With the sci-fi genre really digging deep these days for cheap thrills and gore fest styles instead of interesting stories with decent quality, it's hard to find something worthwhile to put your money into. Considering most sci-fi flicks are so mediocre they end up on the sci-fi channel, you'd be hard pressed to say that the genre itself isn't in the crapper. The average sci-fi flick gives us aliens, mystical creatures or a giant ass snake coming to tear the world apart and only 5 soldiers, 1 reporter and an unlucky camera man standing in their way. I just gave you a premise to about 80% of the crappy sci-fi films of today. Example, Alien Abduction and Manticore. Boosh...
In the light of that, we have a new look at aliens and heroes in a somewhat typical setting in Alien Raiders. The question you must ask is "can it be pulled off?" I'm a horror fan who likes himself some blood and gore (High Tension) but loves his in depth stories (3 Extremes). With a relatively decent actor line-up, Alien Raiders is helped along with a pretty interesting and solid story.
The story for Alien Raiders goes as such: at Hastings Market in Buck Lake, things are happening that no one's aware of. Something isn't right and a band of commando raiders have a mission. Customers and employees alike are confused and afraid; so of course, it only gets worse. A strange and violent alien being has landed and implanted itself into some of the town's people. To the untrained eye, nothing seems out of place. These aliens, somewhat like Xenomorphs, implant their young into a host (a human, duh). But unlike Alien it doesn't burst from the belly, instead it blends in and grows. The only way to tell the difference from humans and infected are 1 of 2 ways: either have a spotter (who has been infected but not overtaken) or by cutting off a finger. If you cut the finger off of an infected being it will regenerate due to the aliens fear and survival instincts and voila - you got yourself an alien.
While the plot and setting sound somewhat basic and old, it's pulled off really well. Surprisingly well in fact. Director Ben Rock does this movie proud by simply not overdoing the sci-fi. The scenes with fighting and gunfire are not over the top like many of these cheesy sci-fi flicksin order to make up for shitty acting and terrible stories. The fear is kept through the movie and the acting is pretty solid. Sometimes they use a dual cam with the character Logan's (Tom Kiesche) perspective camera and the movie itself which adds to a feeling of intimacy with the characters.
The aliens are pretty badass and really well done. When you do see them they turn into tough sons a bitches. They are a mix of Xenomorphs and the creature from The Thing. They try to stay undetected like The Thing creature; but they also implant themselves into a hosts body living off of it and forcing the host to rely on it for survival as well.
The reason this movie has some promise to it because it's directed and acted well. The actors don't force their character onto you and take the "I am the leader and thus the only S.O.B. that will be alive at the end of this" approach. Damn, it was refreshing! The small things in this movie are what make it stand out among others. One of the employees, Manny (Derek Basco) is pissed that he's in this hostage situation and constantly makes snarky and funny remarks to the mercenaries to antagonize them. This keeps the story going, but also keeps you in a "nothing's wrong" mood so that the spin of the creatures truly gets to you.
The movie isn't made to scare the hell out of you but rather to interest you - talk about refreshing. Director Ben Rock took a movie and made a decent picture out of it. The movie seems like The Mist but -- what you need to look at is where the stories go, trust me -- the only thing in common is that both take place in a market. That's where the similarity ends.
Instead of a far reaching story from the mind of Stephen King, it goes a much more simple and effective route. If Alien Raiders had been done like so many others this wouldn't even be worth talking about. It was done well and it's a movie that can keep your interest without it straying away due to poor acting or story. This is a movie worth at least a rental to check out.
DVD Bonus Features
The extras aren't too bad and actually explain the alien, the spotters and how their ability to sense infected people was made. They show how Sterling and Ritter met and how they formed this alien task force.
The "Behind the Scenes" isn't bad and is worth checking out. I got my fill out of it and can say that the concept they came up with was well done.
The movie Alien Raiders is a simple yet effective sci-fi film that delivers good action, interesting stories and an ending that is pretty kickass. The movie has a decent backing from Raw Feed who has done Rest Stop as well as the hauntingly funny Otis and seems to do the sci-fi thriller well with a small spice of comedy at times. A sci-fi fan can be happy knowing this isn't another clone of an unoriginal film.
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"Alien Raiders" is on sale February 17, 2009 and is rated R. Sci-Fi. Directed by Ben Rock. Written by David Simkins and Julia Fair. Starring Carlos Bernard.
