Useless Humans

Well, I was entertained by what director Stephen Ohl managed to dish out with this 2020 movie titled "Useless Humans".

Sure, this wasn't an award-winning movie in any sense, but it just had that certain quality to it. In fact, I found it to be a very worthy contender for being to the alien invader genre, what "Shaun of the Dead" was to the zombie genre and "Lesbian Vampire Killers" was to the vampire genre. In other words, an enjoyable movie that manages to be witty and fun enough to not take itself overly serious, but still remaining a good addition to the genre.

The storyline is very straight forward, but still manages to be entertaining and fun. And the twist towards the end was definitely a great addition to the movie. I really liked that part.

It was partly the storyline and partly the cast that made the movie work, and they definitely had a great cast ensemble put together for the movie, with the likes of Josh Zuckerman, Rushi Kota, Davida Williams and Luke Youngblood in the lead roles. Now, I wasn't particularly familiar with these actors and actresses, but they really carried the movie quite well.

The alien was so-so. I mean, it worked out well enough, but it could have been better if done differently. But hey, it worked okay with the rest of the movie, so that was good.

My rating of "Useless Humans" is a six out of ten stars. I was positively surprised by the outcome of this movie, and I was entertained from start to end. Definitely well worth sitting down to watch.

I expect some people will pan this film completely, while some others who love B films will praise it to the extreme. I am not completely won over to either side, but overall, for a low budget comedy B Grade scifi horror, I have to admit it earns some noteworthy credit.

A lot of these kinds of films try SO hard to be funny and cheesy and they fail miserably. This one comes by both the cheese and the laughs honestly. It didn't exactly leave me with my sides splitting, but I felt entertained and at the end felt like I had been a part of a lighthearted cinematic romp, and at times some of the funny parts really hit well... and really what more can you expect?

Speaking on style and such, the acting is mostly quite solid, which is something many of these intentionally B films really fall flat on. The characters are quite flat, but of course they would be... it fits the genre. There are a couple times where the acting is off a bit unintentionally, but you have to let that slide and it is pretty minor overall. The humor is quite silly and juvenile, and a lot of it is drug centered (with fairly evident influences--most notably from That 70s Show)... but of course it is, THAT is usually part of the genre. The character effects and gore are extremely cheesy, with a straight up classic rubber suit alien who likes to pose dramatically to roar, and who teleports with cheesy little spark effects. Again... all exactly what one would want from a self aware B comedy scifi horror film. Sound is well done and lighting is handled professionally so you don't have to struggle to see or hear. The plot... well, I won't say much about it because there isn't much to say. It is what it is (although there is a bit of a ''twist'' to it).

All in all, honest entertainment for people who love the kind of movie it sets out to be. If it sounds like your kind of flick, then it probably is. I hope you watch it and have fun with it.

This is not too bad movie, although the characters tend to just stand and stare instead of actually trying to fight the alien. There are some actually funny moments and jokes which is more than most comedies nowadays have. The acting is good enough and the cheap visual effects didn't bother me. The music was too loud at points but other than that the sounds were ok.

The characters are introduced in an amusingly effortless way, making it easy to follow what was going on, just as as a comedy should. Why all this appears with horror/sci-fi trappings is a little odd, but I say -- don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

Considering this was made on a shoestring budget I think they did really well. The acting wasn't bad, the script was okay and it made me laugh in places., especially the alien, whose costume was probably bought from a Halloween store. Well done.