. The acting is pretty bad and the directing is just as bad. It's just not a good movie. But I bet they had fun making it. Good luck next time.

Run !

[ortus_ventus · 1/10 · 23 January 2022]

Bad.....the writing, directing, acting, lighting, location, editing. The saving grace....the sound engineer did a reasonable effort. Don't be fooled by the description, it hardly fits.

Nice cover art, which film does that belong to?

[satanicgazebo · 1/10 · 3 October 2022]

Mr Jeffrey sir, have you ever seen a bat? Yes that thing you stepped on.. no not that, that foul smelling pile is your film.

The best way to describe the offending creature(or perhaps saviour from that unbearable acting) is as if you imagine Gumby shagged a bat, then imagine that his offspring bred with a moose.

The weirdest thing was how the creature seemed to pin down its prey then seemed to jerk off on top of them while it tried to figure out how it's weird little fangs were going to get into their neck.

Solid 1/10, and at long last a new movie to declare as the worst I've ever seen.

Could not recommend to anyone at all.

Call it a mystery or suspense

[udidudie-418-49457 · 3/10 · 6 July 2021]

With every scene nearing its end one just hopes that the bat arrives, but sadly it doesn't. Now that's the spell binding part in this movie and collectively this this movie can be called a spell binder. And finally the bat arrives and you suddenly lose base with the reality with what real bat looks like. And that's what I call it nerve wrecking!

this is a cool movie.

[jimsteffen-57522 · 8/10 · 24 July 2021]

I think this is a cool movie. I think it's fairly original in its ambition. I like the acting. I'm a huge fan of B-horror flicks and I think this is a wonderful new addition. The monster is awesome. The premise is cool....its background is understated...open to the imagination....

Watchable enough as it is despite a few issues

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 7/10 · 10 October 2022]

After hearing of a possible break-in, a family returns to their formerly-abandoned childhood home to take stock of the incident and finds the area home to a race of giant humanoid bat mutations from a chemical spill in the past and must find a way to get away alive.

This here wasn't that bad of a genre effort. One of the better features here is the strong setup that provides this one with a nice work-around for the genre. The initial setup involving the community being evacuated and abandoned years earlier and being allowed to return due to the news of the intrusion that happened initially signals that the time is okay to return, and once they do find that the intervening years have created a monstrous hybrid of man and bat. It works well enough here to bring them out to the remote area while also managing to offer up enough of a reason for the creatures' existence that's gone unnoticed until now, and when brought up alongside the personal issues of the girl mourning her boyfriend gives this a great starting point. That provides a decent launching point into the creature attacks which are genuinely fun. The opening attack on the intruders looking to crash there gets things off to a fine start, while the initial attack on the family up in the attic provides some great moments with the creature's sudden appearance, the acid attack, and the chaos of trying to get away unscathed. With scenes showing the creatures being able to hunt in the dark through night-vision shots or creating such an ear-piercing scream as to blow a person's head apart, they're imposing enough without their appearance being shocking enough to give them some genuine fear which gives the final battle in the church some fun including the brutality of the attacks as well as the emotional relevance of the situation. These combine together to give this a lot to like although there are a few issues that hold it back. One of the main drawbacks here is the slow start to things which serves as a means of ensuring the flimsy storyline can be padded out to feature length. While it's perfectly adequate to get the sideplot involving her grief over her boyfriend's death and withdrawal from the family, this all starts the film on a decidedly off-kilter tempo that the film never really recovers from with the drama overwhelming the action which creates some awkward moments where her grief tries to get in the way of everything. As well, there's also the film's incredibly confusing final battle which doesn't have the usual thrills or catharsis usually featured here going for the psychological route it does where hr grief again becomes a major hurdle to get over which holds it down.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence, and a sex scene.

Amazing.....amazingly bad

[jspicer98 · 1/10 · 16 July 2021]

I just watched this movie and all I can say is WOW. Not for how good it was, but for how bad. Still trying to figure out the relevance of the first scene before they started showing who the actors/actresses/producers were. I know they showed the 'bat creature', but other than that, I guess I missed something. The acting was bad, the script was bad and the costume of the 'bat' was horrendous. Definitely not a rewatch.

Wow. So bad, it's baaaad and I mean really bad.

[sue-77 · 1/10 · 15 July 2022]

You want to know why you've never heard of this film? Most likely because anyone ever associated with this film never worked again and expunged it from their resume. The title mix-up doesn't help either (is it Bats or is it Bats: The Awakening, does anyone care?). This film makes the Lou Diamond Phillips Bats movie look like an award winning film.

The acting in this film may be the worst I have ever seen and I've seen some stinkers. I love B films usually! The lead girl in this brings to mind Jessica Caufiel from Urban Legends: The Final Cut. She plays an actress playing a terrible actress and she screams so ridiculously. The actress from this Bats movie is like that but she's not pretending to be bad, she's just bad! And she screams through her nose or something. Just awful.

And don't get me started on the 'monster' (guy in a big bat suit). Just, wow! Or the lack of script and storyline.

One star for making me laugh at loud when the bat screeches and the guy's head splits open like a cuckoo clock. I mean, what was that?!

it's so bad that's actually funny

[lhctroian · 6/10 · 18 June 2023]

You see, the whole movie kinda sucks, specially the ending, but I feel like it's visuals kinda save it from being total trash.

Like, there's this scene where the "protagonist" is covered in blood, in this church (doesn't really look like a church) and it, honestly, looks pretty good.

Also the acting is a little bit too much, sometimes it's really on point, but there's this moment where the protagonist just watched her dad die and she's all like 😐 the whole time Also, her whole family just dies in the ending so, yeah, poor girl will just be miserable for the rest of her life.

And they don't really try to explain why the "big bad bat" has thermal vision? Or where he came from in the first place? Or how he makes babies? They don't really explain anything about the giant bat man.

The movie it's not the best thing, but it's watchable enough to be ok, would I watch it again? Absolutely not, but it is funny to watch, for a first time, with a few friends.

It's one of those movies that is just so bad that is kinda good.