 | MOVIE DETAILS • Name: Alien Raiders • Year: 2008 • Country: USA • Director: Ben Rock • Main cast: Carlos Bernard, Mathew St. Patrick, Rockmond Dunbar • Runtime: 85 minutes • Production company: Warner Home Video, Raw Feed TRAILER |
I love it when a simple low budget movie turns into something interesting and with quality. And I am glad to say this is the case of the flick we have in hands today.
Alien Raiders starts with what looks to be a robbery at a grocery shop in a small american town, and ends up being a creature from outer space hunt mission. I won’t go too deep into details, so I don’t spoil what might be left of surprise in the movie. Because after all, no big surprises here. Alien Raiders takes a lot from the plot of John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982), uses a very similar idea and places it in a totally different scenario, with different characters but the same resolution. So although the story is not the most original one, the movie holds good enough because of a smart direction and the work of unknown actors who solve their job with a more than acceptable performance.
The movie uses the obvious low budget limitation to transform it into a claustrophobic nightmare, being almost the entire time placed inside the supermarket shop. And although the installation is very simple, it doesn’t get boring at any point thanks to the work of director Ben Rock.
When it comes to the creature and special effects, I am also very very happy to see how they stayed with classic make up prosphectics other than falling into the dangerous claws of cheap CGI. I think to stay with classic fear of the unknown knowing the budget situation was here a good move. So when it’s the time to show monsters, the result is more than good.
At moments I had the idea of watching a more darker and cheaper version of The Mist (2007), also placed in a small town’s supermarket. But Alien Raiders stay more focused in the action and the status of the situation than going deep into the characters’ personal life. And I am glad they do, because that can be a pretty dangerous place. That is for instance one of the biggest problems from The Mist, what makes it boring.
Alien Raiders is the kind of movie that you might end up forgetting, because it won’t bring anything new to the genre. But still, it delivers a very good dose of entertainment. Well done and with lots of love to the sci-fi horror world, taking influences from the classics and entertaining well the audience.
RATE: 6/10
IMDB URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0996979
