Extraterrestrial (2014)

Summary
A group of friends on a weekend trip to a cabin in the woods find themselves terrorized by alien visitors.

Genre : SF/Horror
Country : Canada

Cast :
Brittany Allen : April
Freddie Stroma : Kyle
Melanie Papalia : Melanie

Director : Colin Minihan

My Opinion

It's a basic simple agreement with one cardinal rule: Do not engage.
And you, you engaged.
What do you mean?
Sweetheart, you shot one of them. Broke the treaty. Now they're out for blood.

What happens if you put a bullet in the body of a typical alien ? Yes, you get a kind of pissed E.T. that wants revenge because you have breached a contract. Believe it or not, but after the incident in Roswell, the US government made a pact with the Martians (or whatever other planet they come from). In that way our globe is kept from total destruction. In exchange, these Dr. Josef Mengele-lookalike creatures may abduct from time to time some earthlings so they can use them as guinea pigs during certain experiments. Ultimately it's a kind of "Dark Skies meets Friday the 13th." A typical Sci-fi slasher film with superficial acting, some gore moments and sometimes inanimate SEs (Especially the kidnapping of victims doesn't look that spectacular). But in the end the tone and mood of the film changes completely and you even feel like being aboard of the U.S.C.S.S. Nostromo.

April (Brittany Allen), Kyle (Freddie Stroma) and some mutual friends are the ones that have to go through this confrontation. Oh yeah, the whole thing is set in a cabin somewhere in a godforsaken place (where recently a phone booth was completely sucked up into the air, along with a hysterical woman who was hiding in it). I wouldn't recommend anyone to book a vacation in a cabin somewhere in the woods, because the misery you can encounter there, as Hollywood tries to show us, is terrifying. Ofcourse you get that terrible Hollywood cliché of having the usual annoying brat in between those teens. This time it's Seth who got on my nerves from the outset. The treatment he gets in the end was satisfying enough and even made me smile. Any way, these party animals witness a strange crash in the woods, while bickering like little kids on the porch. And who do you think is so smart to go and investigate? Of course, these by alcohol intoxicated nitwits. Probably they wanted to make some selfies at the scene, so they could have their "five minutes of fame". It turns out to be a crashed flying saucer (everyone immediately gets sober).

Despite the sometimes extremely poor dialogues and the accumulation of all possible known ingredients from other SF's and horrors, it was still a highly entertaining film that had some tension, some well-timed (but oh so predictable) scares and a menacing, dark atmosphere. Brittany Allen managed to give a successful interpretation of the with feelings struggling city girl, who emerged into a fierce fighter who tries to survive. The fact that she's surrounded by some stupid idiots, is ofcourse a reason why her personality stands out . The most amusing roles were played by Gil Bellows (Sheriff Murphy) and Michael Ironside (Travis). The last one I couldn't place immediately, but he looked familiar. Until I spontaneously started to shout "Jester's dead. Yeehaw, Jester's Dead". The ultra cool flight instructor from "Top Gun" was transformed into some crazy Vietnam vet who cultivated marijuana on a closed area and meanwhile kept an eye on the universe. Unfortunately, his contribution is fairly limited. Bellows (the rock'n'roll rebel Tommy from "The Shawshank Redemption") plays the tough sheriff who maintains order with an iron fist and is indirectly involved in the whole story of the suddenly emerging space creatures who look like anorexics. The way it turns out for him, was surprising and funny at the same time.

The twists and turns in the story are sometimes unexpected and ensure that it continues to fascinate. As I mentioned earlier, the final part of this movie feels like you've arrived in a completely different film. Only the end was pretty abrupt and unsatisfying. But in general you can assume that the gore horror sections combined with the rather exciting atmosphere and sudden twists, make sure that this is a fast-paced and fun-filled film that provides momentary entertainment. A film that is composed of several layers: a violent horror flick with intense human suffering and sorrow, dislocated families, a struggle for survival, some youngsters struggling in their relationships with each other and at the same time you can feel the humor lurking throughout this motion picture. Despite its limited budget, the camera work is sometimes admirable and some CGI's are masterfully handled. Don't expect for once original created aliens. They still look the same as they were portrayed on a "Asimov's SF Adventure Magazine" : lengthy basketball players, ultra thin with an egg-shaped head with black holes as eyes and as far as I could see I assume their development of the clothing industry is still in its infancy. And as a climax you get the anal scene which looks gruesome and horrible, but at the same time it's hilarious as hell. In other words I appreciated the entertainment value of this flick ...