The Risen

After arriving on Earth, an alien being begins rampaging through the community killing everyone it comes across forcing a secret government operative whose life has hit rock bottom to get his life together to fend off the alien before a deadly truth is revealed.

There wasn't much to like about this one. Among the few positives here stem from the decision to focus on the aliens' rampage early on and generate some cheesy sequences involving the creature. The first scene, where it slaughters the guest at the house party leaving behind some graphic carnage in the bodies, is a fine start much like an attack on a family in their house which has the added benefit of a blackout to add some atmosphere. As well, the finale where it assaults the crew at a farmhouse offers a cheesy series of chases and confrontations to finally stop the creature while battling inside the farmhouse. Alongside the cheesy look and effects of the creature as well as the gore, these here are the few factors to like here. Aside from that, there isn't much to like here. The biggest hurdle to get over is the obvious cheapness that drips through the entire film which really makes it a challenge to get through. Not only are the cheap digital haze and transitions here a dead giveaway, the performance of everyone involved, clumsy interaction that read as improvised in the worst way possible, and irritatingly criminal technical issues apparent to render this one a big drawback. As well, there are also the attack scenes which are shot in slow motion to make it seem epic only to come off laughable when it cuts away before anything happens. This wouldn't be too bad but is undone even more by a sluggish plot that starts and stops repeatedly, introduces unnecessary sidestories, and never makes anyone likable which makes for a highly underwhelming effort.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, and Nudity.

This is one of the worst motion pictures I've ever seen. I said motion picture since you can not call it a movie due to the lack of the story. We see different scenes with different people but nothing sticks them together. Some of the characters appear only to be killed. Though, this should be an alien/monster movie we hardly see the monster. Moreover, in the longest scene we can see a nude woman taking a bath and caressing her boobs. Now, if I want to see boobs I'm going to watch Femalien or Emanuelle or whatever, but not a horror film with aliens. The only good thing in the movie is Megan Bouchard who is pretty nice and acts quite good. But she can not save this crap. Not only the non-existing story and the acting are horrible but so are the effects. When the soldiers fire with their gun you can hear a sound like ... I don't even know what but not that you should. And the visual effects are like flashing cameras or some lightning. According to the storyline written by the director it could be a good movie. Not a Hollywood super production, but a decent flick. But it's not. So I have to suggest you to avoid this even if you have nothing else to do or you are forced with a gun.

A US rocket ship crash lands in a country town and it's inhabiting alien wrecks havoc with the locals ripping a few heads off. Slade Hunter, an alcoholic war vet who suffers flashbacks (Co-Writer/Director Eric Szmyr), is searching for whomever killed his brother. He finds himself fighting for his life while directly in the midst of this apparent conspiracy involving the aliens, the U.S. government, and Jack Alder, a rouge CIA agent who set all this in motion.

This movie presents itself as if it were a comic-book complete with a scene introducing 'the Risen' comic book & comic panel segues sprinkled every now and then. (which is annoying at times. Case in point the lights go off in a house at one point, and a comic panel pops on the screen exclaiming: Black out. Really, ya think?) The story itself is a bit eclectic and doesn't always gel together, at even just a bit over an hour, more fat could've been trimmed from it or at least have been used to elaborate on vague details of the story and maybe fix some of the plot holes. I'm glad I only Netflixed this and didn't go out of my way to see it, I probably would've been way more mad at the film if that were the case. As it stands, it's still barely worth watching.

Eye Candy: In a complete gratuitous nude scene, Shawn Carla shows her tits

My Grade: D-