Alien Raiders

In Buck Lake, Arizona, the Hastings Supermarket is apparently assaulted by a group of terrorists leaded by Ritter (Carlos Bernard) that takes clients and employees in a hostage situation. One of the team members, Spooky (Philip Newby), examines the hostages detecting who should be executed and releasing the others. When Spooky is killed by the security cop, the six last shoppers and employees are kept tied and submitted to a test in one finger. Sooner the abductors reveal that they are a team of scientists containing an alien outbreak and avoid an invasion.

The tense and claustrophobic "Alien Raiders" has a great concept and good story. The screenplay could have a better development of characters and situation, since the identity of the king was very predictable for me; but considering the simplicity of the plot associated to the low-budget, the result was a remarkable movie with a great make-up and few special effects that exceeded my best expectations. The cast has magnificent performances and it was great to see Rockmond "C-Note" Dunbar and Mathew "Keith Charles" St. Patrick again on the screen. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Refém do Desconhecido" ("Hostage of the Unknown")

Judging by the title, the DVD-cover and the year of release, I would normally never even bother to watch this "Alien Raiders"… I'm a huge fan of old alien invasion movies, more particularly from the fifties and the eighties, because they feature crazy chaotic plots, outrageously cheesy special effects and a cast full of washed up B- movie stars. I don't like "new" alien invasion movies because they usually feature imbecilic plots and lousy computer-engineered effects. But a friend advised me to nevertheless check out "Alien Raiders", and I can understand why, because this is definitely one of the more inspired and entertaining low-budget Sci-Fi movies of the past two decades. The film is arguably derivative of the previous year's hit film "The Mist", as it copies the setting as well as a handful of other ideas, but there are plenty of aspects to guarantee an hour and a half of good old-fashioned and action packed Sci-Fi/horror fun. Two days before Christmas, in the sleepy little time of Buck Lake – Arizona, a troop of heavily armed militants invade the cozy Hasting Supermarket shortly before closing time. Everyone assumes they are robbers or terrorists, but in fact they are some kind of violent scientists in search for extraterrestrial parasites that are allegedly present here. The group's well-planned routing goes awry when their paranormal medium (a big-eyed freak that scans people's brains) gets shot and they have to conduct their alien identification tests via old-fashioned and unorthodox methods. Meanwhile, police forces and hostage negotiators gather outside the supermarket. What I like most about "Alien Raiders" is that it's 100% unpretentious and straightforward. It's clear that director Ben Rock and his crew don't aim to win any originality prices or cinematography Oscars, but at least everyone who was involved in this production does their job professionally. The acting performances are more than decent, without any big names in the cast list, and there are a couple of nicely gooey make-up effects and nasty slaughters. The last 10-15 minutes are rather dull, predictable and disappointing

ALIEN RAIDERS is a low budget alien-busting B-movie, set in a shopping mall of all places. It's an entirely derivative film that proudly wears various influences on its sleeve: the dark and shadowy after-hours aisles of INTRUDER; the single-location-under-siege set-up of ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13; the mutating creature from SPLINTER; plus, most notably, the monsters and scenario from THE THING, of which a crucial set-piece or two are borrowed directly.

Still, this turns out to be an enjoyable little movie thanks to some strong writing and direction. Director Ben Rock makes a shadowy and atmospheric moment with some unsettling and in-your-face frightening moments when the aliens are exposed, all down to some creepy soundtrack noises. The choreography isn't quite as good, but the film does benefit from a crisp realism and some well-drawn characters. If you're a fan of the genre you might just consider this to be a little-seen gem.

That old story. A group of people in a closed environment trying to figure out who has been infected with an Alien virus. Does that ring a bell? That's right, it's another "The Thing" rip off. Only this movie had a very restricted budget.

Still, what "Alien Raiders" lacks in financial resources, original plot points or creative ideas for a better title, it makes up with a lot of heart blood. The makers at least try to make this interesting and thrilling and for the most part they succeed.

There are a few flaws, however: Firstly, the Alien Raiders operate like amateurs, which is annoying but forgivable. What's worse is that the monster, once it rears its ugly head, doesn't look menacing or frightening. It's just a guy running around to bad sound effects. That kills a lot of tension. Finally, the twist ending is totally predictable. They could have at least realized it in a more appealing way, but the way the movie ends just makes you shrug your shoulder and wonder why you didn't spend the last one and a half hours re-watching "The Thing".

I basically went into "Alien Raiders" knowing two things: It was for Raw Feed (The makers of the classics "Rest Stop" and…. "Rest Stop 2: The Revenge of George Michael") and it had a horrible title. Seriously, visions of Sci-Fi Channel Original Movies danced through my head, and not the good kind with Bruce Campbell either. Already I was thinking about just missing it. Get some rest. Save up my energy for some other movies. It's day four, after all.

But my friend already had tickets for both of us, so I figured at the very least if it was boring I could just catch a nap.

Well… the nap never happened. Alien Raiders rises up above its horrible title and executes a tense and exciting low-budget action/sci-fi tale. Proof of this is the fact that out of all the movies I saw (Zack and Miri, which was great; Feast 2 which was... all right; couple more... can't think straight right now), this is the only one I'm bothering to write a review for. I think it's because since it's a straight-to-DVD movie, it probably won't get it's fair share of publicity. So allow me to put on my publicity gloves (And matching pants).... ahem...

The movie is about a small supermarket in Arizona that, one night while closing up, is over- run by a group of armed terrorists. The men claim that they have to "check" the remaining people, mentioning that "the king" is there and they have to find him/her/it. Now… obviously the title ruins any hope for keeping the movie's twist secret SPOILERthere are aliens that are in need of raidingSPOILER, but this movie still does a pretty good job at keeping the viewer engaged and wondering what the hell is going on, without ever confusing them.

The thing I liked the most about the movie was how it ended up being a few different kind of movies in one. It's a mystery when the cops are trying to unravel the reason for the hostage situation, it's an action film (The opening shoot-out is pretty friggin' intense), it's a sci-fi movie (Aliens… being raided), and it's even got a dash of monster movie in there for good measure. The atmosphere of the movie is pretty tense throughout. And the pacing was great as well. The movie's just under 90 minutes and no part of it really lags.

Acting-wise, TV fans are gonna' be pretty happy. The main character is played by Carlos Bernard, who we all know and love as Tony "F'ing" Almeda on "24". The character he's playing here isn't that much different from Tony, but it fits the character who, as the movie progresses, goes from being a quiet and almost creepy presence, to being a very sympathetic character. Also good was Rockmond Dunbar (C-Note from the first two seasons of "Prison Break" and one of the hit men in "Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang") as the heavy of the group... The guy who is all business and no non-sense... You know… the asshole. He could have easily been a one-note character, but is given a few instances to add a little flavor to his performances that help flesh the character out a little. There's another character that… I don't really want to give anything away, but he dies pretty early on and that kind of bummed me out. I would have liked to seen more of him. The rest of the cast did a great job as well, with only a few weak points here and there.

I got to hand it to first-time feature director Ben Rock. The dude took a really tiny budget (I've heard it was anywhere from $1.5-3 million) and turned out one of the slicker movies I've seen. He and his cinematographer's use of lighting and different styles of shooting really makes this movie rise above their financial limitations. Although, it is a shame that, towards the end, they have to resort to some old tricks (Stuttery-looking action scenes, anyone?). But at least it looks better than "Automaton Transfusion", which looks like it was shot by a hyperactive kid with a camera strapped to his head while he tried to stand still.

Overall this movie was a pleasant surprise. I'd have to give it at least an 8 out of 10. I heard this is going straight to DVD, so I definitely say give it a shot when it comes out. Hope you use this review.