Xenophobia

When it's so bad, it's....well terrible. I've gone and done a number2 that smelled better than this movie, but in a word, our was awful.

Technically it looks pretty good. The effects are damned good for a low budget movie and I liked the music and the sound was very well done. I wish the stories had been better written. The first story just goes around and around in circles. "I have it! NO, I have it! You have it!" You'll understand when you watch it. It was pretty long feeling and I was screaming "Can we move this along?"

The other stories were also a bit hit and miss. As I said, pretty well made but the scripts needed to be refined. Anthologies are all the rage these days and I did enjoy this one a bit. Just keep in mind it is low budget. It's better than many anthologies out there, but just needed to be tighter.

The filmmaker tried to do Canterbury Tales, only with a group of fellow victims of UFO people.

But the tales were not well done--there were flashes of well done scenes and acting, and literally in the next minute it would be grade Z level acting in over the top story line/plot changes that made no sense, even in the context of a UFO story.

There is a torture scene that was supposed to be serious and girl empowering, but was just a weird farce of movie torture scenes from good action or drama films.

Not to do spoilers, but there is a last minute plot twist that was so silly and poorly done I felt dumb for not turning the movie off earlier.

I must admit that I had my doubts when I sat down to watch the 2019 movie "Xenophobia" from directors Joe Castro, Thomas J. Churchill and Steven J. Escobar. Why? Well, because I was about to embark on a sci-fi anthology with alien abductions.

While the movie's cover/poster does seem interesting, it just doesn't really have that convincing touch to it, given the synopsis of the movie. But still, I sat down to watch it, as I believe in giving each movie a chance.

"Xenophobia" wasn't exactly a masterpiece in movie history, nor was it really as bad as I had initially expected it could turn out to be. The movie and the different segments were definitely watchable, but not likely a movie that you will be watching more than once.

The segments were of very various quality and contents, I will say that much. Of course you need to watch them yourselves to pick which one you like the best.

As for the special effects, well let's just say that "Xenophobia" was coming off as being a very ambitious low budget project with the filmmakers having their hearts and intentions in the right place. I actually think the special effects worked out well enough for the movie. Sure, they were not overly great and even had be breaking out in chuckles from time to time, but it just added that low budget and classic sci-fi feel to the movie.

All in all, your life is not going to be incomplete if you miss out on watching "Xenophobia". But if you have an unhealthy interest in sci-fi, alien abductions, and what not, then you might actually find something enjoyable in this 2019 alien abduction anthology.

If the title of this movie didn't turn you off, just wait until you being watching it. Reminds me of a student thesis film school project. To be honest, I gave it one star, just because I know how much work and time everyone who works on a movie puts into it. Its up to the director, cinematographer and editor to make everything work. One star, for how much I enjoyed it. One star for being able to create a movie that's an hour long and actually convince the cast and crew they wouldn't be wasting their time. For a total of 3 Stars. It was obvious the second the movie title popped up at the beginning, this was going to be a scary ride, not because its a scary movie, I am speaking metaphorically, as in, this is going to be a painful watch. I am certain there are probably some Alien Conspiracy movie fans who will love this B-film, and it will probably make it someday on to a film site like Roku, Pop Corn, etc. Maybe even on to a middle of the night antenna T.V. slot, for people with insomnia to watch. It certainly ranks up their with many to The Asylum movies. So lets rap this up: Predictable, poorly scripted, nonsensical, quality-phobic, with cheesy aliens.