Infestation is a 2009 comedy Horror B-Movie, about a group of people trying to survive when their city is taken over by giant insects. It was made by Mel Gibson's Icon entertainment.
The origin of the bugs is not clearly explained, although it seems they came on a meteorite that landed in Colorado. They use a sonic scream that stuns humans, who are then put in cocoons and fed on. Some victims, however, get stung, which eventually turns them into human-insect hybrid monsters.
The main character is a telemarketer named Cooper (Chris Marquette), who helps lead a group to the home of his father (Ray Wise), a paranoid ex-military man who is apocalypse-ready.
Provides examples of:
- Actually Pretty Funny: Ethan berates Cooper for the childish game he invented at work, which involved calling someone's name when they weren't looking and then acting like you didn't when they turned round. Ethan actually uses their last moments together to successfully win a point in the game against his son, letting him know that it's actually pretty fun. Which is also a rather heart-warming final interaction.
- Alien Blood: The bugs have white blood, and the characters tend to get splattered by it when killing one. This leads to some rather suggestive looking scenes...
- Big Bad: The Hive Queen.
- Body Horror: Drone's are a disturbing blend of the alien insects and unlucky human hosts. The transformation is unsurprisingly unpleasant and very painful.
- Brown Note: Some of the insects can use sonics to disable humans.
- Covers Always Lie: The poster image above shows Sara is wearing a leather bra. In the film, she wears a tank top.
- Crazy Survivalist: Cooper's father, Ethan. He's more like a Retired Badass, but still close enough thanks to having a bunker ready for the worst.
- A Fate Worse Than Death: Turning into a "drone," a hybrid with a human body and insect legs.
- Foreshadowing: The bugs expel a strange red gas and the group can't determine it's purpose. Later the prisoner next to Cooper at the jail tells him the red gas expelled by the creatures turned out to be extremely flammable and the resultant explosion accidentally destroyed the defences freed survivors set up. Conveniently that means there's a large source of this gas in the bug's hive, which is just asking for someone to explode. The Queen also summoned many of its minions for help just before being blown up (so they died with her.)
- Handicapped Badass:
- Hugo. He was the only one immune to the sonic effect after his hearing aid broke.
- Technically, the bugs themselves- they are blind and are attracted by sound.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Once Ethan realises what happens to people who have been stung, he intends to go out in a blaze of glory. He succeeds in holding the Queen off long enough for his son to finish the job.
- Hive Queen: The huge bug leading and giving birth to the invading army.
- Meet Cute:
- Sara maces Cooper as he's releasing her from her cocoon. Later revealed to be their second meeting, the bugs knocking them out just made them forget it. At least for a while.
- Their true first meeting was when Cooper crosses the road without looking and gets bumped by Sara's car. They argued for a bit before Cooper gave her his number.
- No Bikes in the Apocalypse: Subverted; the heroes commandeer some police bicycles when going to the hive.
- Properly Paranoid:
- Cooper's father is ex-military and has prepared for end of the world scenarios. To that end he has a bunker that proves useful.
- The militia holding the police station are concerned that their prisoners may turn into drones and are extremely distrusting for this reason. Turns out two prisoners have been stung and one of them even turns whilst locked up in a cell.
- The Un-Reveal: The movie ends with the survivors suddenly hearing a rumbling sound but we never see what it is.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Cooper just wants his dad to say he isn't a loser.
