Xtro

After being abducted by aliens three years earlier Sam (Phillip Sayer) returns to earth and reunites himself with his wife Rachel (Bernice Stegers) and son Tony (Simon Nash). While Sam was away Rachel moved on with her life and started seeing Joe (Danny Brainin) and after the arrival of Sam at the couples flat Joe begins to suspect that Sam is not all that he appears to be.

‘Xtro' is not a bad little sci-fi horror movie in my opinion. While it suffers from bad, wooden acting and a sometimes incoherent plot the film is generally well thought out and capably directed by Harry Bromley Davenport. The biggest complaint I have with the movie was the lack of character development with regards to the alien. While some creatures or villains are scarier when the viewer is unaware of its origins I feel this particular life form would have benefited from at least a slight background story which was sadly lacking. However, though the plot can be sometimes a little confusing, most of the story eventually comes across well despite leaving a few unanswered questions and being slow in places. As I previously mentioned the film was fairly well directed and this really comes through in a few scenes which generally have an extremely trippy and unnerving effect.

The effects in ‘Xtro' are quite surprisingly of very good quality especially considering the budget for this flick. Though one or two of the make-up effects looked rather out-of-place from the rest most of the effects were well produced and made ‘Xtro' a rather gory movie which should keep gore fans happy. This movie found its way onto the infamous Video Nasty list and though it probably should not have been put there one can almost understand why as it features a couple of particularly brutal scenes involving women. Having said that there are far more vile movies out there and it would seem ‘Xtro' was just a poor victim of media propaganda.

‘Xtro' is certainly worth a look in my opinion for sci-fi/horror fans. Complete with a delightfully erratic and haunting 80's soundtrack the movie is fairly entertaining despite its shortcomings. ‘Xtro' is probably not for those who expect a lot of action but instead a good movie for people who like slow-paced movies with various plot aspects to think about. My rating for ‘Xtro' – 7/10.

A man is kidnapped by aliens and returns some years later in the form of four legged crablike monster.He rapes a woman and a fully grown human explodes from her womb the next day."Xtro" is a rather unpleasant low-budget horror gem that is definitely not for the squeamish.The film offers plenty of strange atmosphere and lots of cheap but effective special effects.The gore is suitably nasty and the birth scene is truly disgusting and memorable.The cast is generally decent and the finale is extremely grotesque.Later Bond girl Maryam D'Abo plays the nanny and has a wonderful nude scene.Overall,"Xtro" is much better than two crappy sequels that followed.Give it a look.9 out of 10.

XTRO is one low budget flick. So low it's almost breathtaking that they actually finished it and released it to theaters.

The film itself is somewhat vulgar and unpleasant (the low budget quality doesn't help...) but even with the unpleasant aspects of it all, the film is fun to watch because it's so wonky and bizarre that it's impossible to stop looking at it. And the cheap synth music, coupled with the UFO storyline and the odd looking alien all give the film a unique otherworldly feel to it that's more effective than 99% of big budgeted films made in Hollywood. If early David Cronenberg had directed an alien movie, it probably would have looked something like XTRO.

But even all of its good aspects don't hide the fact that the film doesn't make much sense and the acting and dialogue are, for the most part, bad. But if you're a fan of films about UFOs like me, make sure to check this film out.

Xtro (1983) scared me when I was a kid. The very idea of a kid's being tormented by aliens freaked me out big time. The special effects were graphic and sticky from what I remembered. I wish this movie was available to rent because the only copy I could find to watch is the very first one that was released during the early 80's. I am surprised that this film isn't widely recognized as one of the nastiest and bloody horror films of it's time period. Two scenes tripped me out big time, one involving the father and the other with the poor kid and his G.I. Joe doll.

Priceless stuff. I would recommended a viewing of this strange film if you could find a decent copy.

Like director Harry Bromley Davenport mentions on the (very amusing and upfront short) interview that comes with the double pairing DVD of the first two films, it's a mess. Simple as that. It's an incoherent slab of twisted ideas and episodic plots, some quite random (a dwarf in a clown costume springs out of nowhere) in quite a bewildering British low-budget Sci-fi / horror production. No wonder why this is considered a cult favourite. Trashy and nasty junk indeed, but unusually compelling because you just don't know how it's going to go about things. Instead of a clear-cut narrative (as it does have a unique spin on the various materials within), the header is to mainly shock, baffle and weird out. It effectively does that with few creative visuals, bloody make-up FX and crass special effects. Achieved from the eerie imagery and Davenport's elastically wallowing synthesizer (sounding quite second-rate, but uncannily otherworldly) score is a thick dose of atmosphere. Even the film's colouring is drearily painted. Davenport's direction is eccentrically boundless and this helps it move quickly without outstaying its welcome, (even if has that slow-burn style to it). The cast are more than decent. Bernice Stegers provides a strong show-in and lifts it up with her presence. Philip Sayer is capably empathetic and the lovely French actress Maryam D'Abo makes her acting debut. A curiously surreal and sombre uneven (purposely I guess?) b-grade fright feature that from the get-go, leaves you pretty much in the dark.