Before this, I had only seen one other film from Showtime’s “Masters of Horror” anthology series. That movie, The Fair-haired Child, was actually pretty good for a low budget horror film. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about the installment I viewed last night, The Screwfly Solution.

My first warning that something was definitely not right with this film was when I saw Jason Priestley’s name in opening credits. I admit it, I immediately judged. In fact, my first thought after seeing his name scroll across the screen was “What? He still has a career after Beverly Hills 90210?” Still, I have to admit that his acting was a lot better than the majority of the cast, with maybe the exception of Kelly Nortan. Then again, I might be giving her a pass because I liked the sex scene (the first one, not the second one where Jason decides to bring a knife to bed with him.)

I can’t really judge the cast too harshly though considering the overall quality of story and the atrocious dialogue that they had to work with. The premise for the film actually had some potential with is plot about a global pandemic that causes men to attack and kill woman. I’ll even admit that there were a few scenes in the movie that had me on the edge of my seat despite the bad acting. Ultimately, it was the endless stream of agenda driven social and political commentary that killed it for me. Here’s a short list of the type of things that kept clubbing me over the head like a baby seal:

1.) Mankind is destroying the planet and it would be better if we just died out.
2.) If humankind doesn’t stop messing with nature, someone or something will destroy us.
3.) All men are brutal, murderous, rapist thugs.
4.) A good man is just a sexual beast who hasn’t slipped his chain yet.
5.) Christians are bad.
6.) All other religions are bad too, but still not as bad as Christians.
7.) Gays are the chosen people and are immune to all alien diseases.

I’m sure a missed a few other things that the director and scriptwriter were trying to get across, but to be honest, I don’t really care. The Screwfly Solution does have a few good moments, and it did creep me out a bit. This wasn’t so much because of the plot per-se, but more because I’m just creeped out by large groups of crazy people in general. I’ll take flesh-eating monsters any day of the week, rather than have to wonder why my neighbor is always caressing a large butcher knife while staring at my house.

Bottom Line:
Although The Screwfly Solution can occasionally be disturbing, overall it’s just a crappy film with an absolutely mind-numbingly ridicules ending. Don’t waste your time unless you’re planning to get a few friends together to help you make fun to the stupid story and terrible dialogue.

Final Score: 2 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by: LC1
Review Format: Netflix Streaming Video via Xbox Live