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.

Some deadly aliens have landed on planet Earth. Soon they are hiding in the basement of a normal middle-class American family. The two brothers Pete (Tom DeFranco) and Charles (Charles George Hildebrandt) must outwit the killing aliens if they want to survive.

Supposedly made for only $25,000. It is the effects or the look of the aliens that in my book are excellent given the shoestring budget. The acting as well is better than you are expecting, but please remember its not like any of them were robbed on Oscar night. There are also a couple dialogue heavy scenes that maybe could have been rewritten to add some spice to those scenes, but it doesn't make me not recommend this to any fans of gory, low-budget horror flicks.

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!

I'll keep it short and sweet. If you like your horror with a big fat daddy budget, this ain't for you. there's no CGI, There's no a-grade actors, there's no intense orchestral score by Danny Elfman. So, now, for the rest of you that are left - this movie is great. It has the same elements that made Peter Jacksons "Braindead" and "Bad Taste" so good, heart. the people who made this film obviously loved what they where doing and managed to pull off some great special effects and gore whilst doing so. i wish this film had another equally low-budget follow-up because the creatures are really great and after watching it you can almost smell all those 80's creature features looming round the corner. I would be very shocked if the people who made critters hadn't watched this first. So i recommend this anyone who likes mad little flesh eating beasties and lots and lots (and i do mean lots) of gore.

Extremely low budget, but lively sci-fi horror movie about a group of people trapped in a house full of toothy extraterrestrial monsters, hatched from a fallen meteorite, which look like a cross between a giant salamander and H.R. Giger's creation from the ALIEN movies.

The shoestring budget actually adds to the movie's charm, as it appears to have been written, shot and designed by a bunch of talented kids who had nothing better to do with the weekend (which is actually not far from the truth).

The dialog and performances, in general, are fair at best, but the swift pace, campy atmosphere and enthusiastic carnage balance out the shortcomings. Great music score, too. At any rate, you get the feeling that the filmmakers have a true love of the horror genre. It's creepy, gory, and a lot of fun, and would be a perfect flick for a Halloween horror-thon.