Ticks (1993)

I was telling my daughter, I think the last time I watched "Ticks" it was around 1996, just as Blockbuster was about to crush the smaller rental stores I frequented on the regular. "Ticks" was also in the midst of Ami Dolenz's brief direct-to-video horror boom. While "Pumpkinhead II" and "Witchboard II" really gave Ami a big starring role, she's more of an ensemble player in "Ticks". She does have a very memorable sunbathing scene when she's not acting all diva as her Romeo (Ray Oriel) lifts weights to keep in tip top shape...I guess they call her "high maintenance". She was sort of in the Jill Schoelen camp of my B-movie horror nerd crush teenage years. She has the bad fortune of walking into Clint Howard's Mary Jane Cook Den when his face is about to burst a tick.

I'MMMMMMMMMMMM INNNNNNNNNNFEEEEESSSSSTTTTTEDDDD

My daughter and I couldn't help but laugh as Clint really makes that nasty, hideous face makeup even more effective. I guess the added steroid fluid really made those ticks grow! That one tick that gets a big boost from the "blue steroid" in Rome's baggie as it bursts out of Alfonso "Carlton Banks" Ribeiro is definitely one big mother.

It was fun to see Clint and Ron's dad show up as a hallucination to Medeiros' flith-teeth junkie after he got bit by a tick loaded with neuro-toxin trying to steal the late Peter Scolari's van. Speaking of Scolari, he helps Rosalind Allen (his girlfriend) drive teenagers from (I'm guessing) Los Angeles to camp for the summer in the woods at a cabin. Scolari's daughter, Virginya Keehne, groans as all daughters seem to when their father is dating someone else other than their mom. But Allen is a great person with a kind heart so Keehne will get over it.

I am guessing this will be a hoot for Carlton Banks and Fresh Prince fans as Ribeiro really turns it up a notch as Panic, a street tough with a dog that accompanies him (and eventually gets attacked by a tick that must be pulled out by a vet as Scolari and Seth Green must try and either catch it or squash it). I just love all Ribeiro's scenes with Seth Green, who has a "wilderness phobia" due to his father leaving him all by himself in the woods as a kid

Green gets really brave when lighting up the end of a broom as the ticks light up and blow up. A lot of scurrying ticks all over the place as a fire sets off the trees caused by Barry Lynch (and his "switchblade comb") due to just carelessly gunning for Ribeiro. I have to say, I forgot that Lynch  shot Ribeiro and Scolari with the shotgun and caused so much mischief and mayhem as Medeiros giggles at all the violence. 

The ticks are great. The whole point is to make your skin crawl. I think they succeeded. The soundtrack makes sure their crawling about can be felt. And there are enough ticks moving about to trigger those with a major phobia and fear of that. This is right in my B-movie creature feature wheelhouse. 

I'm glad this finally has become more accessible now that Vinegar Syndrome released it and Tubi shows it. I do worry "Ticks" will get lost in the shuffle again, but when I was a teenager and shelf horror was very much "en vogue" -- okay, a horror nerd using en vogue seems less than ideal -- this was exactly the kind of film I gravitated to.