Kids vs. Aliens

Firstly I would like to start this review by saying under normal circumstances this would be the kind of B movie I would thoroughly enjoy and I had been looking forward to seeing this as I was a fan of the directors work. Sadly it turns out to be a pretty poor effort all round. The acting is good from all the young cast but the story is non existent and the fx and production values are bargain basement. The aliens look terrible and the faces just look like a Halloween mask with no moveable features. Gore wise it's very tame and apart from the odd moment it doesn't deliver much of anything. I like to support small indi horror but even at 75 mins it's a chore to get through.

The 2022 sci-fi horror movie "Kids vs Aliens" from writers John Davies and Jason Eisener turned out to be quite an enjoyable surprise. I had initially thought it was a family movie, given the movie's title. And as I hadn't heard about the movie prior to watching it, then I didn't know what I was in for.

Writers John Davies and Jason Eisener put together a very entertaining and enjoyable script and storyline for "Kids vs Aliens". And I have to say that I was genuinely entertained from the very beginning of the movie and right up to the end. So thumbs up to the writers on that accomplishment.

I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie, but they had put together a good cast for the movie. The young actors and actresses carried the movie quite well with their performances.

The character gallery in the movie was fairly okay, and the Billy character, as played by Calem MacDonald, was really a dislikable character, which was a credit to the writing skills of John Davies and Jason Eisener.

Visually then "Kids vs Aliens" is also quite good. The movie starts out fairly vaguely with out of focus glimpses of the aliens, then slowly and gradually revealing more and more of the extraterrestrial entities. It was a nice way of doing it and it worked, so director Jason Eisener managed to do quite well. The special effects in "Kids vs Aliens" were good, and the aliens were rather impressive, well aside from their prolonged fingers, which looked very impractical.

Don't get discouraged by the movie's title, because "Kids vs Aliens" is a rather enjoyable and entertaining movie. It is definitely a movie that I will warmly recommend.

My rating of "Kids vs Aliens" lands on a six out of ten stars.

This is a film that started as a great short in the V/H/S series of films. Here's the formula to this highly derivative crappy film. 1. Take the interesting idea of teenagers sitting for younger siblings and expand this to stereotypical rebellious and anarchists teens using others just to party. 2. Expand the alien action to see more of them and their inane actions of horror that really make no sense. 3. Turn the lead garbage teen into a sniveling self-centered sociopath. 4. Try to redeem by having the teen sister recognize her bad behavior toward her younger brother. Production quality is low to the point of the aliens looking like their skin is saggy costumes. And they lost the camera on the dog which was one of the best elements from the original short. Go back to V/H/S and watch better films.

Jason Eisener blends his love for pro-wrestling and grindhouse horror into an extended version of the V/H/S 2 segment that doesn't quite hit the mark. While the man's passion for these pop-culture phenomenons is largely evident, I think the plot and characterizations are super thin (especially that of Samantha and Billy) and the practical effects are a tad too silly, often bordering on the comical. Maybe, that was the intention after all? Like, an anti-Spielbergian approach to showcasing a Gen Z & Gen Alpha ensemble, i.e. Foul-mouthed kids versus horny, anarchist teenagers.

However, the film lacks conviction in delivering the goods. I'll give you an instance as to why. When the film is showing the "home movies" that the kid characters are making, it's alright to use shaky cam and extreme close-up shots as that would befit the setup. But then, why shoot straightforward action set-pieces too in shaky cam? Some of it is borderline nauseating. The main antagonist (no, not the aliens) is out-of-this-world despicable - no effort has gone into the writing or the performance. I like Eisener's work on Dark Side of the Ring, but as a feature filmmaker, I'm yet to see something truly remarkable coming from him.

A group of kids filming a movie and having the times of their life during Halloween season sounds like a fun thing to watch. Now to that add a alien invasion in the middle of a teenager's party and it turns into battle to survival with some enjoyable moments. The most remarkable part of this film is the cast, they delivered an excellent and fun performance that leaves you wanting to see more of them. This comes as a surprise since both the story and script are messy and lack of coherence proving even more the talent of the young cast.

The level of gore and practical effects is the expected for an indie b horror movie like this but works. The neon colors and costumes combined with the good acting can make you forget about the awful characters like Billy, the Dad, the Mom and flat story. This is the type of horror film that you would watch when you want to have a good time without having to think much.