Altered: Les survivants

Although it would be a stretch to call it original, Altered doesn't feel as derivative or as terribly schematic as so many similar features do. Bearing some occasional resemblance to Night of the Living Dead, with a touch of M. Night Shyamalan's Signs, and maybe a set up similar to John Carpenter's Vampires, director Edwardo Sanchez (who delivered the almost unforgettable Blair Witch Project) crafts a sufficiently effective creature feature, which may be silly, but doesn't feature a dull moment.

For seven years Cody, Duke, Otis and Wyatt have been hunting a mysterious race of Alien hominids which dwell in the shadows outside civilization. On the night that they capture a live one for the first time. They bring it home unconscious, but soon realize that they have made a big mistake. First of all, if they kill this creature, his buddies may declare war on humanity. If they don't kill it, the thing could escape and either brainwash or kill our heroes (the only ones who are even aware of the alien's existence)

Altered grabs your attention from scene one, and it maintains stability, but the climax isn't quite as solid as the rest of the film. The manner in which the last twenty minutes play out are the result of one coincidence or contrived moment following another. Of course it could have been worse. Sometimes these movie fall to pieces when trying to bring the stories to a conclusion. Some films don't even have a conclusion at all. (I won't give any names) I will say this for the climactic finale, The make-up job is sensation as we get to see the creature show us the full works, and the scene ends with a sensational wide shot of a spacecraft unlike anything I've seen since maybe Star Wars.

Altered concludes on a note which hints that there could be a sequel. One may doubt that something as small as this will see a follow-up movie, but lets not forget that even Uwe Boll's movies like Bloodrayne and Alone in the Dark (which most critics put on the worst films of the decade list) have somehow managed to get funding for even worse sequels. The point being, is that the idea of and Altered 2, doesn't sound so dumb, and considering that the film is surprisingly enjoyable, it might be interesting.

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")

like sci-fi? like gore? if, like me the answer is yes then check this little gem out. its dog soldiers meets signs with a hint of the evil dead. Convincing performances from all the players and a well paced plot make altered a great film that just plane works. In recent years B movies have been plagued with bad CGI effects and I for one cant stand them. Altered on the other hand has Thomas Floutz, who was the special makeup effects artist on films like Underworld 1 and 2, X-men 3 and The Cave(and many more). So were talking top notch, old school special makeup effects, with only one or two really nice CGI shots where needed. It also has a great little appearance from James Gammon as the local sheriff. All in all its a cool movie thats nicely shot with solid performances, good direction, a well paced plot and lots of lovely gore, so if that sounds like your kinda flick then don't hesitate, rent it kick back and enjoy.

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.

'Altered' follows the capture of an extraterrestrial being by a group of men. We learn within the opening minutes that the creature is responsible for their abduction and torture - as well as the death of their friend - several years earlier.

The majority of the movie is contained within the residence of their reluctant friend Wyatt (played beautifully by Adam Kaufman who captures his character's grief and rage at the things done to him) where the group slowly begins to fall apart whilst the extraterrestrial begins to do everything it can to escape...

I hadn't heard of this film before I rented it and was pleasantly surprised to find that, even with a small budget, this was a tense (due to most events taking place in one location) and very well written little movie that kept my attention throughout. The creature effects especially were well done and managed to convey how dangerous and frightening the extraterrestrial was.

I'd recommend this to other horror fans as a shining example of how smaller budget horror movies can sometimes be far more effective than multimillion dollar blockbuster horrors dripping in overcooked CGI and underwritten characters!