Alien Raiders- I thought I'd hate this little Sci-Fi movie right from the get go, and that was based on the title alone; it's a goofy title which screams "I'm a B movie" at the top of it's lungs. Thankfully for us, the movie sings a different tune altogether.
A supermarket full of people is taken hostage by some well trained "Terrorists", who turn out to be "Raiders" of the alien variety; they're after the source of a contagion that could doom mankind, and as rogue scientists, they aren't opposed to cutting off thumbs or hooking aliens on drugs to root out that hidden scourge...
I don't know how some low budget films "get it", and some don't; if you do it right, you don't need a ton of money to make a great movie (although it surely helps.) The creators of Alien Raiders seem to understand that though, as they made a movie that was tense, gory, fun, and managed not to do the one thing that MANY, MANY, MANY low budget sci-fi/horror movies do all the time; insult my intelligence and piss me off.
I like how they told us very little about the aliens; less is always more with me. Most films tend to lose it when they feel they have to explain or even over-explain themselves. I also love the "testing" of the hostages... it felt very "The Thing" to me, but not in a rip-off sort of way. I'm glad that this movie seems to be getting a lot of positive buzz... Sites like Dread Central and Bloody Disgusting gave the flick 4 out of 5's, and deservedly so.
The look, pacing, acting, story... it's all pretty tight and engaging. Maybe The Sci-Fi Channel (soon to be Syfy... wtf ?!?!) should hire Ben Rock and his boys to be their in house movie production team, because Alien Raiders is the best movie they never made.
Buy/rent the DVD now, and support one of the good ones.
Our Grade- B+ (8.5/10)
Outlander- Vikings vs. an Alien lizard-thing. How can you not love that sentence? This movie is basically Predator, but with Vikings and a "space dragon." Sounds odd, but I'm telling you that this movie is well made, well acted, suspenseful, and a hell of a good sci-fi/horror time.
From IMDB:
During the reign of the Vikings, Kainan, a man from a far-off world, crash lands on Earth, bringing with him an alien predator known as the Moorwen. Though both man and monster are seeking revenge for violence committed against them, Kainan leads the alliance to kill the Moorwen by fusing his advanced technology with the Viking's Iron Age weaponry.
This movie was a lot of action filled fun.
Jim Caviezel is awesome as always a Kainan, Sophia Myles is both a hot and bad ass viking chick, Jack Huston (new to me) was damn good as Wulfric, and John Hurt and Ron Perlman always rock. I especially liked Perlman as a viking King; he was more bad ass than he normally is, and the guy is Hellboy for god's sake!
If you like Sci-Fi flicks, medieval action flicks, or "I'm the only one that can save you" Road Warrior-esque type action flicks, than this is the flick for you. If you don't, I'm not sure that I want to know you.
Our Grade- B+ (8.5/10)
