Director: The Vicious Brothers
Cast: Brittany Allen, Freddie Stroma, Emily Perkins, Gil Bellows, Michael Ironside
Running Time: 98 minutes
Certificate: 15
EXTRATERRESTIAL is the latest science fiction horror movie to be released straight to home entertainment. Sadly it doesn’t add anything original to the genre, instead rehashing the same old story.
A group of college students go to a cabin in the woods (yes that original) for a weekend of partying. Whilst there they encounter a crashed UFO and it’s occupants are not friendly. Unbeknownst to the teens they have stumbled onto the aliens frequented stomping ground and they may be the next victims.
It is mentioned several times early on that leading lady April and her family haven’t been to the family cabin since she was a young girl. Personally the more interesting plot line for me would be that her and her family were previous victims of the space travelling tyrants, with memories long repressed only for them to then slowly start to surface before her nightmares come back to life. Sadly though the plot is just too unoriginal; far too much repetition of what has come before, not enough innovation. It feels very much like the first draft of a script that went straight to shooting rather than being shaped into something special. Once our characters have stumbled across the aliens and realised that their very lives are under threat they still insist on asking what every noise is and who’s there. This grows tiresome very quickly. The other problem is that none of the characters are fully fleshed out. Then there’s the out of no-where anal probe scene that gives EVIL ALIENS a run for it’s money in the gross-out gore ranks.
Michael Ironside fans will be upset to know that his character is barely in the movie – he gets three scenes total and is lost far too soon. Also making fleeting appearances are GINGER SNAPS and Supernatural actress Emily Perkins who plays an escaped abductee, and Ally McBeal‘s Gil Bellows who plays the town’s Sheriff consumed by grief at the disappearance of his beloved fifteen years previously.
On the positive side, the production has exceptionally high values for a straight to home entertainment offering. It looks a lot more expensive than it probably was and as such the look and feel elevate the film to a higher standing than most of its low budget peers. Along with the slicker look there are some nice lighting effects, such as the use of green glowing glow sticks which adds an eerie atmosphere.
EXTRATERRESTIAL is a victim of its underdeveloped script, a little longer working on the plot and we could have had an interesting little film.
[usr=2] EXTRATERRESTIAL is out on VOD from Monday 9th March and to buy from Monday 16th March.
