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| writer = Chad Archibald<br />Jayme Laforest
| writer = Chad Archibald<br />Jayme Laforest
| starring = Elma Begovic<br />Annette Wozniak<br />Denise Yuen<br />Jordan Gray<br />Lawrene Denkers<br />Barry Birnberg<br />Daniel Klimitz<br />Tianna Nori<br />Caroline Palmer
| starring = Elma Begovic<br />Annette Wozniak<br />Denise Yuen<br />Jordan Gray<br />Lawrene Denkers<br />Barry Birnberg<br />Daniel Klimitz<br />Tianna Nori<br />Caroline Palmer
| music = Steph Copeland
| music = [[Steph Copeland]]
| cinematography = Jeff Maher
| cinematography = Jeff Maher
| editing = Nick Montgomery
| editing = Nick Montgomery
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}}
}}


'''''Bite''''' is a 2015 [[Body horror|body horror film]] written and directed by [[Chad Archibald]] and starring Elma Begovic, Annette Wozniak, Denise Yuen, Jordan Gray, Lawrene Denkers, Barry Birnberg, Daniel Klimitz, Tianna Nori, and Caroline Palmer. It was produced by [[Black Fawn Films]] and [[Breakthrough Entertainment]]. The plot is about a young woman who is bitten by a waterborne insect while in Costa Rica and suffers horrifying and transformative consequences.
'''''Bite''''' is a 2015 Canadian [[Body horror|body horror film]] written and directed by [[Chad Archibald]], and starring Elma Begovic, Annette Wozniak, Denise Yuen, Jordan Gray, Lawrene Denkers, Barry Birnberg, Daniel Klimitz, Tianna Nori, and Caroline Palmer. It was produced by [[Black Fawn Films]], MGM Productions and Scream Factory, and [[Breakthrough Entertainment]]. The plot is about a young woman who is bitten by a waterborne insect whilst in Costa Rica and suffers horrifying and transformative consequences.


==Plot==
==Plot==
Casey (Elma Begovic) celebrates her bachelorette party with her friends Kirsten and Jill in [[Costa Rica]]. Casey gets bitten by an insect at one point during the trip, but is too preoccupied to take note, thinking of it as an ordinary bite. She is second-guessing her impending wedding to her fiancé Jared Kennedy, and exasperated with Jared's mother, who happens to be Casey’s landlord. After returning home, her body mutates gradually, her senses get worse, she is no longer able to feed herself, and she is plagued by nightmares. When she wakes up one day, there are insect eggs in her apartment. Jared's mother invades Casey's apartment to angrily challenge her about her plans to marry her son, but Casey kills her by spitting acid. Her friend Kirsten is very worried and visits Casey, but Casey also kills her when Kirsten finds the body of Mrs. Kennedy and panics.
Casey (Elma Begovic) celebrates her bachelorette party with her friends Kirsten and Jill in [[Costa Rica]]. She is second-guessing her impending wedding to her fiancé Jared Kennedy and is exasperated with Jared's mother, who happens to be Casey’s landlord. Casey gets bitten by an insect at one point during the trip but is too preoccupied to take notice, brushing it off as an ordinary bug bite. After returning home, her body begins to mutate gradually, her senses become abnormally acute, she can no longer tolerate the taste of food, and she is plagued by nightmares. When she wakes up one day, she finds there are insect eggs all over her apartment. Jared's mother invades Casey's apartment to angrily challenge her about her plans to marry her son, but Casey kills her when she instinctively spits acid into her face during an argument. Noticing she hasn't seen Casey for days, Kirsten becomes very worried and visits her, but Casey ends up killing her as well when she finds the body of Mrs. Kennedy and panics.


Casey's friend Jill is actually in love with Jared, and she stole Casey's engagement ring in Costa Rica, letting Casey believe that she had a one-night stand. In fact, Casey was forced into sex while drunk against her will, and Jill recorded the act. Jill shows Jared the pictures of Casey kissing the other man and seduces Jared into sex in her car. Casey overhears the two of them due to her mutating sense of hearing. Jill enters Casey's apartment and is overpowered by Casey and tied to a chair. When she wakes up, a heavily transformed Casey forces her to watch the videos of her rape. She also forces Jill to call for Jared, who then enters the apartment. Casey kills Jill, causing a fight between Jared and her. Although Jared is able to kill Casey, he is seriously injured by a sting. He drags himself back to his apartment and tries to make an emergency call from his mobile, but fails.
It is revealed that Jill is in love with Jared and deeply resents Casey for being engaged to him. In reality, she has been attempting to sabotage their relationship since Costa Rica, where she stole Casey’s engagement ring and got her drunk so she'd sleep with other men at the party (which Jill recorded to make it look like Casey cheated on him). Jill shows Jared the footage and seduces him. Thanks to her heightened senses, Casey hears the two as they have sex in Jill's car and becomes enraged. Later, when Jill enters Casey's apartment, she is overpowered and tied to a chair. When she wakes up, a heavily transformed Casey forces her to watch more of the footage, revealing that she had recorded one of the men taking Casey to his room to rape her after she'd become too drunk to fight back. After confronting Jill about her betrayal, Casey forces her to call for Jared, who then rushes into the apartment. Casey kills Jill in front of him, and the two begin to fight. Although Jared is able to impale Casey, he is gravely injured when she uses her newly-grown tail to sting him. He drags himself back to his apartment and tries to make an emergency call, but fails.


A week later, the entire house is quarantined. The police raid the house and find the bodies of Mrs. Kennedy, Jill and Kirsten in Casey's apartment. In Jared's apartment, they find the seriously-injured and already-mutated Jared in a kind of cocoon. When they try to help him, many eggs and insects swell from his body and attack the police. At the end of the film, two joggers are talking about an upcoming trip to Costa Rica. One of them is bitten by an insect, but she dismisses it as "just a bite".
A week later, the entire building has been quarantined. The police raid the house and find the bodies of Mrs. Kennedy, Jill, and Kirsten in Casey's apartment. They also find Jared in his own apartment, seriously-injured and already-mutated into some kind of human cocoon. When they try to help him, a massive swarm of insects hatch from the eggs in his body and attack the police. At the end of the film, two joggers are talking about an upcoming trip to Costa Rica. One of them is bitten by one of the newly-hatched insects, but she dismisses it as "just a bite".


==Cast==
==Cast==
Line 35: Line 35:
* Denise Yuen as Kirsten<ref name="Cast"/>
* Denise Yuen as Kirsten<ref name="Cast"/>
* Jordan Gray as Jared<ref name="Cast"/>
* Jordan Gray as Jared<ref name="Cast"/>
* Lawrene Denkers as Mrs. Kennedy<ref name="Cast"/>
* Lawrence Denkers as Mrs. Kennedy<ref name="Cast"/>
* Barry Birnberg as Mr. Mathenson<ref name="Cast"/>
* Barry Birnberg as Mr. Mathenson<ref name="Cast"/>
* Daniel Klimitz as Mao<ref name="Cast"/>
* Daniel Klimitz as Mao<ref name="Cast"/>
Line 42: Line 42:


==Release==
==Release==
''Bite'' was released in 2015 at the Fantasia International Film Festival, Fantasy Filmfest, Film4 Fright Fest, Mile High Horror Film Festival, Sitges Film Festival, Lund International Fantastic Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, Tucson Terrorfest, Night Visions Film Festival, Another Hole in the Head Film Festival, Monster Fest. Blood in the Snow Canadian Film Festival, and Texas Frightmare Weekend. A subtitled version was released in Madrid, Spain on June 7, 2016.
''Bite'' was released in 2015 at the [[Fantasia International Film Festival]], [[Fantasy Filmfest]], [[Film4 FrightFest|Film4 Fright Fest]], [[Mile High Horror Film Festival]], [[Sitges Film Festival]], [[Lund International Fantastic Film Festival]], [[Chicago International Film Festival]], Tucson Terrorfest, [[Night Visions (film festival)|Night Visions Film Festival]], Another Hole in the Head Film Festival, [[Monster Fest]], [[Blood in the Snow Canadian Film Festival]], and [[Texas Frightmare Weekend]]. A subtitled version was released in Madrid, Spain on June 7, 2016.


==Reception==
==Reception==
The film received mixed to negative reviews from critics. [[Review aggregator]] website [[Rotten Tomatoes]] reports an approval rating of 50% based on 18 reviews, with an average rating of 5.81/10.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bite_2016/|title=Bite (2016)|website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]|publisher=[[Fandango (company)|Fandango Media]]|accessdate=August 29, 2019}}</ref> [[Metacritic]] reports an aggregated score of 57 based on 4 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/bite|title=Bite Reviews|website=[[Metacritic]]|publisher=[[CBS Interactive]]|access-date=August 29, 2019}}</ref>
The film received mixed to negative reviews from critics. [[Review aggregator]] website [[Rotten Tomatoes]] reports an approval rating of 50% based on 18 reviews, with an average rating of 5.81/10.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bite_2016/|title=Bite (2016)|website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]|publisher=[[Fandango Media]]|accessdate=August 29, 2019|archive-date=12 November 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241112225139/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bite_2016|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Metacritic]] reports an aggregated score of 57 based on 4 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/bite|title=Bite Reviews|website=[[Metacritic]]|publisher=[[CBS Interactive]]|access-date=August 29, 2019|archive-date=1 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180901191631/http://www.metacritic.com/movie/bite|url-status=live}}</ref>


The beginning of the film and character development in particular were criticized, with the relationships and acting being described as unconvincing and generic to the point of being parodic, while the complex themes and body-horror elements were generally viewed more favorably by critics, Brian Tallerico from [[RogerEbert.com]] called it "one of those early career horror entries in which the filmmakers don't quite nail the set-up or the landing, but the gooey center of the film works for those with a high tolerance for things that might make a majority of the population queasy."<ref>{{cite web|last=Tallerico |first=Brian |url=https://rogerebert.com/reviews/bite-2016 |title=Bite Movie Review & Film Summary (2016) |publisher=Roger Ebert |date= |accessdate=2016-11-23}}</ref>
The beginning of the film and character development in particular were criticized, with the relationships and acting being described as unconvincing and generic to the point of being parodic, while the complex themes and body-horror elements were generally viewed more favorably by critics, Brian Tallerico from [[RogerEbert.com]] called it "one of those early career horror entries in which the filmmakers don't quite nail the set-up or the landing, but the gooey center of the film works for those with a high tolerance for things that might make a majority of the population queasy."<ref>{{cite web|last=Tallerico |first=Brian |url=https://rogerebert.com/reviews/bite-2016 |title=Bite Movie Review & Film Summary (2016) |publisher=Roger Ebert |date= |accessdate=2016-11-23}}</ref>


Phil Wheat from Nerdly had a slightly more positive takeaway after seeing the Frightfest 2015 screening: "''Bite'' is strange and claustrophobic tale of sexuality, horror and bodily fluids recalls the best of [[David Cronenberg]] ([[Rabid (1977 film)|''Rabid'']], [[Shivers (1975 film)|''Shivers'']], [[The Fly (1986 film)|''The Fly'']]), even echoing of [[Roman Polanski]]'s [[Repulsion (film)|''Repulsion'']] in the isolated madness of Casey's condition. And as such is unmissable"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nerdly.co.uk/2015/08/31/frightfest-2015-bite-review/ |title=Frightfest 2015: 'Bite' Review |publisher=Nerdly |date=2015-08-31 |accessdate=2016-11-23}}</ref> and Matt Boiselle from Dread Central stated that "''Bite'' definitely has the chops to be the Fly of the new age and simply shouldn't be missed, especially if you're a gorehound on the prowl."<ref>{{cite web|last=Boiselle |first=Matt |url=https://dreadcentral.com/reviews/115542/bite-2015/ |title=Bite (2015) |publisher=Dread Central |date=2015-07-28 |accessdate=2016-11-23}}</ref>
Phil Wheat from Nerdly had a slightly more positive takeaway after seeing the Frightfest 2015 screening: "''Bite'' is a strange and claustrophobic tale of sexuality, horror, and bodily fluids that recalls the best of [[David Cronenberg]] ([[Rabid (1977 film)|''Rabid'']], [[Shivers (1975 film)|''Shivers'']], [[The Fly (1986 film)|''The Fly'']]), even echoing of [[Roman Polanski]]'s [[Repulsion (film)|''Repulsion'']] in the isolated madness of Casey's condition. And as such is unmissable"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nerdly.co.uk/2015/08/31/frightfest-2015-bite-review/ |title=Frightfest 2015: 'Bite' Review |publisher=Nerdly |date=2015-08-31 |accessdate=2016-11-23 |archive-date=14 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220814003918/https://www.nerdly.co.uk/2015/08/31/frightfest-2015-bite-review/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and Matt Boiselle from Dread Central stated that "''Bite'' definitely has the chops to be the Fly of the new age and simply shouldn't be missed, especially if you're a gorehound on the prowl."<ref>{{cite web |last=Boiselle |first=Matt |url=https://dreadcentral.com/reviews/115542/bite-2015/ |title=Bite (2015) |publisher=Dread Central |date=2015-07-28 |accessdate=2016-11-23 |archive-date=13 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191113002848/https://www.dreadcentral.com/reviews/115542/bite-2015/ |url-status=live }}</ref>


Many audience members were apparently unprepared for the gruesome content of the film however, as Fantasia Film Festival co-director Mitch Davis said on Facebook, "I leave the BITE premiere for all of ten minutes and the following text lights up my phone: "2 people fainted. One girl is puking and another hit his head on stairs". Truth." Davis also had special ''Bite'' branded barf-bags handed out to the audience.<ref>{{cite web|last=Barton |first=Steve |url=https://dreadcentral.com/news/117170/bite-screening-spews-bodily-fluids-at-fantasia/ |title=Bite Screening Spews Bodily Fluids at Fantasia |publisher=Dread Central |date=2015-08-04 |accessdate=2016-11-23}}</ref>
Many audience members were apparently unprepared for the gruesome content of the film however, as Fantasia Film Festival co-director Mitch Davis said on Facebook, "I leave the BITE premiere for all of ten minutes and the following text lights up my phone: "2 people fainted. One girl is puking and another hit his head on the stairs". Truth." Davis also had special ''Bite'' branded barf bags handed out to the audience.<ref>{{cite web |last=Barton |first=Steve |url=https://dreadcentral.com/news/117170/bite-screening-spews-bodily-fluids-at-fantasia/ |title=Bite Screening Spews Bodily Fluids at Fantasia |publisher=Dread Central |date=2015-08-04 |accessdate=2016-11-23 |archive-date=13 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191113002909/https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/117170/bite-screening-spews-bodily-fluids-at-fantasia/ |url-status=live }}</ref>


==References==
==References==
Line 60: Line 60:
* {{Rotten tomatoes|bite_2016}}
* {{Rotten tomatoes|bite_2016}}


[[Category:2010s Canadian films]]
[[Category:2010s English-language films]]
[[Category:2015 films]]
[[Category:2015 films]]
[[Category:2015 horror films]]
[[Category:2015 horror films]]
Line 66: Line 68:
[[Category:Canadian splatter films]]
[[Category:Canadian splatter films]]
[[Category:English-language Canadian films]]
[[Category:English-language Canadian films]]
[[Category:English-language horror films]]
[[Category:Films about insects]]
[[Category:Films about mutants]]
[[Category:Films set in apartment buildings]]
[[Category:Films set in apartment buildings]]
[[Category:Films set in Costa Rica]]

Latest revision as of 03:05, 21 December 2024

Bite
Theatrical film poster
Directed byChad Archibald
Written byChad Archibald
Jayme Laforest
Produced byChad Archibald
Cody Calahan
Christopher Giroux
StarringElma Begovic
Annette Wozniak
Denise Yuen
Jordan Gray
Lawrene Denkers
Barry Birnberg
Daniel Klimitz
Tianna Nori
Caroline Palmer
CinematographyJeff Maher
Edited byNick Montgomery
Music bySteph Copeland
Production
companies
Distributed byBlack Fawn Distribution
United Front Entertainment
Release date
Running time
88 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

Bite is a 2015 Canadian body horror film written and directed by Chad Archibald, and starring Elma Begovic, Annette Wozniak, Denise Yuen, Jordan Gray, Lawrene Denkers, Barry Birnberg, Daniel Klimitz, Tianna Nori, and Caroline Palmer. It was produced by Black Fawn Films, MGM Productions and Scream Factory, and Breakthrough Entertainment. The plot is about a young woman who is bitten by a waterborne insect whilst in Costa Rica and suffers horrifying and transformative consequences.

Plot

[edit]

Casey (Elma Begovic) celebrates her bachelorette party with her friends Kirsten and Jill in Costa Rica. She is second-guessing her impending wedding to her fiancé Jared Kennedy and is exasperated with Jared's mother, who happens to be Casey’s landlord. Casey gets bitten by an insect at one point during the trip but is too preoccupied to take notice, brushing it off as an ordinary bug bite. After returning home, her body begins to mutate gradually, her senses become abnormally acute, she can no longer tolerate the taste of food, and she is plagued by nightmares. When she wakes up one day, she finds there are insect eggs all over her apartment. Jared's mother invades Casey's apartment to angrily challenge her about her plans to marry her son, but Casey kills her when she instinctively spits acid into her face during an argument. Noticing she hasn't seen Casey for days, Kirsten becomes very worried and visits her, but Casey ends up killing her as well when she finds the body of Mrs. Kennedy and panics.

It is revealed that Jill is in love with Jared and deeply resents Casey for being engaged to him. In reality, she has been attempting to sabotage their relationship since Costa Rica, where she stole Casey’s engagement ring and got her drunk so she'd sleep with other men at the party (which Jill recorded to make it look like Casey cheated on him). Jill shows Jared the footage and seduces him. Thanks to her heightened senses, Casey hears the two as they have sex in Jill's car and becomes enraged. Later, when Jill enters Casey's apartment, she is overpowered and tied to a chair. When she wakes up, a heavily transformed Casey forces her to watch more of the footage, revealing that she had recorded one of the men taking Casey to his room to rape her after she'd become too drunk to fight back. After confronting Jill about her betrayal, Casey forces her to call for Jared, who then rushes into the apartment. Casey kills Jill in front of him, and the two begin to fight. Although Jared is able to impale Casey, he is gravely injured when she uses her newly-grown tail to sting him. He drags himself back to his apartment and tries to make an emergency call, but fails.

A week later, the entire building has been quarantined. The police raid the house and find the bodies of Mrs. Kennedy, Jill, and Kirsten in Casey's apartment. They also find Jared in his own apartment, seriously-injured and already-mutated into some kind of human cocoon. When they try to help him, a massive swarm of insects hatch from the eggs in his body and attack the police. At the end of the film, two joggers are talking about an upcoming trip to Costa Rica. One of them is bitten by one of the newly-hatched insects, but she dismisses it as "just a bite".

Cast

[edit]
  • Elma Begovic as Casey[1]
  • Annette Wozniak as Jill[1]
  • Denise Yuen as Kirsten[1]
  • Jordan Gray as Jared[1]
  • Lawrence Denkers as Mrs. Kennedy[1]
  • Barry Birnberg as Mr. Mathenson[1]
  • Daniel Klimitz as Mao[1]
  • Tianna Nori as Joanne[1]
  • Caroline Palmer as Hannah[1]

Release

[edit]

Bite was released in 2015 at the Fantasia International Film Festival, Fantasy Filmfest, Film4 Fright Fest, Mile High Horror Film Festival, Sitges Film Festival, Lund International Fantastic Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, Tucson Terrorfest, Night Visions Film Festival, Another Hole in the Head Film Festival, Monster Fest, Blood in the Snow Canadian Film Festival, and Texas Frightmare Weekend. A subtitled version was released in Madrid, Spain on June 7, 2016.

Reception

[edit]

The film received mixed to negative reviews from critics. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports an approval rating of 50% based on 18 reviews, with an average rating of 5.81/10.[2] Metacritic reports an aggregated score of 57 based on 4 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[3]

The beginning of the film and character development in particular were criticized, with the relationships and acting being described as unconvincing and generic to the point of being parodic, while the complex themes and body-horror elements were generally viewed more favorably by critics, Brian Tallerico from RogerEbert.com called it "one of those early career horror entries in which the filmmakers don't quite nail the set-up or the landing, but the gooey center of the film works for those with a high tolerance for things that might make a majority of the population queasy."[4]

Phil Wheat from Nerdly had a slightly more positive takeaway after seeing the Frightfest 2015 screening: "Bite is a strange and claustrophobic tale of sexuality, horror, and bodily fluids that recalls the best of David Cronenberg (Rabid, Shivers, The Fly), even echoing of Roman Polanski's Repulsion in the isolated madness of Casey's condition. And as such is unmissable"[5] and Matt Boiselle from Dread Central stated that "Bite definitely has the chops to be the Fly of the new age and simply shouldn't be missed, especially if you're a gorehound on the prowl."[6]

Many audience members were apparently unprepared for the gruesome content of the film however, as Fantasia Film Festival co-director Mitch Davis said on Facebook, "I leave the BITE premiere for all of ten minutes and the following text lights up my phone: "2 people fainted. One girl is puking and another hit his head on the stairs". Truth." Davis also had special Bite branded barf bags handed out to the audience.[7]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cast https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4264426/fullcredits
  2. ^ "Bite (2016)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Archived from the original on 12 November 2024. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  3. ^ "Bite Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 1 September 2018. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  4. ^ Tallerico, Brian. "Bite Movie Review & Film Summary (2016)". Roger Ebert. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  5. ^ "Frightfest 2015: 'Bite' Review". Nerdly. 31 August 2015. Archived from the original on 14 August 2022. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  6. ^ Boiselle, Matt (28 July 2015). "Bite (2015)". Dread Central. Archived from the original on 13 November 2019. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  7. ^ Barton, Steve (4 August 2015). "Bite Screening Spews Bodily Fluids at Fantasia". Dread Central. Archived from the original on 13 November 2019. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
[edit]