MOVIE MAUSOLEUM: 'TICKS' (1993) - File Under "So Bad It's Good"

Something Hungry Is About To Hatch.

Director: Tony Randel

RELEASE DATE: 1993

Have you ever watched a film that after it’s finished, and the credits are rolling, you stop and think “What the fuck did I just watch?” As horror fans this happens a lot and it could be considered a badge of accomplishment just for getting through some of these films without losing your lunch or your sanity. Well, 1993s TICKS would fall under that category for sure! Now this isn’t some Wes Anderson type flick that has you questioning the validity of your life or even a John Carpenter movie that has you on the edge of your seat from sheer suspense and action. No no, dear reader, Ticks is a film that is a perfect poster child for the early 90s schlock fests we have come to laugh at and throw on at Halloween parties to make our guests go “What the fuck?!”

Ticks was the brainchild of makeup artist Doug Beswick. Doug wrote the original screenplay two decades earlier under the title "Cycle of Blood.", though the final shooting script was by Brent V. Friedman, and had multiple contributors along the way till the films completion. Sometimes it takes a village to create mutated arachnids that infest a small mountain town…or however that saying goes.

The 90s were a grand time for Horror. That’s not to say it matched up to the 80s in sheer release volume of fright flicks but it comes in a hefty second place in our horror loving hearts for good decades of horror. The gore levels we saw in the 80s had to be matched and the kills had to be more creative if the 90s were going to cut a path in Horror films for fans. It was the renascence of the slasher film with flicks like SCREAM, URBAN LEGEND, and I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, slicing up the box office. Yet in the earlier part of the decade It seems that we saw more and more reminiscence of the late 50s era “creatures features.”

From giant spiders and roaches to huge mosquitos and rats, the 90s packed it in when it came to bugs and creatures running rampant and killing unsuspecting town folk. TICKS is no different and sets things up right from the start in a way that makes you roll your eyes and audibly sigh “Here we go” .

The always lovable and most times silly, Clint Howard.

When a country bumpkin (Clint Howard) tries his hand at chemistry to make his illegal (at the time) marijuana grow, harvest bigger buds, the resulting chemical starts leaking on a egg sack of Ticks, which just happens to be below the barn floor, where the weed is housed. Let the mutation begin! This sub-plot on how the Ticks got so big is actually pretty clever since most weed farmers really do try everything and anything to get a bigger harvest so it’s not too far fetched as far as the experimenting side goes anyway.

Remember in the 90s when you couldn’t flip on your TV without seeing the amazing character actor, Clint Howard in EVERYTHING? Well he is in this flick but only for one main reason…them Ticks gotta eat! The funny thing about Clint being in this film is he came on after the principal photography was already finished and re-shoots were needed to flesh out the Ticks getting into that chemical that mutates them. Who better to add to an already silly monster movie than Clint Howard? We’d even argue that Howard comes in a VERY close second to Bruce Campbell for the crown of “B Movie King.” The director needed more Tick action and Howard delivered in style! There was even four minutes of additional footage shot but ultimately cut from the film that to this day has never been seen. We’re guessing it had a lot more Tick goodness but alas, it was lost.

Let’s take a look at the films original trailer.

The basic plot for the film is that Holly (Rosalind Allen) and Charles (the late great Peter Scolari) take a group of troubled teens on a therapeutic trip to the wilderness, (Big Bear, California), and encounter well…mutating ticks. The teens are led by Seth Green (Tyler Burns) and Alfonso Riberio (Darrel 'Panic' Lumley) Who we might add has the best line of dialogue and name in the whole movie. “They call me Panic because I never do.” Damn if that wasn’t smooth as hell. The youth are heading to the same area of the forest where these little creepy crawlers are mutating and we have to wonder who the hell was the bus driver? Bonding has never been so forced and the ticks can tell!

Okay maybe not but I’d like to think they were pissed due to Riberio leaving his Bel Air roots and turning to crime but I digress.

The chemistry between Seth Green and Alfonso Riberio is another aspect of the film we truly enjoyed. Seth comes off as this shy and somewhat easily bullied kid who has daddy issues and Riberio is a straight thug. Well, in all honesty, he portrays those types of guys who act hard but once they see real trouble, go snitch and then giggle about it later. Throughout the whole flick the duo are thrown together as a sort of tag team against the onslaught of the mutated Ticks and their banter back and forth is priceless. You have to remember this was in 1993 when both actors were up and comers and a film like this just proves that ya have to pay your dues in Hollywood. Seriously, the film would be missing a major nostalgia factor if these two amazing actors were not in it.

Going back to the fact this flick was released in the 90s, it’s the ticks that are the selling point here, and the effects work by Beswick (with additions by KNB) are an enjoyable throwback to the era when makeup artists were still the rock stars of the effects world. There’s a lot of particularly clever work to create large groups of ticks scampering though the woods, and while they would have been easier to create with CGI, they wouldn’t have looked any better than they do here. We’re suckers for practical effects and the way the Ticks looked was a cross between crabs and giant spiders. The best part about these little pests is the sound they make in the movie skittering across the floor. Trust us, if you hear that shit today, after watching this flick, you’ll tuck your pants into your socks REAL quick.

The “goo” factor is very much prevalent in TICKS.

The stop-motion animation work actually integrates quite well with the puppet and animatronic effects—it isn’t seamless, but the match between the techniques is smoother than most other films of the era. There are also for sure some scenes that will make even the most hardened horror fan go “gross” when the mucus, puss, and goo start flying. There’s even an appropriately disgusting payoff for anyone who knows the first rule about removing ticks—you’ll see what’s coming long before the character does.

One of the many things we enjoyed about this flick was its pacing. Tony Randel kept things at a fast pace from set piece to set piece and made the film flow pretty well considering the rickety storyline. Considering that Randel directed Hellraiser II: Hellbound before this film, the man knows how to setup a scene and make it pack a punch. What, did you expect a monster flick about mutated Ticks to be featured at the Oscars? Hardly, but the film does make for a fun watch and the death scenes are pretty brutal which of course is a must when dealing with blood sucking arachnids.

For all the craziness that happens in the flick, none of the major characters die, well except one but we’ll not spoil that for ya. Sure some of the adults get turned into lunch meat but hey, when have adults ever listened to kids in a horror movie when they try and warn them. (It’s even stated in the film!) So sue us if we think the adults had it coming in a way.

Body Count: 6

Nudity: None

There isn’t much to unpack here as films go. As we stated earlier there is no real introspective essence for the film but damn it if it doesn’t make you want to watch it again and again for the sheer madness and gore it enlists. The film gets gooey and gross really quick and we love it. Ticks doesn’t claim to be anything other than a fun monster flick and it sure does deliver on all levels.

We’ll leave you with good ol’ Clint Howard revealing the original name for the film before it was changed to TICKS which was “INFESTED”.

FUN FACT: The film was made and released internationally under the title "Ticks," and the film was briefly test-marketed to U.S. theaters in 1993 under the title "Infested." It was changed back to "Ticks" for video and TV and we think the film is better with the name Ticks to be honest.

NEXT ON MOVIE MAUSOLEUM: ‘WARLOCK’ (1989)

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