I skipped over this title after seeing the inexplicable tag "Teen Screams", then went on to watch "The Darkest Dawn", which I only realized afterwards was actually a sequel to this film. So I went back to watch this film. As such, my experience with this film is colored by having seen the sequel first. Despite this, the two turn out to be entirely different types of movies, which leads to a severe disconnection between the two films.
While "The Darkest Dawn" focuses on being an alien invasion type movie all throughout, in this the alien invasion angle is only revealed at the very end, although the "bug" infesters are present from virtually the beginning. As such, the emphasis is entirely on the infested people, causing them to behave like zombies, basically, only with the intention of capturing people wherever possible.
Meanwhile, the "zombie" people are an extremely minimal part of "The Darkest Dawn" as almost all the real threats come from other humans struggling to survive. The zombie people are almost never present in "The Darkest Dawn", whereas in this film, they are practically swarming in many areas.
The backstory I got in "The Darkest Dawn" in terms of Cowen and the group losing Philippa and having encountered the soldier commander guy, was extremely minimal and thus was good for letting one's imagination run wild. With those events filled in by this film (which came first), it only causes even more massive plot holes in the sequel. Namely, we don't know how or why the soldier commander guy got separated from Cowen's group, or how Philippa just happened to end up reuniting with the soldier commander guy.
Another utterly massive plothole thrown by the film involves fighting the zombies. In "The Darkest Dawn", the only way to stop them, it seems, is a brief blood transfusion from someone with type O negative blood in order to prevent the alien bug from taking control. This also means the infested person needs multiple transfusions to continuously put down the alien bug.
Meanwhile here in "Hungerford", all it takes is a quick spray to the face with an aerosol deodorant, and not only is the zombie person incapacitated, but the alien bug actually leaves their body and tries to escape.
How they somehow forgot this fact between the two films is one that I feel could ruin the sequel for people who view "Hungerford" first. Since I saw the sequel first, this ruined "Hungerford" for me.
Beyond the links to its sequel, this film was just boring throughout. Nothing particularly new or interesting was done with its zombies or infestation methods. Events are painfully predictable, and none of the characters are strong or charismatic enough to carry the film. "The Darkest Dawn" made the wise decision to continue the story of "Hungerford" while framing it from the point of view of a new and unrelated character who is much more interesting and charismatic. Unfortunately, this film as it stands on its own, is just bad.
