Terminal Invasion

Oh dear. This reminded me of the kinds of films that I used to rent on VHS purely because of the cover.

I bought this because of Bruce. And to be honest, he is, as is usual, the highpoint of this film which has the qualities of a day time soap.

The average X files episode used to sweep this kind of stuff in 45 minutes and there is a high degree of stretch to the story. The acting is pretty poor as well with some fairly desperate stereotyping.

As a cable production Cunningham (Director) probably had little to work with budget wise but this looks and feels cheap from the opening scene.

Avoid.

Friday the 13th's Sean S. Cunningham directs The Evil Dead's Bruce Campbell in this entertaining piece of B-movie sci-fi/horror hokum. Although made for TV, 'Terminal Invasion' has its fair share of decent moments and Cunningham, no stranger to the genre, delivers a slick fun-filled film. Only the iffy editing and some dodgy scene transitions belie the movie's TV origins.

In a script that draws comparison with John Carpenter's (far superior) The Thing, a group of people, trapped inside a remote airport terminal during a severe blizzard, discover a malign alien presence intent on enslaving mankind. But with the extra-terrestrial creatures in human guise, paranoia and panic soon sets in.

Bruce Campbell, not the greatest of actors put possessing a strong screen presence, hams it up the only way he can, bringing a welcome familiarity to his role of Jack; this is basically Ash from Army of Darkness, minus his boom-stick! The rest of the cast give credible performances; a commendable feat given the cheesy lines they are forced to deliver.

The special effects are sparse, but effective; once out of their human form, the aliens are a creepy bunch of ugly critters, and there is even a tiny smattering of gore to keep horror fans happy.

Despite 'Terminal Invasion' being a made for TV offering, it is great to see Sean S. Cunningham directing again after a long hiatus-this is, after all, the man who gave us Jason Vorhees-and I look forward to 'Trapped Ashes', a horror anthology which will contain segments from four different directors (Cunningham directs the second segment) plus non-segment portions by Joe Dante. The film has been described as 'extremely twisted'. Sounds promising.

With the "near-great" Brucie, how can ya miss. Ok maybe he doesn't crack wise enough (Big Way my fave from another dud Navy spoof) but the scene near beginning in the men's room -- oh yes. Especially the religious slant. Gotta love it. Had this had an Aliens 2 style budget it would have kicked people better. But for FREE on Sci-Fi channel, what's to barf. Couple nifty twists offer a pleasant little ride. Grade: Gentleman's C. (C for Campbell)

Mostly predictable with a few surprises. Not a bad film, but not a great film. Acting was ok, aliens looked fairly real, would have looked better on a big screen. The way the aliens died looked a lot like they did on that TV show about the alien invasion called First Wave. Good surprise ending. But still a B type movie, but quite watchable.

Ok this movie will never win an award, it will never have a sequel and it will never be a cult classic, but it was a pretty good trapped with monsters formula movie. The basic plot involves aliens who are disguised as humans who are here for some reason you really won't care about, at an airport that has been caught in a blizzard. Enter Bruce "If Chins Could Kill" Campbell as our anti-hero, a convict who's trip up has been sidetracked by a cup of coffee. We quickly get down and dirty with aliens killing people and people killing aliens and people who don't trust people having to rely on those they don't trust when the people they did trust try to kill them. Got that? Good. If you follow that you'll have no trouble here. The action is fairly fast, except when it's not and I suggest that if you and your buddies haven't seen it, have a betting pool on who's what and who lives, it's not always who you think. My scores on a 1-10 scale: Action = 7, Acting = 7, Plot = 5, Tension = 7, Surprises = 7, Fun Factor = 7.