Endangered Species

Personally, I like the old New Line movie, "The Hidden". Sure, it's a little on the goofy side, but it's a guilty pleasure. There was a part of me that believed that, with all the remakes that are being done now, that it was only a matter of time before The Hidden would get remade at New Line. Probably with Ashton Kutcher as the alien. I was bracing myself for that news when I happened upon Endangered Species.

Well, it looks like somebody beat New Line to the punch.

I haven't seen anyone rip off a movie so directly since J.T. Petty tried to pass off his "Rear Window inspired" Mimic 3 as something original. "Endangered Species" marks a new career low for Eric Roberts and John Rhys- Davies. Do yourself a favor, skip over this one and rent "The Hidden" instead.

It looks like Velocity Home Entertainment does some of the editing of the movies they release on home video because they all look the same. In "Mafioso: The Father, The Son" the editing of the violence or any sort of action is sped up to make it look "cool". The same goes with "Endangered Species". The DVD box art is not only horrible but misleading. There's a monster on the cover, even though it's about aliens. Direct To Video legend Eric Roberts is a detective figuring out who is killing people in spas and gyms. The plot is ridiculous, the special effects are laughable. The chase scene in this movie is so inept and badly edited that all you can do is stare at the screen in disbelief. The saving graces are: The good performance by Eric Roberts, the gratuitous nudity, and the gunfight at the police station (which does contain some unexpected surprises) If you want to laugh, rent it now!

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Someone is killing people in health spas and gyms(42, apparently... and no, I don't know if there's a relation to the meaning of life... however, apparently, no one wants to shut down these businesses until they catch, you know, one of the most prolific murderers), namely, the very attractive people(and I'm sure the so-called nerds from their high schools are now authoring fan letters to him). We get to see one such massacre, and it's apparently so overpowering for the editor that he has an epileptic fit for the duration of the sequence. Thankfully, we do get to see two women fully naked in this first scene, though this unfortunately is not a trend... only one other hot chick in this shows skin, and that's pretty early on, too. Once that's over, you may as well stop watching. The characters are flat. Acting is lousy(did you expect otherwise from Roberts(as one of the cops trying to get the "person" doing the bloodletting, along with Phil YoMotha) and Vosloo?(who's also going after him/it... and ruining the economy by using worthless bills)). John Rhys-Davies is given nothing to do other than embarrass himself... it's like he lost a bet or something. The comic relief is poor, we get several awkward sex jokes, and at times, you can barely tell if something is meant to be a punchline or not. Dialog is bad. There's not much gore or violence. The "action" is meh, so are the FX. This has an extremely repetitive chase. The flick is like a lame Predator knockoff, with the "creature" looking exactly like a human(yes, we get to see a different "face" for him, for little other reason than to have it, and note that it isn't the one on the cover... I think that's Batboy, actually) and using cloaking tech less(and sometimes really just to avoid showing something), with one brief Evil Dead 2 bit(and *no*, it is not worth it to rent this for that... Raimi's is far funnier). It's only 82 minutes long sans credits! I guess in its own weird way, it has its heart in the right place. The obvious message of caring about animals and thinking highly of them is rammed down our throats for the last half hour. If this wasn't so unknown, maybe that would have gotten a reaction. Probably about as positive as the one Avatar got, with morons killing themselves and getting depressed, utterly missing the point that there is beauty in *our* nature, and we forget that because we understand it. Anyway, this just isn't that entertaining. I recommend this only to those who love B-movies. 1/10

Earth Alien aka: Endangered Species is a very cheap direct-to-video flick starring B-movie veteran Eric Roberts (the dude has been in so many cheap B-movie flicks he's up there with Danny Trejo as a king of B-movies). Eric Roberts, who can be great in certain stuff like The Specialist, The Dark Knight, Best of the Best, stars here as a typical B-movie cop that does things his way & has a mouth on him, very basic B-movie cop but he does it so well. Roberts is actually fun in his basic role, it's not a great acting part & it doesn't need to be, he couldn't just "rang it in" but i think he had some fun or atleast he came across that way.

Roberts is on the case of a local serial killer but ends up coming accross another deadly killer, a human hunter from outta space. In the city (not sure what city?) It's winter but the streets are heating up when an alien hunter starts killing physically fit people for trophies (there's a hint of Predator, Terminator, Species, Dark Angel & the directors own low-budget sci-fi gem from 1990 The Peacemaker, starring Robert Davi & Robert Forster) you see the alien hunter slaughters his way through gyms for his perfect specimen targets & so were treated to some gorgeous gratuitous nudity from gorgeous big boobed ladies!!! One blond at the beginning that is killed in a gym shower is stunning with huge boobs & a perfect body. That blond is so hot that throughout the beginning of the film all the cops keep mentioning her, how a perfect 10 she was & basically how hot she is & that banter was very funny & felt natural because she really was something special.

Eric Roberts is the main cop investigating the gym murders with another cop colleague that he buts heads with, Another b flick great John Rhys-Davis, in a funny role here as a heavy-set cop with an attitude & fun banter.

There's another character after the alien hunter too, another alien that's been tracking him from their home planet & he's played by the Awesome Arnold Vosloo (Hard Target, The Mummy) as Warden, he has cool alien gadgets & weapons & he's pretty cool actually for a role that he barely speaks but gets to do action & lots of chase sequences.

There's actually a pretty cool backstory of the alien invaders, some are hunters that have hunted & killed many species over centuries & they were cool jackets that are bulletproof because it's made from extremely tough Dinosaur skin. These alien hunters killed Dinosaurs!!!

See how cool is that little detail. I couldn't help but really enjoy Alien Earth, especially when Eric Roberts "what the hell is going on" cop teams up with Arnold Vosloos calm & calculated space cop!!! Good low-budget entertainment in a very cheap 'n' cheerful way (like a very, very cheap Alien Nation at times)

The cast is very good & there's a natural banter charm with them all, even Eric Roberts police Captain (Tony Lo Bianco) is fun as he has his office is like a jungle lol so full of plants to de-stress himself, Therefore fun little touches like this scattered throughout this fun little sci-fi thriller. There is stuff to enjoy if you like B-movies or any of its stars.

Yes Earth Alien is cheap & tacky, yes it's abit basic at times, yes there's big tits to spice things up when it drags a little & yes no one has to really "Act" hard at all but to me it's an enjoyably fun cops vs aliens flick. If you like B-movies then you should enjoy this one.

Also the CGI effects are obviously cheaply done but hey Its a cheap flick that went straight to the shelves of your Blockbuster video stores & i like that about it.

A Decent musical score by Harry Manfredini (Friday the 13th, House) is a bonus for this flick.

Also Eric Roberts blond wife in this is sexy as hell, big tits!!!

There's an erotic thriller feel to this & then it flips into a cops hunting aliens flick, good late-night entertainment if you as me!!!

Directed by KEVIN S. TENNEY (a B-movie favorite of cult cinema, he made the 80's Night of the Demons, Witchboard, Witchtrap, The Cellar) but the one I'm a big fan of is his PEACEMAKER, another cops vs aliens sci-fi action thriller.

Let's not nit pick. So what if "Batboy" of "National Enquirer" fame is on the DVD cover, but not in the movie. So what if the sci-fi element is really weak and not fully developed, except to rip off "The Hidden". So what if there is a ridiculously high body count and most of the budget seems to have been spent on explosions. So what if there is lots of gratuitous nudity. So what if the kids are absolutely annoying. None of this matters, because despite all these short comings, "Endangered Species" is entertaining. There is some sharp humor, pretty exciting action, and totally acceptable acting from Eric Roberts, Arnold Vosloo, John Rhys-Davies, and Tony Lo Bianco. Cut it some slack and you just might enjoy "Endangered Species" - MERK