paulclaassen

Astronaut Franck Martens disappeared three years ago while on a space mission. His sister, Elsa, still finds it difficult to accept the fact he simply vanished. A Statue has also been erected in Franck's honour.

Then one day Elsa is contacted by an alien, who assures her Franck is alive and safe, but they require five human bodies in order to let him go, unharmed. She is also allowed to speak to him, to confirm he is still alive. Now, Elsa has three days to find five people to lure to a specific spot in the woods where their bodies will be taken over by alien entities. Elsa decides to be selective, but when time runs out, she becomes desperate.

If you're expecting to see aliens here, you won't. We simply hear an alien voice, giving Elsa instructions. Also, don't expect to find space ships here. This is not your conventional alien movie. Very different indeed. The abrupt ending left me craving for more.

The film has many underlying themes. How do you justify four lives for one? How do you choose? 'Meanwhile on Earth' is so much more than an 'alien' movie, but the lack of aliens might disappoint some viewers.

Shortly after receiving an award for bravery, Col. Mac MacWilliams and his wife are killed in a car crash. Their teenage children, Loren (Shannon Presby) and Abby (Lori Loughlin), move to Florida to live with their uncle Charlie (Eddie Jones), who owns a filling station and an amusement park. All goes well until Dutra (James Spader), leader of a gang of troublemakers, start harassing Abby.

Protective of his sister, Loren - who has military training thanks to his Dad - approaches the gang, but this only makes Dutra more determined to harm them, and their family. Meanwhile, Loren falls in love with the Sheriff's daughter, Karen (Paige Price), while Abby starts seeing Mark (Eric Stoltz).

The conflict between the MacWilliams siblings and Dutra and his gang reaches a climax when they go to a dance, and they have to fight for their very lives.

There's never been a rock band in the small town of Mill Basin, but that's about to change with the announcement of Black Roses having chosen the town for their first concert. While the students are super excited, their conservative parents are concerned about the influence rock music might have on children.

Matt Moorhouse is a poetry teacher, and when the students suddenly appear 'different' after the band's first concert, he suspects there might be more than meets the eye. His suspicions are soon confirmed when students become rebellious. And then people start dying...

Matt is a very likable character and probably the only character I really rooted for. As a bonus, he is portrayed by the handsome and hunky John Martin.

The creature effects might not be the greatest, but they clearly tried very hard and the end result is very entertaining. I have so much respect for the 80's, where they had to rely on make-up, prosthetics and practical effects to bring creatures to life (as opposed to CGI).

I also enjoyed the soundtrack. 'Black Roses' is in the vein of 'Trick or Treat' (1986) and although that film was much better, 'Black Roses' is good enough in its own right.