The bat attacks are a series of violent camera pans rendering everything a blur; the continuity and computer-generated imagery is dire; and the dialogue stinks, as do the performances.
Comment
06/24/06
Bats (1999)
17
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:41
Fresh:7
Rotten:34
Average Rating:3.3/10
Consensus: Neither scary nor creepy.
Runtime: 1 hr 31 mins
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Synopsis: An unruly gang of genetically altered bats threatens to take over a small western town. Now it's up to a bat expert (Dina Meyer) and the local sheriff (Lou Diamond Phillips from LA BAMBA) to stop... [More]
Starring: Lou Diamond Phillips, Dina Meyer, Bob Gunton, Leon
Director: Louis Morneau
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Reviews for Bats
A dimwitted, fill-in-the-blanks horror opus that slanders a fine and useful mammal.
01/01/00
This bad-scientist movie about bats that attack humans and the humans who track them -- Texas sheriff Lou Diamond Phillips and zoologist Dina Meyer -- is played straight, though it wasn't intended to be taken that way.
02/24/09
Top CriticYou really want to like it. It's kind of funny in a simple, old-fashioned kind of way, like the B-movies of old. But it really doesn't have much energy or imagination.
06/03/06
Without any vampires, there's a lack of material for fans to sink their teeth into.
01/01/00
Top CriticOne of those movies where you have to get popcorn just to throw it at the screen.
01/01/00
Now here we go, a resolutely B-movie thriller with delusions of grandeur.
12/10/01
Grade-A hunk of Ed Wood-level cheese.
11/29/09
We've been there, and we've done that. The only difference in this film from director Louis Morneau is that our heroes end up chest-deep in a river of bat droppings.
01/01/00
Masquerading as a Halloween season horror film, this noisy version of a washed-out formula is cause for fright in only one respect: the possibility that it could spawn sequels.
01/01/00
Top CriticBats has nothing to do with baseball or Bela Lugosi. Too bad, because either would be a welcome distraction from this cheesy B-flick about genetically altered man-eating bats.
02/21/04
Top CriticThe script is full of hopelessly banal dialogue, completely lacking in camp value other than the fact Phillips bears a striking resemblance to notorious porn star Peter North.
01/01/00
You might be surprised at the tension that pervades this enjoyably cheesy movie.
04/17/01
...uried in clichés and swarms of mutant-like bats who, at a distance, look like nothing more than inkblots with hidden agendas.
01/01/00
Shaving the corns off of your toes is time better spent.
02/14/01
Typically, the movie never gets around to mentioning why the government bred these genius bats. To discourage nightlife? To enforce curfews?
01/01/00
Top CriticA movie that's too unintentionally funny to be scary.
02/24/09
Top CriticThe film skillfully mixes in humor (thanks in great part to the straight-faced clichéd phrases and no-nonsense lines delivered by Leon) without undermining the tension.
06/05/02
A vigorously paced and surprisingly satisfying piece of work.
06/17/08
Top CriticMainly it made me wish I was watching the Murnau film instead.
01/01/00
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