The Applegates seem to be the average American family. They even look average. But their new neighbours think there's something weird about them and they're right: the A's are really mutated forms of six-foot high cockroaches from the rainforest of Brazil. They've come to America to destroy man's nuclear capacity - 'You must pronounce it nucular' Pa (Ed Begley Jr) warns the kids - and millions of humans at the same time. Alas, the four Applegates soon fall victim to all the evils to which man has become heir. Ma (Stockard Channing) goes on a shopping spree with credit cards, Junior becomes a hophead, and the nubile girl Applegate gets pregnant on her first date. Needless to say, this is a comedy, but one with a thoroughly adult and sometimes stomach-churning content. Though high in the cinema's canon of mad movies, Applegates is just not mad enough, nor light enough, to make you laugh like a bug. You will smile though, when Pa complains 'There's not a spark of trash about the house; the kids and I had to eat the morning paper! '

©ipc tx. Film content from TVTimes