User Reviews

Decent ecological sci-fi film that tells the story of an Earth reduced to a barren wasteland, and a scientist that decides to change all that. An experiment with bacteria, algae, electricity and who knows what else, claims the life of the scientist, but then his family begin to notice their home slowly turning into a rain forest. The teenage son plays his role well, embarrassed by his flower child mother, and his stand off-ish father, he just wants to fit in. But despite being the target of his peers' ridicule, he manages to land the affections of one of the prettiest girls in school. If only that skinny dipping scene could've happen to me in high school! Anyway, as the house keeps growing, the son slowly develops certain powers that allow him to stand up to his oppressors.

Habitat has a good story, but seems to have run short on special effects funds with 25% of the movie left to film. Some of the interior shots of the growing house are both beautiful and grotesque, but then we end up with strange scenes like a certain explosion at the end, that looks like they rigged a train set model with firecrackers, lightly covered it with moss, and let it blow.

Another one in the "detach your brain before watching" genre. I like movies like this. There's so much seriousness in our day to day lives, that when I have the time to watch a movie like Habitat, I like to just sit back, and absorb it. Much like the house did to certain antagonists in this film.

Right off the bat it must be said that 'Habitat' is very poorly directed film, and as bad as the direction is the script (by Director Rene Daalder) is even worse. The script is so utterly derivative and over the top ridiculous that it's amazing the typewriter it was conceived on didn't explode in shame. It also contains some of the most astonishingly bad dialogue in recent years (The line "It's you isn't it? You're that one potato" deserves it's place in the bad dialogue hall of fame).

The special effects are equally poor, most of the time looking like something out of a bad 1980's Duran Duran video...And then there's the performances.

The term 'almost universally bad' springs to mind here. Balthazar Getty, Alice Krige and Chris Heyerdahl all act like they're in a coma, but compared to the rest of the cast thats a good thing. The rest of the cast ranger from truly bad (Bruce Mackay, Kris Holdenreid) to unbelievably irritating (Kenneth Welsh, Katherine Trowell, and Tcheky Karyo, who seems to have forgotten how to act altogether). In fact the only passable performance comes from Laura Harris, but even that's far from good.

Not even so bad it's good, this is a painful experience to watch and is utter crud even for the most ardent (or hard up) sci-fi fan. Stupid in the extreme, this has absolutely nothing to recommend it other than a little exploitative nudity (and if you're truly that desperate rent a porno or a Troma film instead) this is the type of film making that makes Ed Wood seem like a genius in comparison. 99 minutes of your life that you will never get back, this is the very definition of a terrible film. Avoid (and thank me later).

One of a kind movie plot - parents so naturally-and-biologically advanced that they can metamorph into bug-like points of light that though ethereal, can actually be lethal. The plot saves the story, with its premise that in a Sun-damaged earth, Man needs to change himself biologically to survive. The acting can be said to be good, just average, although there are flashes of brilliance at times from Balthazar Getty and Alice Krige.

This movie had some great ideas, but unfortunately the way it was made ... no, it is not boring, but it is not enough entertaining either - remote comes handy at many parts. Reading other comments I noticed with surprise how many people liked Alice Krige's performance. To me it was pathetic and pretentious at best. She plays her role with so much "sweetness" that any normal personal may literally throw up at the end of the movie like after eating few boxes of chocolates and drinking few cans of super-sweetened condensed milk. Both taste great in little doses, overdose end ups with vomits, and so is Alice Krige's performance here. However there is an instant cure for it, kind of vaccine - also contained within this movie as well ;-) Perhaps it is not "performance", I don't dare to call it that much, but lets just say that the extended scenes and closeups of nude Laura Elisabeth Harris, proudly showing off her nice, natural pair of breathing devices - they really made up for the damages done by Krige!(I dont want my post to be taken down in any near future for using anatomically correct - but politically incorrect - words like "bre_st", "ti_s" etc). So: if youre a straight male - rent it! Your eyes will enjoy Harris in her prime. And if youre a female - you may actually Balthazar Getty in his prime, or you may even like Krige's role...

My rating: 6/10 (solely for showing Laura Harris' great stuff in this movie).

Awful - say it...AWWWW FULL...say it again. AWFUL.

That's right - really awful.

Maybe it's just me, but I found this to be ridiculously horrible.

Something benignly insanely retarded on so many levels.

This movie was also filmed in Quebec, but it's supposed to be the desert...yeah, how does that work?

Low level drivel with little plot that makes sense and some nude shots which don't help improve the movie either.

If you want to save the environment. light up a spliff and smoke it and watch something far better than this.

I was feeling ill and I was watching this movie, I think I was feling worse by the end of it. The movie had little plot, poor scenery and a budget of 2 cents! Believe me, this movie was PATHETIC!

My head hurts.. a lot... What a terrible, terrible film... honestly... terrible...

But it does contain the line "You're like a potato..."

HELP ME!!

It's sometime in the near future when the ozone layer has been completely deleted, most animal species and nearly all vegetation have been destroyed and people can't go out in the sunlight without covering due to the UV rays. A small family move into a new town where the mad scientist father, working on "accelerated evolution," has an accident with the chemicals and ends up dissolving into a swarm of "elements" and turning their home into a virtual rain forest.

The teen son (Balthazar Getty) is immune to the radiation thanks to his parent's experiments and has some problems at school with bullies after falling for an independent-minded blonde cutie (Laura Harris, who's great). Eventually the house, itself a living being, fights back when misunderstanding townspeople invade. Alice Krige is perfect as a sexy, offbeat mother with wild flowing hair and long gowns and Kenneth Welsh scores as an obnoxious high school boxing coach.

Long lost director Rene Daalder, pretty much absent from the directors chair since his 1976 cult hit MASSACRE AT CENTRAL HIGH, has crafted a very entertaining sci-fi film with a literate, funny, offbeat and intelligent script with a good, non-preachy environmental protection messages and some neat FX work.

This movie features a world where the sun beats down on the earth and causes serious burns right away as the ozone is gone. This is done very well of a movie of this type as it does resemble a b movie. The movie also features many unique crazy effects as a house is turned into a very dangerous rain forest type environment as a scientist is trying to find a way to make durable plants and such to stand up to the super harsh climate. He has a son and wife and they have to move around because someone does not approve of the experiments. Well at the new house they arrive at there is an accident right away and right away the house starts to get overrun by the various fungus and plants that the scientist is developing. Meanwhile, the son is having trouble adjusting to school as the school he is attending has the most extreme bullies ever as they not only beat you up if you talk to one of them's girl they stake you in the blistering sun which is why this movie fails, the characters are so unbelievable. The father, the mother and the coach and all the bullies are way to over the top and ruin what could have been an okay movie. Though granted it would have been nothing great considering the severe lack of things to do with a house full of bizarre plant life.

Honestly: I enjoyed HABITAT !! I switched on TV while doing some other stuff, checking my emailbox etc., and found myself suddenly under HABITAT's spell.

(Maybe it was necessary to do something besides watching the movie: thus it was easier to sit through all this much too long and too often sparkle-flowing through the air, and the high school-talk scenes. - And, I must admit, I also missed the beginning, maybe 15 minutes...)

First I was bewitched by the mother figure. Large brown eyes, innocent like a child, at the same time there was an aura of knowing, of wisdom and peace about her... she forgave her enemies, she slept peacefully, while a posse of army/police/FBI/NASA/neighbours invaded her house - her beautiful Garden Eden - full of life, while the world outside was dry, sunburnt, hostile.

Yes, I DID LOVE, absolutely, the set design: the ever-changing/growing family's house, the contrast to the stupid neighbours (with their umbrellas), the torture schoolyard (yes, the high school has a large torture stone outside in the yard, where pupils can be chained! A nice prophetic idea!), the cars wrapped in blankets (they look like publicity for a Bed Shop), the desert (I think I know it from some holidays in the Southwest)...

And the mother stayed calm, in face of the enemy = the fascist/redneck physical education trainer (beating and insulting his pupils)(a man you love to hate!). He had entered her peaceful home, insulting and threatening her, but she stayed friendly and calm, softly teaching him facts and arguments (about the small parts of his skin which serve as food for tiny little beings), while slime and snot are running out of his nose, dripping down his chin in beautifully shimmering closeup... GROSS!

This was one of the most weird/disgusting/wonderful/shocking scenes in the history of cinema: the bad guy sweating, snot all over his face, coughing and cursing, while a beautiful calm lady is teaching him facts about his body functions (did I mention her curly hairdo?! I loved it!She's definitely the Good Witch!). I could hardly believe it!

Well, and the girl that Laura Harris played: the script must have said that she is a normal young high-school girl, without any magic powers or secrets about her. But the way she is presented in HABITAT: she looks so strange, so rare: the camera and lighting treat her that she appears like an alien from outer space. Her surface is so unreal - her image can serve as an explanation why men fall for women; why men cannot resist; why males HAVE TO follow whatever female is near them. Her appearance of unearthly beauty promises hidden secrets - then she kisses passionately without reason - paradise is near!

(Besides: when they finally had sex in the lake, it was disappointing, compared to the disturbing promises during her first close-ups; but the mood was set already, and could never be lost again.)

PS: don't forget the ecological/preservation ideas! They are right! Strange but daring in this weird B-movie full of over-the-top eccentricities.

Based on the promotional picture with the tag line "Welcome to a living Hell" you might be led to believe this is a horror. Don't be fooled. Habitat is a science fiction/thriller movie and much more like an Outer Limits story than a Dead Zone one. The story is one we have heard before: "We are killing Mother Earth". Hank Symes (Tcheky Karyo) has radical plans to put an end to this destruction. His plans "accidentily" include his family. This was not a box office hit. It is not a faced paced action movie like Running Man or Total Recall. It is a movie trying to highlight an underlying issue. It is very enjoyable. The acting is mostly solid with very good performances by the older performers. The story moves along quite well and the special effect are believable with some "Hollow Man"-like tricks. Habitat does contain some nude scenes, mostly topless, and some swearing. This is mostly not out of place or out of character but does limit the audience the movie's message could have reached. The movie carries a message that we all should start taking notice of. Overall an enjoyable movie for me and that is why a 7 out of 10.

OK, let's see if I get this right. In a future where the ozone layer has been depleted, a scientist moves his family out to a desert community where he turns the inside of his house into a lush rainforest that proceeds to grow out of control. Meanwhile, his son faces the slings and arrows of adjusting to life at his new high school where he is pushed around by bullies under the command of the sadistic P.E. teacher. Also, government agents who have deemed biological experiments illegal arrive to destroy the house. That about cover it?

There's a pretty neat idea lurking around somewhere in this science fiction/ecological drama/haunted house/love story/teen drama, but it gets pulled in so many directions it just turns into a soupy mess.

In fact, now that I think about it, the only thing that really stands out in my mind about this is a delightful skinny-dipping scene with Laura Harris, the cute blonde who would later star in the also lame "The Faculity".

This is by far, without a doubt, unquestionably the best movie I have ever seen in my life! Do not listen to anything anyone else tells you, this movie is awesome and I have never been contradicted on this in person. Forget the fact that it is in the sci-fi section of movie stores (well, except that you have to go there to rent/buy it), this movie is a comedy. There is no way the writers of this movie could ever have intended it as anything but a comedy, the sets are outlandish, the special effects must have cost them a (small) handful of dollar bills, and the actors over-do everything to the point of hilarity. Not only is the premise of the movie entirely ridiculous even to the most outlandish of sci-fi writers, it makes statements contradictory to obvious, proven science and even contradicts itself in several scenes. If you haven't had a good laugh in a while and really need one, you are guaranteed to find it in this movie, as long as you don't take it seriously as a sci-fi movie.

By no means anyone's definition of a good movie, Habitat does manage to put forth a few moments that make it worth sitting through...though only once. It has a pretty unoriginal plot involving a "mad" scientist's attempts to "kick evolution in the butt," though in a movie like this plot doesn't really mean anything. There a few special effects that are laughable, but on the other hand there are some that are quite good. Overall the performances are as bad as the rest of the movie, though Laura Harris shines as Deborah, the girlfriend of Balthazar Getty's character--and I'll admit, her nude scene is pretty swell. Overall, don't bother with this movie unless you are a rabid Laura Harris fan.

This was an awful movie - the kind of movie where you kick yourself for wasting the time spent watching it. Truly stupid science fiction (and normally I enjoy sci-fi). The plot's bad, the special effects are bad, the writing is bad and the acting is bad.

In the near future, the hole in the ozone layer is huge and people cannot be exposed to the sun. The scientist Hank Symes (Tchéky Karyo) steals private materials to carry out his experiments and moves from Illinois to Pleasanton with his wife Clarissa Symes (Alice Krige), who is a microbiologist, and his teenage son Andreas (Balthazar Getty). Soon Hank has an accident in his laboratory and his lifeform evolves to glitter ethereal bugs-like, and his house changes to a living thing to become his habitat. Meanwhile, Andreas has adaptation problems at school with two bullies and his coach Marlowe (Kenneth Welsh). When he sees Deborah Marlowe (Laura Harris), who is the daughter of the coach, they immediately fall for each other. But soon Andreas learns that he was genetically modified by his father to support the heat of the sun. Hank and Deborah resolve to travel to a waterfall to bathe, bringing serious problem to his mother.

"Habitat" is an ecological film ahead of time with good intention but messy and flawed screenplay. It is not clear how people survive regarding food and meat supply in this new world. How Andreas and Deborah will survive after leaving the "garden of Eden" is also not clear since they left school and house to move together. In the end, the idea is good, but the plot is terrible. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Habitat"

this film is definitely one of my favorite trash thingies around there ... laura harris makes every film, ohhm ... i dunno, strange? such brilliant ideas, so many bad b-grade (gut native-funny) actors and a plot that seems to be born in a great rush of wodka or something... i love this. like i said, one of my favorites. if you like b-movies and in some kind independent, this is just the GODESS! mercié

I watched this movie exactly one time when it played on basic cable shortly after the release. It has lived in the back of my head ever since - at least a few particularly good scenes and sets. I remember the house being really awesome toward the end and the scene with the bullies was particularly unnerving and definitely a surprise (in less dangerous days, anyway. I hate that it wouldn't seem so surprising now).

It may not be a perfect movie but I remember enjoying it as a teenager! There are movies I watched more frequently that have faded far more. It's absolutely worth at least one watch (if you can find it).

Never mind the guilty fact that i actually sat through the entire film, this was basically the worst movie i have ever seen. It it pretty much on par with Ridley Scott's LEGEND which was a fantasy stinker as well. They tried to save HABITAT with nudity, swearing, and teen angst. I thought it must have been an 80's film, set in the future, because it was such weird stuff. The costumes are reminiscent of some bad 80's drama, and the silver space suits belonged in a family channel robot movie. Shame on 1997 for releasing that garbage. As a point of reference: other films that came out in 1997 include Boogie Nights, Grosse Pointe Blank, and Life is Beautiful. Watch Habitat for kicks but don't expect to like it.

I have to say that I really liked this movie. I watched it for one and only reason... Balthazar Getty. I love him! Habitat was really pretty stupid and not very well made, but that's part of its charm. It's supposed to be a hokey sci fi flick. I appreciate movies like this. It was entertaining. Its not for everybody but check it out if you like to rent weird movies just to have something to do for a couple of hours.

I came across this movie one lazy afternoon on our local cable...I must admit I had to watch the whole thing I couldn't believe it could be so bad! I did like the sets though..because they had that wonderful quality of cardboard..