Thirst

RELEASED TO TV IN 2015 and directed by Greg Kiefer, "Thirst" is about a 'Second Chance' boot camp for wayward youths in the New Mexican desert wherein the group stumbles upon a formidable alien creature and her freshly hatched infant. Horror ensues.

The plot is borrowed from "Flu Bird Horror" and "Grizzly Park" (both from 2008), but lacks the meaty subtext of the former (I'm not joking) and the humor of the latter. The desert wilderness cinematography is magnificent while the no-name cast takes the material seriously and performs with gusto. John Redlinger, who's reminiscent of Chris Pine, plays the youthful trail guide and arises as the main protagonist. Clare Niederpruem, who looks like a younger Kate Mara, plays one of the troubled kids who inspires Redlinger's character.

The vicious alien monster has a centaur-like form and is interestingly biomechanical in nature, which is never explained. Someone insisted that the mechanical elements reveal that it MUST have originated from Earth. No, all it reveals is that the creature is curiously made-up of android-like components (the arrogance of some to think that Earth is the only planet of the gazillions of planets in the Universe to contain intelligent beings that can produce technical machineries).

Bottom line: Sure, it's a hackneyed TV horror flick with a beginning that borrows from "The Blob" (1958) and an ending that borrows from "Aliens" (1986), but it has its unique points and works well for what it is. The score by Sean Jackson us superlative.

THE MOVIE RUNS 87 minutes and was shot in Utah. WRITERS: Elizabeth Hansen & Greg Kiefer. ADDITIONAL CAST: Jes Macallan & Karl Makinen play the adult instructors while Ryan Zimmer, Cardiff Gerhardt, Ashley Santos & Bryan Dayley appear as other delinquent juveniles. Christina Thurmond and Mike Law are also on hand.

GRADE: B

Flicking through the channels last night landed me with this film: a low-budget action horror with the usual bad acting and bad script.

Yet I somehow watched it all, and by the end I wondered if I'd nearly enjoyed it? Yes the pacing was atrociously slow, the premise has been done to death, but the stupid actions of the characters made me laugh. I also laughed at how often the actors got their cue wrong.

But the monster stole the show. The director clearly wanted this thing to be a splice of everything - an alien queen, a cyborg, a dinosaur, a centaur... it was such a muddled mess of ideas (it almost reminded me of Cartman's Scuzzlebutt creation). It also appears to have ninja-like stealth abilities, despite being a huge noisy, clunking, clangy machine-thing, because it can literally show up anywhere at any time and the characters only realise it is present thanks to electrical interference of a radio they carry.

So yeah, a totally garbage film that somehow manages to entertain.

So many ways out. They've got highways a quarter mile away, cars, ATVs, people within walking distance, helicopters, yet they still can't get out. No one seems to be too upset that they're being slowly picked off by this reject from the Transformers (too small, not tough enough) and literally sucked dry of their precious bodily fluids. Everyone in the movie is pretty nonchalant, in fact, with time to be jokey, have fist fights, develop romantic relationships. There's little to recommend this one except the scene with the chopper.

This film just dragged and was boring. Special Effects are alright, like Sci fi channel good. I normally am a sucker for b grade creature features with cheesiness but this was just a complete drag. And it wasn't so bad it's funny movie it was just alright enough to not be special at anything really. Like completely mediocre. If it was at least funny or creepy I would've enjoyed it more.

This film is in the Aliens mould, as it's more action with a side order of science fiction, and a little horror thrown in.

This is the story of a woman in a strange and dangerous place and who has a new child to feed. So she sets out on her quest to feed her new borne... and only the blood of the humans will do... An alien and her child crash in the desert where an outdoor Boot Camp has just received its new arrivals of troubled teens. While out on the hike that will make them or break them, they come across the body of a dead neighbour. All the fluids have been sucked out of his body... now the hike has turned into a race for survival.

Though there's not much originality in the script or the film, the opening is very reminiscent of both the original and remake of The Blob, it's the direction and pace of the film which will keep the attention of the audience. Director, Kiefer, is quite proficient at making a scene interesting. A nice camera angle here and a just sweeping pan there. This all helps to create an energetic and frenetic atmosphere, which is brilliant for an action based movie.

There is one nice original twist to the story though. It's not the troubled teens that rush head-long into danger... it's the adults, who should know better. I really liked this transposition of stereotypes. It works especially well in the scene where the helicopter pilot won't take off - the surviving kids are just wanting to get out of the desert alive, but it's the pilot who stomps away singing, "Let's Go Die!"

The special effects are okay, though you can tell all the money went on the cyborg alien. I must admit that I actually liked its design. It's like a Centaur bred with a dog bred with a toaster. The way it's skin and flesh hang off its mechanical skeleton looks pretty good. The other thing I liked about the alien is the lack of backstory or origin. You don't know if it's a robot or a cyborg or who or what created it. It's not needed and the human victims wouldn't know. It really bugs me when, in these situations, the hunted seems to know, or figures out, and understands everything about their "mysterious" hunter - making it less mysterious.

The acting is above average; nothing outstanding but nothing to switch off over. All the cast do an appealing job with the character they're given, even though these are two-dimensional and stereotyped; this film is full of the usual suspects.

As it stands this is an enjoyable action flick. Though it would have been nice to see a little more science fiction and horror elements in there. There are a few opportunities for both. The night scenes were ideal for the horror, and Kiefer does add a few tense and suspenseful moments. There could have been a few more. A couple in daylight wouldn't have gone amiss also. Since the alien is part machine, this could have been used to expand the sci-fi elements. It would have also been better had the alien's transport not been a meteor-like object, which is so overused.

I would recommend this to everybody who wants's to waste a little time with a "Leave Your Brain At The Door" movie. Get the popcorn and drinks and enjoy.