Plot: Scottsville is a normal, quiet town that is about to celebrate their annual apple harvest, which includes a dance that is one of the year’s biggest social events. But before the good times can even start to roll, trouble arrives in the form of small, but vicious invaders that descend upon the town. A swarm of bats arrives and begins to attack the locals, spurring local veterinarian Dr. Winslow (Whip Hubley) into action and he gets some help from Detective Parks (Tracy Nelson). The two runs into problems when some of the more stubborn, selfish citizens refuse to cooperate out of fear that the festival will suffer, which means more attacks unfold. As more and more bats seem to swoop in by the second and the aerial assaults escalate, can Winslow and Parks figure out how to fend off these pesky interlopers?

Entertainment Value: A b movie about Corbin Bernsen being assaulted by a swarm of mutant bats? I knew Fangs was one I had to see, as that is a fun premise and while the movie is no genre classic, it does have a campy atmosphere and some good, smart ass dialogue to soak in. The story pays tribute to Jaws of course, with a local tourist event under duress thanks to animal attacks, only to have stupid officials prevent a safe handling of the situation. But while most films in the “when animals attack” genre have at least a slight sense of humor, Fangs turns up the comedy to much more direct levels and winds up more humor than horror. This approach will delight some, but is bound to disappoint those in search of a spookier or more visceral bat massacre, so there is a trade off involved. I do think the wildly over the top comic elements are fun at times, but it can wear thin, so it is overdone on the whole here. A light shift toward the horror side would have been welcome and helped to balance things out a little, especially when not all the comedic material is on point. But for fans of these kind of b movies, Fangs offers some solid entertainment via cheesy special effects, cornball dialogue, and Corbin Bernsen, so it is likely worth a one time look.

Fangs is PG-13 and feels like a made for television style production, so the sleaze and bloodshed aren’t prominent elements here. There’s no sexual content whatsoever, which makes sense given the silly tone involved. I suppose we all wanted a Corbin Bernsen nude scene of course, but sadly that doesn’t happen here, though it might have felt a little out of place. The light tone also impacts the violence involved, as there isn’t much blood and the attacks aren’t that creative. The movie delivers a good amount of bat attacks, but they’re pretty basic and free from the red stuff. I think this could pass as family friendly, given the lack of direct violence included. The dialogue can be fun however, with a lot of awkward, silly, and corny lines on hand. Bernsen embraces the camp and dials up his performance, so his lines tend to stand out, but most of the cast runs with the goofy approach. But while there’s a consistent flow of wackiness in the writing, that doesn’t mean most of it is humorous or memorable. A point is earned on the crazy scale for the over the top dialogue and some of the sillier performances, but overall Fangs never pushes the needle much in this department.

Nudity: 0/10

Blood: 0/10

Dialogue: 3/10

Overall Insanity: 1/10

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