They Crawl (2001) User Reviews (20)

They crawl: you laugh

[MartianOctocretr5 · 4/10 · 9 June 2007]

Another hokey Sci-Fi channel offering, this time the monsters on the loose are smart cockroaches that swarm around a lot. The cucarachas croak a bus driver who likes to smash his bus through office building lobbies, then somebody gets killed in a bombing. You guessed it: a government conspiracy is behind it all.

Our heroes include a Jordache Jeans commercial guy (brother of the bombing victim), and a lady cop who shoots anything she sees: roach swarms, boxes, trucks, cars, buildings, into mid-air, and occasionally even a bad guy. When Officer Ripley runs out of ammunition with one weapon, she grabs another gun and resumes firing. As for Jordache, he just sticks his nose everywhere, while bodies pile up. The cop captain is the usual skeptic who does nothing, and the head honcho nasty guy is a comical stereotype, who snarls when he talks. They even had the nerve to use the ridiculous "bad guy pauses to explain the evil plot to the good guys before shooting them" routine. The obvious poetic justice is served, of course.

But stay tuned for the grand finale. The debut of one of the most hilariously inept monster creatures ever spawned still awaits you. He was about as intimidating as a Teletubby, and the final scene had me laughing until I could hardly breathe.

A hilariously stupid movie.

They... Suck

[Raydio · 4/10 · 3 September 2002]

The only way I got through this movie was by watching it with my brothers, continuously adding our own humorous commentary over the dialog. There are so many "also-ran" actors in this film it began to resemble a Burgess Meredith re-union party. Oh, and what is the deal with Mickey Rourke? He appears in one scene, and leaves the viewer aghast at his silly antics. I mean, was there a point to him knocking that door off it's hinges? Surely it's a bad sign for a film when the producers rely on Mr.Rourke for his "star power" to pull in the crowds. One can only ponder what next for Mickey, perhaps a starring role in Ishtar II? About the only redeeming feature of this film, were the sporadic CG cockroach attacks, and even they left much to be desired. Avoid this film unless you enjoy boredom, or simply need evidence of how far Mickey Rourke has sunk. 4/10

"You have a good heart, I know a lot of people who'd like that heart in their icebox." Total crap.

[poolandrews · 2/10 · 24 May 2006]

They Crawl starts with a runaway bus demolishing half of Los Angeles & crashing, Detective Gina O'Bannon (Tamara Davis) is on the case. Glen (Ken Lerner) the coroner does an autopsy on the bus driver (Jerry Kernion) & discovers that the driver has strange electricity burns on his body & his insides were gone. O'Bannon suspects a religious cult known as the Trillion as they sacrifice victims by electricity & remove their innards, O'Bannon banks on it being more than just a coincidence & decides to pay the cult leader Tiny Frakes (Mickey Rourke) a visit. Meanwhile Ted Gage (Daniel Cosgrove) has returned home to see his family but before he gets an opportunity to see his Brother Brian (Chase Hampton) he dies in mysterious circumstances when his flat blows up. Again, O'Bannon is on the case & once again Glen the coroner finds the same injuries to Brian as was present on the bus driver which has to be more than coincidence. O'Bannon & Ted team up, after some investigations they uncover sinister military experiments, conspiracies, lies, murder & an egotistical madman who wants to take over Earth using radio controlled killer cockroaches! For no other apparent reason that he can...

Directed by John Allerdice They Crawl is one crap sci-fi horror film that wasted 90 odd minutes of my life. The script by Curtis Joseph & David Mason is so slow it's untrue, I was bored rigid throughout. The X-Files style government/military conspiracy side of things is as dull as it sounds while the horror elements are severely lacking. Until the final 10 or so minutes there are precisely three cockroach attacks, that's three attacks in 80 minutes & one of those is right at the start. The rest of the excruciating running time is devoted to O'Bannon & Ted's investigations as they uncover the conspiracy, unfortunately They Crawl is one of those films where we, the audience that is, know that there are killer cockroaches scuttling around & it takes the main character's virtually the entire film to catch up & it becomes an absolute snooze fest waiting. It was never explained to my satisfaction how the cockroaches were controlled, something about the correct frequency is mentioned vaguely but it's never really discussed & the equipment needed never shown. Another thing I'm not happy about is the use of footage from other films, during the opening sequence a bus driver is attacked & he swerves all over the place hitting other cars & it's painfully obvious that this footage came from the Swarzenegger action film Red Heat (1988) & I kept saying to myself why the hell didn't the bus driver just pull over & stop? Because they couldn't have stolen that footage then that's why! The bit when Brians flat explodes is taken from Rush Hour (1998) & there's a bit when a house explodes lifted from another Swarzenegger film, Last Action Hero (1993). To add insult to injury these scenes are the best in the entire film! The plot is a mess, it's dull, repetitive, boring & you can see the so-called twist ending coming a mile off.

Director Allerdice does an OK job, the film is alright to look at & has a few neat special effects. The huge cockroach made out of ordinary cockroaches at the end looks pretty good but this is far too little far too late. There is no atmosphere to it, there's definitely no scares, shocks or surprises & the horror is secondary to the dull conspiracy. Forget about any blood or gore as there isn't any, there are a couple of wounds, a cockroach comes out of someones ear & that's it. Although if you are scared of cockroaches then They Crawl may make you feel a bit uneasy.

They Crawl must have had a low budget, all the decent bits are stolen from other infinitely better films. As it is it's competent at least but that's about the best thing I can say about it. The acting sucks, what on Earth is Mickey Rourke doing in crap like this?

They Crawl is one of the worst killer bug films I've ever seen, the bugs seem to be almost totally ignored in favour of dull melodramatics & X-Files style conspiracies that went out of fashion a long time ago, unfortunately no one told the hacks who made this. There is absolutely nothing by which I could recommend this total waste of celluloid, for insomniacs & masochists only.

They...SUCK!!!!!

[Jester69 · 1/10 · 7 January 2003]

I have noticed in a lot of my reviews I have mentioned how beer may make the movie better. There is not enough beer on Earth to make this movie watchable!!! This movie just...SUCKED!! Bad acting,story,plot,effects and so on. It's not even bad in a good way and I like bad movies. I have had more entertaining dumps than this flick!!

to rourke fans: stay away from it!

[alpojohn · 1/10 · 2 May 2002]

This film could easily be a comedy, unless someone is 15 years old or younger. Rourke shows up only once and for about 5 min. The man obviously doesn't take his job seriously, not anymore... The whole concept of this movie is a joke! We 've seen it again hundreds of times. And the final scene! What an idea! Thousands of programmed mutant-robot-(god knows what else)-cockroaches come together to form a giant monster cockroach!!! GIVE US PEOPLE A BREAK!

Spot the stolen action scenes:)

[cujo2 · 14 June 2004]

Oke I confess, I bought this film. To my defense I can say that it was on sale in a local supermarket and the box said there were bugs, lots of them.

So when I popped in the movie I saw the whole action part of redheat with the busses ( only 1 person mentioned this while reviewing, am I that old:), the last action hero bit with the exploding house and the rush hour bit with the exploding floor. Oh yes and the exploding warehouse bit from that stinker with that guy from the matrix, forgot the title and I am too lazy to check for it, the movie isn't worth it.

on the bright side, well it does have its share of explosions. that are out of place even if you don't spot the films there ripped out of. The general setting is so cheap every B movie veteran can smell something fishy while watching it. But one can laugh about the crappy insects that ran straight out of a computer, the fact that the jeep the main character drives has a broken mirror in once scene and a fixed mirror in the other and one can giggle when seeing the uber roach at the end.

Which is by the way the only decent idea in the whole movie. As already stated the plot is not there at all, uncle Mickey just walked on the wrong set - this guy looks like utter s**t btw, what has happened to him- and the very important plot question ( how are the bugs controlled) is forgotten.

My advice, let someone else rent it ( and let someone else pay for it) fall asleep until the last few minutes and then catch the uber roach which is also crappy but shows at least a cool idea behind it.

And on a sidenote, why on earth are movie companies stock footaging the action scenes from their movies to stinkers like this? I have seen it plenty of times already and it truly shocks me to see this??

One of the worst films I've ever seen - not even Mickey can save it

[MovieAddict2016 · 1/10 · 10 December 2005]

I watched this on TV because the digital cable guide listed it as a film "starring Mickey Rourke." Little did I know all he had was a very brief cameo in the film, yet it was enough for them to advertise his name all over the listings. In fact it actually stars a Tom Cruise lookalike named Daniel Cosgrove who suspects little bugs (cockroaches and that sort) are planning to take over the world.

The film is shot in a gritty, blue-filtered way - like those TV cop shows (Law & Order, NYPD Blue, The Shield, etc.) but the problem is that the "reality" feel of the movie betrays its utter absurdity -- please, LITTLE BUGS ATTACKING THE WORLD?! What is this -- the 1950s?! The worst scene has to be the very ending (SPOILER AHEAD) when all the little bugs "form together" to create one giant, enormous "bug" that attempts to kill the hero. The way he "kills" it is laughable at best.

It's not worth watching - not even for Mickey.

What should you do just before watching this Movie?

[deracial · 1/10 · 10 June 2009]

Put a gun to your own head and pull the trigger. Actually that seems really good compared to watching this boring pile of garbage. the main guy is the weird dude from Van Wilder so every time I look at him I see him drinking Pit Bull C-u-m.

Ridiculous story with so many irrelevant plots going that I felt like gagging, A cult, the military, some drug dealers, a university and Tone Loc all get together and rub one out on a cookie. The C-u-m eater eats it obviously.

I wish I could find whoever decided to go ahead with this movie and punch him in the crotch. Seriously, f him.

decent movie

[cancron · 5/10 · 2 August 2005]

this was a pretty good movie and isn't nearly as bad as the title would imply.

the few cameo's in this movie become interestinng with known actors popping up from time to time.

the funny things that happen during the movie are the small cut scenes from other movies, like for example ; The character lazurus's house blows up and the scene was blatantly cut out from the movie "Last action hero". you know that scene, where arnolds second cousins house gets blown up right when the boy enters the movie world.

give this movie a shot, it's worth a watch.

Skin-crawling chiller.

[michaelRokeefe · 4/10 · 20 March 2005]

Sci-Fi not at its best. Ted Gage(Daniel Cosgrove)is a disgraced serviceman who returns home and teams up with a spunky female detective Gina O'Bannon(Tamara Davies)to find out who killed his computer geek brother. The computer whiz was earning his way through college by "cooking" and dealing drugs. And his project on the side was helping create super smart cockroaches for the Government. Adding to the human drama is a rash of killings that may be related to a human sacrificing cult led by Tiny Frakes(Mickey Rourke). Meanwhile the engineered cockroaches continue to due damage. Also in the cast are: Dennis Boutsikaris, Brandon Karrer, Tone Loc and Scott Rinker.

Waste of time

[Chris_Mac_25 · 3/10 · 9 July 2019]

There are some bugs, and some footage that is inserted from other films. Then there is a confrontation with a character called Tiny Frakes (Mickey Rourke)

Tiny (Rourke) mumbles for a minute or two then flees wildly, racing through the building and out of sight. Much like he should have fled his agents office when they suggested he cameo in this movie.

Worst Episode Ever...

[pkunk_rocker · 10/10 · 12 October 2002]

This was a great movie. With the C rated actors and execellent dialog, this movie drew you into a world where killer cockroaches rull the world. Dispite the numerous use of stock footage from such movies as "Last Action Hero" and "Chain Reaction" this was a great movie to watch while drunk. All of this leading up to the final scene where the king cochroach begins his final revenge. 4 stars.

Please for the love of god be drinking while watching this masterpiece.

The usual B-movie antics

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 27 June 2014]

THEY CRAWL is ostensibly a cockroach invasion creature flick but when watching you could be forgiven for thinking you're watching a typical movie-of-the-week government conspiracy thriller. The storyline sees a couple of cops on the trail of some naughty scientists into genetic modification who have engineered some super-duper cockroaches as part of research into biological warfare.

Those expecting massed creature attacks will surely be disappointed because, inevitably, the cockroach attacks play second fiddle to this rather dull police investigation stuff. The characters just aren't interesting enough to hold the attention and you end up waiting for the next roach attack. Said attacks are animated by CGI, which is expected, and look like they've been heavily inspired by THE MUMMY. They're not bad but not quite as gruesome as you'd expect.

Part of the fun here comes from spotting the footage ripped off from other movies - yep, it's a cut 'n' paste production that would make Godfrey Ho proud. I was surprised and delighted by the expensive-looking 'bus out of control' set-piece that opens the movie and sure enough it was stolen from RED HEAT. The producers seem to have a Schwarzenegger fetish as they also borrow liberally from LAST ACTION HERO as well as CHAIN REACTION and RUSH HOUR.

Cast-wise, there are slim pickings here with the only recognisable actor being Dennis Boutsikaris, who had a starring role in BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED back in the 1980s. Mickey Rourke makes an amusing cameo as a superhuman killer and there's a little role for B-movie favourite Tim Thomerson pretty much riffing on the John Goodman character from ARACHNOPHOBIA. Things build to a preposterous but admittedly amusing climax in which the cockroaches display some truly unexpected behaviour, but this is B-movie territory all the way.

Sad .. just sad ..

[dylan1734 · 25 June 2003]

The only reason I rented this movie from Netflix was because a very good friend of mine worked on it. Even he said it was awful, and that he only took the job to keep his bills paid.

But my god, what a piece of absolute rubbish! Aside from the pitiful performances, a plot that made little sense, the cheapest CGI since the Atari 2400, a script with no punch, and a directorial style that lacks .. well, direction .. it's not a bad film.

How, exactly, did "Lazarus" command the cockroaches? What exactly was the point of Mickey Rourke's character? We know why Mickey Rourke was hired, he was the celebrity "draw" that's supposed to make us viewers say "Wow, it must be a great movie if it has Mickey Rourke!" And when all the cockroaches group together to become one giant cockroach .. well, yeah .. Lame.

One positive note; the actor who played Lazarus was actually a pretty good actor. Sure, he had a stupid role and ridiculous lines, but he actually pulled the part off pretty well. He reminded me a little bit of a Benicio del Toro.

If you're thinking of renting this movie, do yourself a favor and just stick an ice pick in your eye.

I love this movie!

[IrishFlowr · 10/10 · 20 March 2005]

I thought this movie was totally cool. I loved Brandon Karrer,(Laz) I saw it on the TV one night and I watched the entire thing. It was totally cool. Any pictures from the movie? I love how Laz comes back from the dead, supposedly and then he ends up being the bad guy. I thought he was totally hot. I want to try and find a picture of him if I can. It says he is in Surf Ninjas he is one of the dancers in the Baba Ram dance. Totally cute. I want to write a letter to him someday. Well, anyone who like Killer Bees, or those creepy insect movies, this is definitely one you should see.

Sarahlane

Surprise! It's pretty good.

[Starrme · 8 June 2003]

With Mickey Rourke listed as one of the stars, I expected some straight to video drivel or a bad Sci-Fi original movie. Surprisingly, it was pretty cool save for (you guessed it)Mickey Rourke. His involvement is one of only two complaints I had about the movie (the other was the reuse of stunt footage from other movies i.e., Rush Hour and Red Heat). Credible special effects (particularly the end) and strong characters (especially the female lead) made this an enjoyable surprise.

A good thinking man's horror movie

[slayrrr666 · 8/10 · 24 July 2004]

`They Crawl' is a great and successful attempt to bring back the giant bug movies with a modern twist.

**SPOILERS**

Returning home to see his brother, Ted Gage (Daniel Cosgrove) learns that he has died in a freak accident at his apartment. He visits his teacher, Prof Jurgen, (Dennis Boutsikaris) and learns that he and a friend, Shane Torian (Scott Rinker) had stumbled upon top secret military codes for controlling insects. Ted crosses paths with Det. O'Bannon (Tamara Davies) who is conducting an investigation into another accident around the same time. Because the two accidents both look very similar in the way that their body's looked upon death, they decide to continue investigating both cases together. Tracking down Shane, they discover that he has killed himself in an explosion. When the coroner (Ken Lerner) discovers military grade explosives at all three sites, Gage and O'Bannon follow a loose assortment of clues that leads them to believe that a small government group may be altering cockroaches to become the next cutting edge military weapon, and race to stop the culprits before they unleash the roaches upon the city.

The Good News: This was very entertaining. It moved at a very fast pace and never loses your interest at any time. As more clues are discovered, you wait to see how they all piece themselves together. It falls into the intelligence required category of films because so much thought went into the script to make it all sense was a real challenge. The twist at the end was very surprising and came totally out of left field. The pieces being handed to us were leading up to another conclusion that you were drawing upon, but then it changes, leaving you both surprised and dumbfounded as all the clues begin unraveling in the film. I really like the creative thinking movie, one where you expect to get an answer to a question only to be struck with another question to answer later on. I give his film high props for this. As it was a TV movie, I wasn't expecting the reasonably high gore quotient. It wasn't `Day of the Dead' gory, but for what it is, this is pretty gory. Watching a person reduced to a wasted skeleton in a matter of seconds from the cockroaches was pretty shocking. It was realistically done, which helps greatly when you're trying to pull off gore.

The Bad News: The complicated plot is a little hard to piece together, as things and ideas are introduced at the beginning and never explained or resolved until the ending. That was a little maddening, waiting for some question to be answered and another question is proposed. It shouldn't make that big a difference, but when the movie asks you to hold over ten questions at once, then it can become a drag. The intelligence needed to watch it may hinder some viewers, wanting something to happen, is very high, and is almost on the same plan as that of the writers who scripted it.

The Final Verdict: The complicated plot not withstanding, this is a very good killer roach movie that asks a lot of the viewer, but it is enjoyable and is recommended for those who need to exercise their brains thinking about a movie instead of always turning it off.

Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, and mentions of drug use.

First Clas Bug Movie

[virginia-12 · 19 March 2004]

Read between the lines here and you'll learn its yet another White House Cover Up. The American government has long been rumoured to be conducting experiments on bug genetics and in the future they'll stop spending money on bombs and simply drop a few 1000 of these mutant insects wherever they are at War next. Its the cheapest way ever of killing people and leaves no traces. These bugs are very angry and very hungry and can deplete a large size area in a matter of days. Checking the User comments few poeople have understood the political implications here. But the very last frame of a single cockroach leaves it wide open for They Crawl 2

Surprisingly fun killer roach movie

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 8/10 · 8 November 2012]

After a series of strange accidents are found to be from a race of mutated cockroaches used in a secret military project, a man and a detective team up to stop the creatures' rampage and put a stop to the experiments.

This is an entertaining if somewhat complex effort that comes off as quite enjoyable regardless. One of the better facets here is the fact that this one is a lot smarter than expected from a simple creature feature, with the investigation angle that eventually uncovers the different agencies working together through all the different clues coming together yet still being done without really sacrificing the pace to do so. This could've easily been a slow, agonizingly dull creature feature without much going for it had it used the mysterious death/investigation angle, yet it doesn't and it feels better for doing so. The attacks are also surprisingly bloodier than expected and we get more gore than it really figures to have, and with the use of the real creatures it makes for even more good times. There's some flaws to be had here, mainly in the far-more-confusing plot getting tough to swallow at times as it goes along its many winding turns that can grow wearisome quite easily. As well, the finale is quite underwhelming with its sudden twist that doesn't really make sense and tends to showcase a big CGI creation instead of the more restrained, realistic feel it had been going for all along. Still, this one isn't all that bad of an effort.

Rated R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

Not bad...mystery/sci-fi/horror mix

[Katatonia · 23 October 2002]

Not a bad movie all in all. It plays out as a murder mystery with a secretive sci-fi experiment back story. The acting is good, the plot keeps you guessing what's coming next, the special effects are above average. It's entertaining for a lower budget film. The ending is a little difficult to suspend your disbelief, but that's a only a small complaint.