Alien Species (1996)

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

This is a bad movie. There are many things wrong with it and not much right. Here are the few bright spots:* Attractive female leads* Occasionally decent (albeit incoherent and inconsistent) effects/props/sets* Plot holes and cheesiness so extreme that you will get some laughs at the movie's expense Um... that's about it, really.I won't list the shortcomings. That includes pretty much everything else, and others have done that already. I will note one thing nobody else has yet: Charles Napier's character inexplicably vanishes from the plot roughly halfway through the film, leaving us wondering why he was there in the first place. He gets enough screen time in the first half that we think there's a purpose to his existence. Oops.The beauties in this should have gotten more work; its badness wasn't their fault. Lana Parilla did that silly alien spider movie (nearly as bad as this movie) early in her career, and she makes a fine "evil queen" in "Once Upon a Time" now.Basically, if you enjoy bad movies, or are simply obsessed with seeing all sci-fi movies ever made, knock yourself out. Otherwise, this is not for you. If you do watch it, under no circumstances attempt to take it seriously. The modest amount of enjoyment I derived from watching it came mostly from laughing at it.

The /film itself/ is a spoiler (ie, something that spoils things, such as the viewers' mental balance), but as I describe how the heroes are able to avoid being killed by the aliens, I've marked this review with a spoiler alert.The portmanteau title -- "Alien" + "Species" -- is supposed to confuse potential viewers as to the provenance of this gobbler. Of course, "Species" is pretty bad, so if you're trying to ride the coattails of another film, you should at least pick a good one."Alien Species" suggests what Ed Wood Jr might have churned out on a decent budget. The script is nothing but quadruply recycled clichés and shopworn "humor" thrown together as rapidly as the writer could type them, without the charm (???) of Ed Wood's amusing non-sequiturs.I especially liked the way Our Heroes find a remote control that shuts off the force field surrounding the alien ships -- at which point they can be destroyed by what is (relative to the ships) small-arms fire. (Bright aliens, these.) It resembles a tarted-up BIO-BUG remote control. There's no explanation of why the dozens of alien ships don't just gang up on the humans and (as Dr Crab would say) "reduce them to icky grey slime".The 1996 special effects are, surprisingly, not at all bad, even by current standards. The result is that they make the rest of the film look even worse than its already low, low level of quality.If you want to avoid brain damage or digestive convulsions (that's the polite way of putting it), avoid this film.

Surprisingly, a number of things came to mind while watching ALIEN SPECIES, Peter Maris' empty skulled direct to video ripoff of the equally idiotic INDEPENDENCE DAY, mostly because the film is so vapidly uninteresting that it served as an opportunity to engage in free-form speculation for ninety minutes while things got blown up while bathed in fluorescent green lights: 1) I am in awe of Charles Napier. He may not be as endearingly grandfatherish in appearance as Peter Cushing or have a spry, mischievous old coot thing going on like John Carradine. But like those two legends Napier has made a career out of making the ridiculous seem perfectly ordinary. Usually he is cast as a cop or military officer who always has that glint in his eye that says he knows more than he is letting on, playing the fool to keep everyone at arm's length. My favorite Charles Napier scene is from Fred Olen Ray's DEEP SPACE where he dons a Scotsman's kilt and takes up the bagpipes after an intimate dinner. His date asks "What, is that supposed to make me want to sing or something?" to which Napier matter of factly replies "No, it's supposed to make you want to take your clothes off." She does.2) The "hero" in this movie comes across as a dirtbag who has a haircut that makes him look like at least two of The Red Hot Chili Peppers. Which two I am not certain since they usually only wear socks and their underpants on-stage, and as such I have never really gotten a good look at them.3) Actress Jodi Seronick Golden is indeed the best thing about this film: She is spunky and speaks with excellent enunciation, looks great splattered with alien blood while running around in a torn business suit and has a cute little nose. She deserves better than this.4) I do not miss Will Smith at all (in fact, there are only white folk in this ID4 ripoff, which sort of misses the point why that giant bag of hot air actually kind of worked: We are ALL doomed, not just the white suburban punks & techno nerds) but the film could use an appearance by Brent Spiner without his "Data" makeup on. Without that white pancake base and ping pong ball contacts, he looks creepy.5) The kook 9/11 Truth theory idiots have nothing on the whacked out techno paranoia conspiracy allegations spouted by homogeneous white suburbanite nerds in this baby. Maybe if they didn't look like members of Garbage or Curve I could take it more seriously ... Actually, no, I couldn't.6) Computer grapics animation & special effects should only be made by people who's work does not look like it was recorded from a video game. It is one thing to make a movie that inspires or resembles a video game, but to get the process backwards requires such a willingness to look like such a moron that it us unacceptable.7) Usually I praise a film with the audacity to ignore any kind of "suspension of disbelief", has no remorse about it's ultra-low budget and sticks to it's subject matter without ever look up from the gutter once. The problem here is that this film is pilfering global threat topics and doesn't have the good sense of a movie like ZONTAR, THING FROM VENUS to just have people sitting around and talking about it. By trying to show us instead the movie crosses the line from just being vapid & amateurish to having the gall to think it would be able to hold a candle to the sight of John Agar sitting on a Naugahyde couch looking concerned as the deaths of thousands are described to him.8) The movie appears to have been intended to be the first part in a two-installment story, with no mention of whether or not part 2 was ever executed. My suspicion is that somebody had their Powermac taken away.9) The film seems unsure at times if it is a parody or just a low budget ripoff, resulting in the film's most interesting scenes. You aren't sure if you are supposed to be laughing at the idiocy or poking your friends in the ribs to make sure they get the joke too. It is a disorienting viewing experience: Are we supposed to be taking this seriously? I hope not, but if so, what was the point of it? 10) The film has an affection for colored neon lighting that is used as a substitute for atmosphere. To be frank, the most unnerving scenes were ones set inside of a car with the principal characters attempting to have a conversation. It was like listening to a bad "X-Files" episode, which amazingly is referred to in dialog in what may be a rare instance of the film's self awareness showing.11) At one point during a moment of crisis inside of the abandoned warehouse level from "Half-Life", one of the characters sweeps the area with his shotgun, at one point aiming it directly at the pretty head of Jodi Seronick Golden. Good thing it wasn't really loaded and they weren't really being attacked by space aliens or she would have been toast.ALIEN SPECIES can be found on a new 50 movie/12 DVD box set called NIGHTMARE WOLRDS. It can be found there, but just why you'd go looking for it is a matter for you to decide.2/10

Usually any B movie with at least a little gore, and some lingering gratuitous nudity is worth a look, but man! This is the worst script, worst acted piece of nonsense ever. Some B movies can be loved because they are so bad, they're actually really good - see 'Hybrid' by Fred Olen Ray for an example of this - but Alien Species goes so far down the pipe that its just not funny any more. The only funny thing about it is the lead guys ridiculous hairdo.Atrocious waste of good film, that i would have happily used to wipe my buttocks with.0/10