♆♆♆- I have already seen this movie.

A random memory popped into my head the other day of a movie from my childhood. I remembered seeing it on the SciFi Channel and on tape plenty of times after that. That movie was the 1993 creature feature Ticks, featuring a very young Seth Green (Family Guy, Austin Powers) and Alfonso Ribeiro (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air). I decided to watch it again after many years tick-less.

A group of troubled teens are on a therapeutic camping trip (or some shit, who cares) in the woods when they come across a trove of giant hatching bugs. The bugs are big because there is a secret weed farm nearby that is leaking weird chemicals into the forest. I know, Academy Award-worthy material, right?

If you are a fan of creepy crawlies that go bump in the night, this film will knock your socks off! For me, it was all about nostalgia. I’ll admit that I remember it being a whole lot scarier when I was just a kid, but I still appreciated this B movie. The entire time I was waiting for one particularly horrific scene presenting the giant tick. Once again, my memory of its atrocious entrance was a great deal more terrifying than what actually happens on the screen, but I still savored the moment!

The plot isn’t much, but I’m pretty sure the people willingly watching a movie called Ticks aren’t concerned with details. It was a cool realization that as a kid I loved a movie with Seth Green in it before I even knew who he was because I am a big fan of him nowadays. The monster effects are still fairly convincing, especially the vet examination scene. If you are a second-rate horror film buff, are looking for a break from the modern horror jumpscarefest, or want to see Carlton Banks act like a hardass, add this (notoriously hard to find) tick-flick to your list.

★★★★☆

4 bloody, parasitic insects that explode when set on fire out of 5