At this stage of my life it’s nice to discover a new Guilty Pleasure, and the 2009 comedy/horror movie, Infestation, fits the bill. My usual parameters—box office and reviews—don’t actually apply here, because I’m not even sure it had a box office, and the only reviews I found were on IMDB—and they were pretty good. But hey, most any “big bug” movie deserves the Guilty Pleasure label, ya think?

PREPARE FOR GLOBAL SWARMING

With that tagline, here is a brief overview. Infestation, starring the ubiquitous Nobody-I-Ever-Heard-Of, opens with a slacker named Cooper arriving late—as usual—to his telemarketing job. He is called into his boss’s office, and she quickly fires him. As he protests, a high-pitched squeal renders them unconscious.

Cooper comes to a couple of days later and finds himself cocooned in webbing. So are all of his co-workers. Once free, he is attacked by a giant beetle, which he fights off. But it seems that the bugs are everywhere: beetles on the ground, wasps in the air. They are all blind, Cooper quickly learns, but still quite deadly.

“Damn bugs are everywhere.”

After Cooper frees Sara, the boss’s daughter, they revive a few others. Some choose to drive off in a truck, but the noise attracts the bugs, and they are attacked and killed. The remaining five decide to walk to the nearest military base, stopping off at some of their homes along the way.

Thus begins a dangerous—and at times hilarious—trek, with menacing bugs and hideous mutations—part bug, part human—along the way. Like my favorite “big bug” movie, Eight Legged Freaks, there is a good balance of comedy and adventure in Infestation.