Konterr Brilliant and touching

Orla Zuniga It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Jemima It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Jackson Booth-Millard As far as I could tell this was one of those straight to DVD horror films, some of those aren't all brilliant, but I saw a trailer for this one which looked relatively interesting. Basically in the 1980's an advanced research was being developed to give humans heightened physical and mental strength, but this turned into a parasite. On Cuttyhunk Island, these parasites, looking like alien worms have got out and spread around, and plan to get inside any human they can to breed. It has been twenty years since Jamie Ackerman (Mircea Monroe) has any involvement with this disastrous incident, but she has to witness her step brother becoming one of the infected, and her boyfriend trying to get away from it with her. The authorities, including Larkin Holberman (Richard Riehle) are aware of the outbreak, and are trying to contain it before the infection can spread further afield. Also starring Christopher Shand as Justin Roberts, Brian Krause as Marco, Nora Kirkpatrick as Kristin Daniels, Mackenzie Brooke Smith as Gwen Anderson, Alexi Wasser as Sarah Holberman, Ian Patrick Williams as Mason Lane, Robert Pike Daniel as Jake, Lou Richards as Dr. Macavire and Yousef Abu-Taleb as Sgt. George Seitz. Seeing little horrible worms going into people and coming out through various places in their body is freaky, but that is all the film is good for, there is no effort to make you feel like it is worthwhile, so while it was creepy and crawly, it was just alright. Okay!

gavin6942 In the 1980s, an island used for genetic research made some breakthroughs, but also had some terrible setbacks. Today (2009) some of those setbacks might come back to bite the island in the butt as a nasty slug-like virus spreads with unpredictable effects.Quite simply, this film is a disappointment and something of a mess. There is potential there, and you can glean it from time to time, but overall the feeling is one of letdown. There are two main areas this film fails: the computer effects and the plot.As far as computer effects go, it's somewhere in the middle ground of modern effects. It's not really good, but it's not as bad as some of the things you'll find on the SyFy network (like "Raptor Island"). Had the special effects people had a bit more time, they might have been able to pull this task off. Instead, the creatures come out looking like very low budget versions of the slimies from "Slither" (a vastly superior film).The plot fails in a few ways. Primarily, there is not much sense to the whole concept. If this is a research island, why do people live on it? I can understand scientists staying there, but it seems to have a thriving city. That's just pointless. But also, much of the film uses flashbacks that do not really add up until the end, by which time you've probably already forgotten about them, and the story was working just fine without them. In short, we have added confusing footage where none is necessary... edit five minutes from this film and it would be supremely better.Gabriel Cowan, the writer and director, has said this film was inspired by (of all things) the 2008 presidential debates, and the idea that we must sacrifice ourselves sometimes to get where we want to go. He saw McCain and Obama as both switching positions at the last minute, and turned this into a science fiction story... it's a stretch, but if that's what he says is the source, fair enough.And Cowan's not without his merits. His last film, "Breathing Room", I found to be startlingly impressive and plenty of fun. And he knows how to cast, securing the great character actor Richard Riehle (probably best known from "Office Space"). The problem with "Growth" may not have been the people involved so much as the budget they were forced to work with.I recommend seeing "Breathing Room". I'm not as convinced about "Growth". If you want to compare the two to see Cowan's evolution, go for it, but otherwise you'd do just as well to pass. (I cannot say whether or not the graphic novel based on the film is any better, but I suspect it is.)

bbsalamander This is a poor plot if I ever saw one. The parasites look good for the most part and I had hopes the story could hold together but oh no. The story just falls flat and becomes a bunch of babel about pushing the human evolution up a few notches, sure, hit me up with some cool parasites doc. I want to be a super human, sounds great. Ian Patrick Williams is pretty creepy in his roll as Mason and really show me how bad old Richard Riehle is in his role as the man who may save the day. Now if your a Nora Kirkpatrick fan like I am you may have to see this flick. Nora has been in a bunch of TV shows and I think she really is the only resign to see this film. Christopher Shand is good in his roll as Justin and I look forward to seeing him in a good movie some day. But two or three good actors can not save a bad film in this case. Pass this turd right on by folks and if you must check it out don't say I didn't tell you so.

paul david This for me is no more than an average horror movie with the concept of a good story about the parasite thing and the folks on the island, yes I can see the slight connection with Wicker Man here but there are no known actors in this movie and the story is weak and the film suffers as a result.I wont say it was not entertaining, on the contrary, the spoof moments were full of suspense and intrigue and the acting is fine, it is just the story promises so much and delivers so little, they could have done so much more with the story and they didn't.This will likely appeal to a teenage audience and not much more. Not enough horror and solid story for me.