Altered: Les survivants

Although it would be a stretch to call it original, Altered doesn't feel as derivative or as terribly schematic as so many similar features do. Bearing some occasional resemblance to Night of the Living Dead, with a touch of M. Night Shyamalan's Signs, and maybe a set up similar to John Carpenter's Vampires, director Edwardo Sanchez (who delivered the almost unforgettable Blair Witch Project) crafts a sufficiently effective creature feature, which may be silly, but doesn't feature a dull moment.

For seven years Cody, Duke, Otis and Wyatt have been hunting a mysterious race of Alien hominids which dwell in the shadows outside civilization. On the night that they capture a live one for the first time. They bring it home unconscious, but soon realize that they have made a big mistake. First of all, if they kill this creature, his buddies may declare war on humanity. If they don't kill it, the thing could escape and either brainwash or kill our heroes (the only ones who are even aware of the alien's existence)

Altered grabs your attention from scene one, and it maintains stability, but the climax isn't quite as solid as the rest of the film. The manner in which the last twenty minutes play out are the result of one coincidence or contrived moment following another. Of course it could have been worse. Sometimes these movie fall to pieces when trying to bring the stories to a conclusion. Some films don't even have a conclusion at all. (I won't give any names) I will say this for the climactic finale, The make-up job is sensation as we get to see the creature show us the full works, and the scene ends with a sensational wide shot of a spacecraft unlike anything I've seen since maybe Star Wars.

Altered concludes on a note which hints that there could be a sequel. One may doubt that something as small as this will see a follow-up movie, but lets not forget that even Uwe Boll's movies like Bloodrayne and Alone in the Dark (which most critics put on the worst films of the decade list) have somehow managed to get funding for even worse sequels. The point being, is that the idea of and Altered 2, doesn't sound so dumb, and considering that the film is surprisingly enjoyable, it might be interesting.

After being "taken" by aliens 15 years ago, a group of good ol' boys decide to capture an alien themselves. Not really believing they will succeed, the guys actually do trap one and take it to a reclusive friend who seems to know an awful lot about the aliens. Made on a low budget, "Altered" does an admirable job sustaining tension, dropping just enough hints along the way to keep us engaged. Being that "The Blair Witch Project" wasn't really directed so much as improved, I had my doubts about Eduardo Sanchez's credentials, however, he displays a canny sense of the genre. Make-up and visual effects were superb belying the production's budget. Although the script was the weakest link in this alien stew, the film remains engrossing. Lead performance by Adam Kaufman is excellent. He carries the film well. Once again Eduardo Sanchez creeps us out by setting the film in the woods. This guy must really hate camping! A genuinely scary movie that won't disappoint its audience.

7.2/10 As a huge fan of alien films, I've seen many lists and articles including this as a very underrated gory alien offering on a small budget. The director Eduardo Sánchez, who has definitive experience in crafting simplistically effective creepy films on tight funds clearly shows that talent here once again in even better fashion than Blair Witch Project. The overall story takes some time at first to develop within the group of 4 friends and their "guest". As pieces start falling together and developing it gets damn right insane and visceral and the tension gets extreme. I thought the action packed finale was spectacularly executed and satisfying and made up very well for the duller first half. The practical creature effects on the alien are top notch and very impressive for the production budget, as well as the brutally disgusting gore effects which do not let up for the entirety. The dialogue was absolutely ridiculous at times especially with the Cody character but it gave the film a certain personality and comedic aspect at times. The setting was a bit too limited as it was essentially shot in a couple rooms of a house but that's to be expected on a lower budget. The scenes where they were out in the forest at night were very ominous and I think they could've expanded the overall setting by utilizing that environment more. Overall this was a surprising alien film that shows you can do a lot with a little with the right people on board. I also recommend Sánchez's Bigfoot film "Exists" for a similarly solid story on a humble budget.

Seven years after the incredible success of indie horror film The Blair Witch Project, director Eduardo Sánchez returns with this effective sci-fi chiller that proves that he still has the ability to creep out the audience.

In Altered, a group of men, who were abducted by aliens when they were young, face a night of terror after they manage to capture a nasty extra-terrestrial. Sánchez, once again working on a low budget, manages to create a truly scary film with some nifty effects to boot.

Using the trusty old 'man in a rubber suit' method, rather than dodgy CGI, Sanchez delivers a convincing and rather nasty little ET which is the stuff of nightmares; this is the kind of toothy critter that thinks nothing of disembowelling its victims and then playing a game of tug of war with their entrails!

With a lean running time of only 84 minutes, the film never has time to get boring. The cast give good performances, the direction is solid, the creature is creepy and a guy gets a flesh eating disease and disintegrates during the course of the film. What more could you ask for?

A movie with potential, and promise, but somehow fails to meet the ends. You could sum up the movie, by saying it performed best, with the quality it was given. In personal bias, I'll state the movie itself could expand, further with the ideas it had. Giving it, an average rating. Everything centered around that statistic, average acting, plot, but the concept of the enemy was what was interesting.

The holes in the plot are minor, but they still should have had depth. How did this happen? What about this? It didn't give a deep intrigue towards this, but gave the amount necessary to at least grasp it, albeit somewhat.

These are all personal thoughts, but i enjoyed the movie. A settling horror flick, around your friends, or alone, but not worth more than maybe 10 bucks.