The Deadly Spawn

For some it's probably criminally easy to dismiss a movie like this just because of it's low budget, but "The Deadly Spawn" was somewhat of a cult-hit in it's day and it's easy to see why. The make-up-effects are quite good for a movie this cheap (reportedly it cost just $ 20,000 and ended up making millions), and writer/director Douglas McKeown actually takes time building characters before he lets them die gory deaths (moahahaha).

The monsters are quite effective, at least those small eel-like buggers reminiscent of the chest-burster that ruined everyone's breakfast in "Alien" (1979). It also deserves kudos for - in the end - painting a realistic picture of the traumatizing effects something like this would have on those who survive.

If you like alien-invasion-movies in general, or just love the charm of horror on a shoestring-budget, this might be your cup of tea.

"The Deadly Spawn" is a classic example of a horror flick made on a shoestring budget which is nevertheless worth watching due to the ingenuity of its creators.

The plot is basically non-existent. An alien comes to Earth in a meteor and hides in a family's basement. It starts picking people off and having little babies that look and behave like land-based piranhas.

The characters and dialogue are all completely forgettable. The enthusiasm that went into the creature and gore effects obviously didn't rub off on the cast.

But that's not what you watch it for. You watch it to see what a talented crew can do with little money and on that score, "The Deadly Spawn" more than delivers.

Thank god for DVD, I was waiting for a chance to see this film since I was but a wee pubescent gore fiend way back in the mid '80's when I saw a clip of it when I rented "Terror on Tape" (which was and still IS a much better compilation of horror films then the much better known "Terror in the Aisles, but I digress), while sleeping over my Aunt's house. This film's plot is just alien eats and eats and eats some more people. So was it worth the decades long wait?? Well for the most part a resounding YES. I knew it was going to be low budget and I knew it would have bad acting. But it was still a really fun movie for gore lovers. And i wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to fellow low-budget horror film fans.

Synapse DVD Extras: 2 commentary tracks (the first with the director and a few cast members and the second with the Producer); alternate opening; audition tapes; stills gallery; outtakes; a 15 page comic book style prequel; and theatrical trailer

My Grade: B

This is one of the best alien/monster slaughtering and splattering movies I've ever seen! It is so funny and creative as the monsters are something I hadn't seen before. They are ugly, disgusting, hungry and have about 7000 teeth! They can also move, but pretty slowly. How they did those monsters with the low budget? They look so fantastic and scary as they actually have nothing but huge mouths and hundreds of sharp teeth in them.

Some alien stone comes from the space and crushes into the Earth with these nasty visitors. Soon they find a new home in a cellar of one apartment, and then the "fun" begins. There is one slow sequence in the middle of the film and it is boring to sit through, but fortunately for most of the time, there is always something going on.

The effects and overall look of the film is so 80's and low budgeted and nostalgic and it really makes to miss those golden days when these were made. Nasty slashers, stupid Conan rip offs, alien clones etc. Those were the legendary days that produced us these gems, that we can now track down and enjoy. The Deadly Spawn is recommended HIGHLY for all fans of marginal cinema and especially monster cinema, because these babies are something new! They bite in a way that no other monster has ever bitten before! They appear also in a form of slithery worms, and it only raises the puke-o-meter and fun-o-meter, but only for those who understand these rare pieces of gold. Others will only feel sick watching these!

This film earns at least 7 ultra gory stars out of ten, and these films will NEVER die, no matter how many stupid mainstream efforts or "modern horror films" are made!

I saw this movie in the mid '80s, renting it for a high-school slumber-party I dubbed `Dusk to Dawn' (a marathon of B-movie horror flicks). My jaw dropped - this was intense stuff! I recently watched it again and was extremely impressed by the imaginative film-making by everyone involved. First off, I don't this utterly fantastic piece of low-budget film-making should be referred to as a rip-off of `Alien.' Just because both films share `something' that comes from another world with sharp teeth and kills people doesn't mean they're in the same ball-park! If anything, this film owes a lot more to old Corman pieces and stuff like `Trilogy of Terror,' `Don't Look In The Basement,' the early Raimi pieces, and the reprehensible `Rabid,' starring Marilyn Chambers. If there's any connection, real or feigned, it comes from the distributors, who, hoping to cash in on the rumor of a sequel to `Alien' gave `Deadly Spawn' another theatrical as `The Return Of The Aliens: The Deadly Spawn' (hence the odd title), or `Return of the Alien's Deadly Spawn' (if you like Continental's mis-print).

I enjoy this film because it's gritty and real, shot in 16mm over weekends only, filled with the normalcy of everyday life - people prepare breakfast and lunch, they feed the cat, they worry about tests, they talk about plaster giraffes. The director gives us a glimpse into a normal middle-class family with a penchant for hard-work and education, then shows us how they and a surrounding circle of people react (based on their backgrounds). For example, the brainy older brother wants to dissect one of the alien brood; the uncle wants to help his nephew by psychoanalyzing him a little; the younger, imaginative brother wants to defeat the entire pack as a horror-film defender; the little old ladies fight back dynamically - hell, aliens are nothing next to the Depression-era vermin they might have faced! Simply put, this is top-notch amateur acting with a dose of actuality! By film's end, you feel at home in their house, despite the nastiness!

That said, almost all of the actors here are great! `Boring' Uncle Herb (played by John Schmerling) must be where the character of Dr. Frazier Crane (Kelsey Grammar) came from, 'cause he's on the money! Other MVPs include Ethel Michelson as the progressive Aunt Millie, and Judith Mayes as her off-the-wall new-age mother, Bunny. And, unlike the array of idiot characters you get in most horror flicks, these characters seem pretty smart, especially Charlie (played by Charles George Hildebrandt), who comes to breakfast reading a copy of `Famous Monsters') and his scientist brother Pete (Michael Robert Coleman). I like the way director Douglas McKeown juxtaposes their two disciplines (outlooks on life - left brain, right brain) against one another. in the end, science and imagination triumph together in sheer MacGyver genius!

This is an independent film, much like `Evil Dead I/II,' with the same tongue-in-cheek approach, plenty of point-of-view shots, the same good editing (though certainly not as tight), and loads of staggeringly elaborate alien and gore effects (that would make Tom Savini proud). The adult alien is much like Audrey, the blood thirsty plant from `The Little Shop of Horrors,' but has thousands of teeth and an almost-leering grin, while the offspring are part piranha, part mealworm, part eel, part phallus - they like look like something you'd see in a Gwar stageshow or film. None ever seem like puppets! Like Raimi's film, this one has an energy and spirit that surpass the gore-and-horror paint-by-numbers. In fact, while McKeown (with screenwriters Ted Bohus and John Dods) isn't as effective as Raimi in the humor department here, he brings a much deeper social and truth-seeking criticism to the table. He pokes fun at vegetarians amidst man-eating aliens and ends the film in a 'black humor' finale.

A charming film, `Deadly Spawn' overcame some serious distribution problems (imagine that) and eventually grossed something like $320,000 in one weekend (?). Made for less than $20,000, it's since gone on to make several million dollars (wonder who got the dough?). Hooray for the little man!