Extraterrestrial

I went into this open minded and willing it to be a good movie. I heard it was a horror / science fiction film, and that the first 30 minutes are worth enduring. I expected it might not get off to a good start and would then find its groove.

It stayed awful.

The main characters are so clichéd and stereotypical, its actually nauseating. A group of guy / girl, good looking party kids head to a cabin in the woods (I know right?) to meet their all to obvious ending. You don't feel anything for these characters, they lack any depth. After ten minutes I looked forward to the aliens killing them off. Unfortunately the abductors took far to long to put the viewer and the said cast out of their misery. Its a cheap Hollywood process to typecast like this. It would have been so much more interesting if it had been a family, or a group of bird watchers, anything different. Why do they always have to go for the Hollywood molded pretty kids?

It does not get any better after that. I don't want to give out any spoilers, but the only glimmer of redemption is the last 30 minutes.

Unless you really have nothing else to do and your watching on DVR, I recommend you skip until the end and just watch the last 30 minutes. You might be led to believe it may have been a decent film up until that point, but trust me, its far from what you might expect.

The problem with this film, like so many other straight to digital release movies, is the budget. Reading the synopsis, one couldn't possibly expect to see a groundbreaking film. I mean, it's the hundred millionth alien film released in the past couple decades. Yet the writers, for some reason, thought they were up to the challenge. It is apparent that the filmmakers were relying on their ability to take a genre that has been done to death and make it their own, utilizing vivid, amped up action sequences to showcase their aliens. The problem is that there was obviously no money for that. In the age of the billion dollar Hollywood blockbuster, any sci-fi film that relies solely on visuals and action sequences must have the necessary dollars to make it look good. There were so many moments that were desperately trying to send a chill down the spine of the viewer, but fell short solely because of it's inability to look like more than a SyFy network movie.

But something tells me these guys, like most Hollywood filmmakers, simply did not care. The goal is always the same. Get the money, get it done, get it out. Forget the rest. If you're looking to continue the cycle of junk film, made with speedy preparation, while lacking any and all quality, then perhaps this movie is for you. Bon Appetit.

Sheriff Murphy (Gil Bellows) of Echo Lake investigates the mysterious disappearance of Nancy McPherson from a seeming alien abduction as well as other strange occurrences. April (Brittany Allen) photographs the family cabin for her mother which is being sold. Her boyfriend Kyle (Freddie Stroma) joins her along with annoying friend Seth (Jesse Moss), Melanie (Melanie Papalia), and Lex (Anja Savcic). Melanie and April stumble upon their neighbor Travis (Michael Ironside)'s marijuana grow operation. Travis is a vet conspiracy nut. An alien spacecraft crashes in the woods.

This movie seems stuck in B-movie territory. It's definitely set up as such and never gets beyond that. The young actors are not that charismatic. Bellows and Ironside are the two named actors but they are mostly support. Ironside goes a little wacky but nothing is actually funny. The script is lacking. There are some functional special effects which border on respectable. However, there is something missing from the directions and camera work. This is not scary nor particularly thrilling. None of it is that good but it's not the worst thing in the world.

I have to confess I came to this film with jaded expectations. I have seen so many alien abduction films that have been utter rubbish I have become rather cynical.

I was then pleasantly, if not, overwhelmingly surprised by Extraterrestrials. Lets start by saying this film is by no means exceptional in any way but what it does, it does well enough to be genuinely entertaining.

The plot is standard fare, aliens encounter young adults in woods, with the usual results. There are some creepy alien scares, combined with enough action to keep you entertained plus a sad love story ending. The special effects are not spectacular but they are certainly not bad either.

The acting is competent too and includes a few well known faces, such as veteran actor Michael Ironside.

Six out of ten from me.

As I look through the IMDb scores for Extraterrestrial, I have a theory that the lower ones are coming from children of the 90's and aughts - those who have grown up to expect a particular bleak atmosphere from alien abduction movies such as that set by efforts like 'Dark Skies' or 'The Fourth Kind'.

I suspect the reviews giving it the higher scores are from kids who grew up in (or are just fans of) the older school 'adventure' horrors that became popular in the late 80's. Movies like The Lost Boys, Waxwork, Evil Dead 2, Night of the Creeps, Return of the Living Dead 2, Creepozoids, The Blob remake etc. - you know the ilk, movies whose subject matters varied wildly yet they always had the same sort of vibe - a fast-paced, popcorn-entertainment 'adventure' feeling.

That, I feel, is what the Vicious Brothers were purposefully going for in Extraterrestrial. Although they mixed in a generous dollop of the 90's cabin in the woods type characters and the 2000's abduction movie clichés, it's the late 80's vibe that rings clear throughout. If Extraterrestrial had been made 25-30 years ago, it would likely have starred the Two Corey's, or perhaps Zach Galligan and Brinke Stephens. The cop would have been Tom Atkins or Lance Henriksen; and the crazy Michael Ironside character would have been Dick Miller... or perhaps Michael Ironside, come to think of it.

Bottom line is, Extraterrestrial clearly has a primary intent of being fun rather than scary. There's a few creepy moments - most memorably the skeletal body of a dead alien vanishing into the murky waters of a swimming pool - and a few more serious turns towards the end, but overall, it's more of an adventure/survival flick than a psychological/terror flick. If we still had drive-ins, it would be playing in them right now to crowds of frisky teens instead of on Netflix.

Check your expectations before you turn it on. You're not going to get scared, or grossed out, or made to think too hard, or put on the edge of your seat with tension... but if willing, you are going to have a lot of fun. 7/10.