Itch! (2024) by Bari King

Director: Bari King

Year: 2024

Country: USA

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Zombie

Plot:

Following a series of strange reports, a store worker and his daughter become trapped inside with several others when news breaks of a released virus that turns people into fervent scratchers due to an overwhelming itch and must try to keep themselves safe from the ravenous creatures.

Review:

For the most part, this was a fairly solid if problematic genre effort. Among the better features here is a rather strong and engrossing first half that makes for an intriguing enough time here getting a strange storyline going. The main human drama focusing on the father trying to keep himself sane while dealing with the family and professional issues he has with the declining work, encroaching medical bills for his sick family, and his daughter’s violent outbursts as a reaction to what’s happening around her set up his desperation to get everything settled into a life of normalcy. The burgeoning stories about the deadly virus going around and what’s happening to people in the country is a fine introduction to the more genuine genre elements present and they combine together in a pretty solid manner with the disrupted robbery and concurrent escape being thwarted by the appearance of the creatures keeping them trapped inside the store which carries a healthy emotional undercurrent trying to keep everyone safe including his daughter.

That’s enough to hold up the second half here which is where it starts to fall off considerably. The series of attacks that come about with the infected and the brutality that comes about from these encounters due to the desire to fervently and maddeningly scratch at their victims leads to numerous lengthy encounters with the infected clawing away and ripping the skin away of their victim until the bloodletting is completely overwhelming. Beyond that, it’s not that interesting with scores of scenes focusing on the drama of the confined victims trying not to snap and kill each other that doesn’t have a lot of chances for the attacks to occur. The paranoia of the situation does make it somewhat interesting but for those looking for non-stop attacks or action it’s sorely missing with these being the primary features during this section as the majority of the kills aren’t even from the zombies attacking but rather their desire to keep the infection from spreading. It can be underwhelming to see them play out and lower this one somewhat from what it should’ve been.

Overview: **.5/5

An enjoyable enough if severely flawed zombie effort, this one plays off much more as a survival drama rather than an out-and-out zombie effort which causes it to suffer somewhat due to these factors. Give it a shot mainly if you’re fine with these factors or are curious about this type of feature while those wanting more traditional gut-munching zombie outings should heed caution with this one.