MY CALL: In this spirit of entertainment (and good fun), this flick seems to have sampled a little of everything. It’s pure dumb fun for the uncritical horror fan. I recommend it. MOVIES LIKE Extraterrestrial: There have been several recent horror approaches to traditional aliens… Alien Abduction (2014), Skinwalker Ranch (2013), Dark Skies (2013), Signs (2002), The Fourth Kind (2009), The Thing (2011).
The opening scene is worth mentioning. After being refused refuge by some ponytailed jerk at a woodsy remote gas station on a stormy night, a frightened young woman makes a call from a phone booth in the middle of nowhere and it–the entire phone booth and woman–disappears…then crashes down from the sky without her in it. This sets the tone for a fun flick. Next, the credits seem serious and well composed, with glimpses of what appear to be red-filtered UFO clips. So apparently some aspects of the production were tended to more lovingly than most direct-to-DVD horror flicks.
April (Brittany Allen; Dead Before Dawn) is going to the family vacation home, a cabin in the woods, with her boyfriend Kyle (Freddie Stroma; the last three Harry Potter movies). Unbeknownst to April, who was only going to take photos of the cabin to put it on the market, Kyle invited a bunch of their friends. Melanie (Melanie Papalia; The Den, Smiley), Seth (Jesse Moss; Tucker and Dale vs Evil, Wolfcop, Ginger Snaps) and Lex (Anja Savcic; iZombie) join.
The sheriff (Gil Bellows; The House at the End of the Street) warns these 20-somethings of recent criminal activity in the area. After agreeing to behave, our youth in revolt drink and smoke, grill and dance. In the middle of a drinking and pot-smoking session, the group observes something fiery falling from the sky. Upon investigation, they find a prototypical flying saucer has crash landed leaving inhuman footprints departing the scene.
When we see the alien it has the classic look to it, however much taller and quite gangly. They shoot it, leave it for dead and end up trapped in the woods by a suspicious treefall blocking the road.
Filmed in both traditional and found footage techniques, this trope-by-numbers movie over-explains things to us with the victims saying things like “that’s a fucking alien” and “is it still in the house.” We see things like a skinny naked alien with big eyes a la Communion (1989), someone getting beamed up in a tractor beam, and every other alien movie staple you can think of…so it should come as no surprise that the aliens use mind control as well.
The effects were as good as they needed to be, including a very cool yet simple effect involving rain. I was also quite pleased with some gunshot wounds, loving the gore from the headshot. There were slimy imprisoning cocoons and slimy hallways a la Aliens (1986), a cabin siege a la Signs (2002), an Alien mothership megaplex a la Independence Day (1996) and Oblivion (2013), a weird grub impregnation a la Wrath of Khan (1982) and a bladed drill bit anal probe. Yuuuuck. We also encounter experiments hybridizing humans and aliens a la Alien Resurrection (1987) and District 9 (2009). In this spirit of entertainment (and good fun), this film seems to have sampled a little of everything.
I was happy to see Sean Rogerson (Grave Encounters, Underworld: Evolution) as a deputy. Also, look for Michael Ironside (Starship Troopers) in a cameo as a weed-farming nutcase. He’s a conspiracy-theorist Vietnam veteran with claims of nearby experimental aircrafts. His character is annoying at times, poorly written most of the time (perhaps deliberately), and entertaining all the time. He explains that the aliens are attacking because a peace treaty with these gangly aliens was broken when our victims shot the first alien.
From the makers of Grave Encounters (the Vicious Brothers), this is pure dumb fun for the uncritical horror fan. I recommend it.
