Infected

Infected is one of those many made for television films that appear on the Sci-Fi, I mean Sy-Fy Channel almost weekly, I mean weakly. Most of them are relatively low budget affairs that utilize very low grade CG f/x and often actors that haven’t been getting a lot of steady work in the legitimate world. It amazes me, actually. How can a network dedicated to science fiction consistently produce some of the worst movies in the genre? You would think that after a hundred of these things that they would have to get it right once in a while. The law of averages almost demands it. Instead, week to week, month to month, and year to year, the worst the genre has to offer finds its way as “original” movies on the network.

Infected is a sort of V meets The Arrival. A band of evil aliens have arrived on Earth to help them to repopulate their species. The somehow arrive at the idea they can best do this by setting up a bottled water company and selling humans plague tainted water. Of course, no one catches on, and the company grows to conglomerate size in no time. Enter a pair of reporters. Ben (Bellows) and Lisa (Roy). Of course, they used to be an item and now have trust issues working together on a tabloid. When the mayor is killed, a sample of his blood is retrieved and finds its way to the couple. Tests prove it is some wacked out hemoglobin. The clues eventually lead to the bottling company and its boss, Peter Whitefield (Dinsmore) who is actually a big insect under his fake human skin. The plot unravels and Ben discovers he has a natural immunity which he can use to fight off those pesky grasshopper things. And we all live happily ever after. Naturally, there’s a government cover up. Invasion? What invasion? We know nothing about no stinkin’ invasion?

What more do you want to know? The acting’s bad. The f/x are horrible. The story sucks. Move along, there really is nothing to see here.

Video

Infected is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The film is clean enough, but the CG stuff is so fake looking that it ruins the overall quality of the picture. It’s standard television broadcast quality here. Nothing to write home about, but free from a lot of flaws or print defects. Black levels are average. If you spend even 5 minutes watching this thing, I assure you that the image quality will be the last thing on your mind.

Audio

The Dolby Digital 5.1 track puts most of the action front and center. The score is appropriately subtle and low key. While there is nothing exciting at all about this presentation, it fits the mood of the film perfectly: Bland.

Special Features

Nada

Final Thoughts:

If you’re reluctant to take my word for it on this one, you still need not buy or rent it. It’s sure to show up on one of those marathons the SyFy Channel runs all the time. It’s hard to believe that the same network that brought you Farscape and Stargate keeps churning out this trash. Give it a try, and you too can ask the eternal question: “What is going on here?”