FREAK FILMS: THE HELLSTROM CHRONICLE

This particular Freak Film is special indeed, as there's a good chance it'll be the only film featured here that has won both an award at the Cannes Film Festival and an Oscar. Don't be frightened, fellow Freak Film freaks-- this pic is still pretty wrong.
The Hellstrom Chronicle is a nature documentary about insects. What separates this from any other nature film is that the expert, Dr. Hellstrom, is not only warning viewers of the impending takeover of the Earth by bugs, but is also completely made up. Dr. Hellstrom is portrayed by actor Lawrence Pressman, who has been in such great films as Shaft and Very Bad Things and such turkeys as My Giant and Mighty Joe Young. He spins a tale of a race of diabolical creatures, hellbent on the destruction of the human race and global dominion. Then he shows you clips of insects with crazy, overly-reverberated sound effects dubbed in that are worthy of the lowest-budget Japanese UFO invasion flick. All goofiness aside, it's not a bad little documentary, despite the decision by director Walon Green (known for his work on hits like Eraser and Robocop 2) to have a fictional cast. As far as the strange insect conspiracy slant, considering writer David Seltzer wrote the Omen series, it's completely understandable.
If you happen to be as big a fan of insect documentaries as I am, also try to find Alien Empire, the best ever insect documentary ever made, in spite of its normalcy.