Alien Species

Man, this is a bad one, except sometimes when it's one of them 'almost' good ones. But mostly bad.

Basically aliens invade the US in really bad CGI spaceships (almost as bad as the CGI in Alien Blood!) and it's up to some scientists to...well they don't do much at all except avoid getting killed.

Also, Charles Napier's here as a cop for a change and two of his buddies are transporting prisoners and then pick up some other folk and then everyone ends up in a cave where all the aliens are. That's the plot.

After that we're in standard nineties Alien rip off territory where out characters try to remain alive while rubber suited monsters (and zombies!) try and kill them. To be honest this actually improves the film as we can stop watching those awful UFO effects and the actors stop bickering and get to fighting some aliens.

This could have almost been on those enjoyable bad films due to the poverty of the production (it looks shot on video!), the bad acting and the daft effects, but there's an air about the film of it all being a bit half-arsed, which is reflected in the non-ending.

You'll know if you'll like this within about ten seconds of it starting.

Release date is Germany January 23, 1998(video premiere) Nightmare Worlds 50 DVD collection has the date at 1996.

This is one of the crumbiest movies you will come across. It is too cheap to be campy. Very low budget and it shows from the beginning. They Borrowed the Sleestak suits from "Land of the Lost" a 1974-1976 TV series. You can see the zippers.

Who are these actors? Surly not good ones that just need a little extra money. Name one that you have seen before. Maybe they are relatives of the producer or director.

A tad of blood, but mostly running, running, screaming and screaming.

The world is being attacked by aliens for nefarious purposes. The poor aliens never dreamed that we would shoot them down with an old-style anti-tank weapon that just happened to be available.

This movie is summed up by the most intelligent line uttered by one of its principal characters...

"I feel like I am in a bad episode of The X-Files"

...Alien Species is a schlocky formulaic alien invasion film with decent special effects, a lot of mediocre action and decent acting, which is so poorly shot, and so uninspiringly written, that it reaches new lows. And don't get me started on the hideous sound track! This film could easily be lost among many of the early Sci-Fi Channel fiascoes. There are a number of CGI shots involving space ships, an impossibly globe-like earth and urban explosions straight out of Missile Command (complete with disappearing flame and temporary damage).

Before I waste what little energy this film's review warrants I'll let you in on the plot. Aliens are invading the earth for no particular reason and everybody on earth is so freaked out and terrified that there is no military response and general panic and desperation predominate. A couple of prisoners are being transported to jail and a flying saucer knocks them off the road, after they pick up a few stranded victims of an automobile accident (including a famous astronomer and UFO expert of course!). One of the criminals turns out to be an innocent man and easily the worst actor in the film, but fortunately he doesn't speak until about half-way through (the X-Files comment being one of his first multi-word lines). Anyway, you get the picture.

As usual, I handed this a 2 because its harmless - since I reserve single star ratings for bigger productions which pose serious mental health risks such as "Tin Cup" and "Runaway Bride". My advice - enjoy this if you're like me and have to see every bad sci fi film ever made. Otherwise, don't waste your time.

This movie has nothing going for it other than some adequate SFX; the alien ships are OK - about the level of first series Babylon 5. Other that that it is a total stinker with nothing to recommend it at all.

Why is it that, in utter crap movies like this...

...the aliens are capable of building faster than light space ship and zapping entire cities to smithereens in moments but are reduced to skulking in caves, shambling along at half a mile an hour and grabbing people's ankles?

... American cars explode so easily? You just have to sneeze on the buggers and they go up like a roman candle.

... nerdy boy college types when presented with an alien artifact he has never seen before, ripped from a dead aliens wrist, can "download its data" onto his laptop in seconds whilst under fire, when most of us have trouble working out which way round a USB plug goes in?

Where did that loaded bazooka come from in the last scene? Hunky hero ran to get it out of the car but it was nerdy boy's car. Do nerdy boy college types always just happen to carry loaded anti-tank weapons around with them? The dialogue is pathetic. The "plot" (hah!) is thuddingly obvious and paper thin, and to call the characters and acting "wooden" would be generous.

It does however contain a hilarious alien kidnapping. If you accidentally buy this movie watch it up to the point the girl gets sucked out of her bedroom window - then turn it off and put it on eBay.

(Some of the comments here are about a different film. "Alien Terminator" (a Troma 'Alien' rip-off) made in the same year was released as "Alien Species" in Britain).

This is NOT that bad of a sci-fi flick. Certain aspects of it are OK. Charles Napier is a good actor, but comes across as a bit over the top in this role. Hoke Howell is OK in his role. The rest? So so at best. Although I do give Jodi Seronick extra points for at least being able to act when she screams or cries and for being a fox. Now, as for whats left ... Plot? Its there, kind of. Earth is invaded. Continuity? Well, there was that horrendous storm that they all had to contend with during the first part of the movie that I never really saw any good evidence of. Special effects? They run from being pretty good and reminiscent, I think, of the last season of the original "Battlestar Galactica" and the TV mini series "V", to being REALLY bad. Certain shots of the galaxy look more like an out of focus photo of popcorn and juju beans laying on the theatre floor. And there is that one explosion involving an alien fighter/saucer in which the use of Fourth of July fireworks, literally, is evident. Dialog and scripting? OK for the most part, terrible in spots. Example: Max, when asked how he found them, replies that he jumped in the car to look for them. Cool. The next time I'm looking for someone and I don't know where they are I'll know exactly what to do. Jimmy Hoffa will be so proud. Sound track? Again, so so. Plausability? OMG! Examples: Max, when asked where the bazooka in the back of his vehicle came from, says he found it on the side of the road and picked it up in case of an emergency. AND he downloads alien info onto his laptop from an alien contraption that must've been in some way compatible in less than a minute! Maybe Mircosoft has outlets in spots I'm unaware of. Anyway, with all it's bad points I still found enough bright spots in it, principally the special effects and the passable action sequences, for the thing to be mildly entertaining.