This one really scratches that itch.
Seth Green, Alfonso Ribeiro, Ami Dolenz, Peter Scolari and Clint Howard fight off a horde of creepy crawlers that have grown to ginormous size thanks to a steroid-laced grow-op contaminating the yokel ecosystem in Tony (Hellraiser II) Randle’s goo fest: Ticks (1993).
The practical effects are the real star here – these were proper animatronic rubber props with physical weight and menace. Unlike the CG critters that would eventually take over the biz later that decade, when these arachnoids attack and latch, there’s actual visceral impact. The old-school squib and blatter body horror sequences deliver, especially the transformation scenes that get genuinely nasty. In the best possible way, of course.
And if nothing else, you get to see MVP Ribeiro pose as a street tough juvi gangbanger with a heart of gold, and it’s fascinating to watch.
These are ’50s atomic monster genes spliced with ’70s eco-revenge horror and squeezed through some ’90s slacker teen ‘tude. Ticks was exactly the sort of creature feature you’d be itching to find on the video store shelves. Unfortunately it was released in the early 90s, and by the time it crawled out from under the pile of dead 80s boogeymen, it got buried under the new wave of 90s Slashers.
It didn’t take much of a bite, and it didn’t launch any fangdom franchises – but those of us who discovered it hiding in plain sight knew we had something special in our hands.
Like Tremors or Night of the Creeps, this sucker’s a creature connoisseurs’ classic, and it feels right at home on the shelf somewhere between Arachnophobia and Cabin Fever. -Pop