Altered: Les survivants

Seven years after the incredible success of indie horror film The Blair Witch Project, director Eduardo Sánchez returns with this effective sci-fi chiller that proves that he still has the ability to creep out the audience.

In Altered, a group of men, who were abducted by aliens when they were young, face a night of terror after they manage to capture a nasty extra-terrestrial. Sánchez, once again working on a low budget, manages to create a truly scary film with some nifty effects to boot.

Using the trusty old 'man in a rubber suit' method, rather than dodgy CGI, Sanchez delivers a convincing and rather nasty little ET which is the stuff of nightmares; this is the kind of toothy critter that thinks nothing of disembowelling its victims and then playing a game of tug of war with their entrails!

With a lean running time of only 84 minutes, the film never has time to get boring. The cast give good performances, the direction is solid, the creature is creepy and a guy gets a flesh eating disease and disintegrates during the course of the film. What more could you ask for?

7.2/10 As a huge fan of alien films, I've seen many lists and articles including this as a very underrated gory alien offering on a small budget. The director Eduardo Sánchez, who has definitive experience in crafting simplistically effective creepy films on tight funds clearly shows that talent here once again in even better fashion than Blair Witch Project. The overall story takes some time at first to develop within the group of 4 friends and their "guest". As pieces start falling together and developing it gets damn right insane and visceral and the tension gets extreme. I thought the action packed finale was spectacularly executed and satisfying and made up very well for the duller first half. The practical creature effects on the alien are top notch and very impressive for the production budget, as well as the brutally disgusting gore effects which do not let up for the entirety. The dialogue was absolutely ridiculous at times especially with the Cody character but it gave the film a certain personality and comedic aspect at times. The setting was a bit too limited as it was essentially shot in a couple rooms of a house but that's to be expected on a lower budget. The scenes where they were out in the forest at night were very ominous and I think they could've expanded the overall setting by utilizing that environment more. Overall this was a surprising alien film that shows you can do a lot with a little with the right people on board. I also recommend Sánchez's Bigfoot film "Exists" for a similarly solid story on a humble budget.

A movie with potential, and promise, but somehow fails to meet the ends. You could sum up the movie, by saying it performed best, with the quality it was given. In personal bias, I'll state the movie itself could expand, further with the ideas it had. Giving it, an average rating. Everything centered around that statistic, average acting, plot, but the concept of the enemy was what was interesting.

The holes in the plot are minor, but they still should have had depth. How did this happen? What about this? It didn't give a deep intrigue towards this, but gave the amount necessary to at least grasp it, albeit somewhat.

These are all personal thoughts, but i enjoyed the movie. A settling horror flick, around your friends, or alone, but not worth more than maybe 10 bucks.

After being "taken" by aliens 15 years ago, a group of good ol' boys decide to capture an alien themselves. Not really believing they will succeed, the guys actually do trap one and take it to a reclusive friend who seems to know an awful lot about the aliens. Made on a low budget, "Altered" does an admirable job sustaining tension, dropping just enough hints along the way to keep us engaged. Being that "The Blair Witch Project" wasn't really directed so much as improved, I had my doubts about Eduardo Sanchez's credentials, however, he displays a canny sense of the genre. Make-up and visual effects were superb belying the production's budget. Although the script was the weakest link in this alien stew, the film remains engrossing. Lead performance by Adam Kaufman is excellent. He carries the film well. Once again Eduardo Sanchez creeps us out by setting the film in the woods. This guy must really hate camping! A genuinely scary movie that won't disappoint its audience.

The scared rednecks Duke (Brad William Henke), Otis (Mike C. Williams) and Cody (Paul McCarthy-Boyington) hunt and capture a dangerous creature in the Nixon Farm and drive to the isolated house of their friend Wyatt (Adam Kaufman) to ask what to do with it. They recall that fifteen years ago the quartet plus Cody's brother Timmy had been kidnapped in the Nixon Farm and submitted to experiments by aliens and Timmy did not survive. Nobody in town believed in their words and Cody was accused of killing his brother. However Wyatt advises them to not kill the alien since he could be tracked by his breed and they would jeopardize the human race. But the powerful extraterrestrial being controls the mind of Wyatt's girlfriend Hope (Catherine Mangan) and brings horror and death along the gruesome night.

"Altered" has a confused and boring beginning since neither the situation nor the characters are well developed by the screenplay. Further, the stupid trio of characters that open the film is non- charismatic. However, after 30 or 40 minutes running time, there is an explanation and the viewer finds that "Altered" is an original sci-fi story with touches of horror and the plot finally becomes interesting. In the end, this is the typical low-budget movie that uses few locations and special effects that works. Based on my experience, I suggest the viewer to give a chance to this film and he or she may like it. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Aterrorizados" ("Terrified")