MY CALL: Not a broad recommendation, but I enjoyed it for what it was and appreciated its efforts to hit above its weight class. This fun and feisty movie is best recommended more for younger viewers newer to the genre, but who still want to see some really gross shenanigans. MORE MOVIES LIKE Kids vs Aliens: For more slimy, bloody and feisty Sci-Horror, consider Extraterrestrial (2014), Psycho Goreman (2020), Snatchers (2019) and Grabbers (2012).
Director Jason Eisener (The ABCs of Death, V/H/S 2) has proven in the past that he knows how to please his gorehound fans. Obviously cheap, decidedly silly, yet still also thoughtfully executed and ambitious for its budget, KvA hits above its weight class… sometimes. Yeah, the script is choppy and erratic. But we didn’t choose to watch KvA for the story development, did we? Rather we chose this movie hoping for something zany. And zany it most certainly is.
Our cast of protagonist preteens are aspiring filmmakers working on their own Sci-Action-Schlock flick riding Power Wheels, wearing dinosaur masks and foam-spiked football pads, wrestling (in-costume and in a barn wrestling ring!) and firing Nerf guns. Don’t knock it. When I was 12, this would have been the best day ever! Gary (Dominic Mariche; Are You Afraid of the Dark?), Jack (Asher Grayson; The Dogs) and Miles (Ben Tector) are sweet, likable kids and enjoy their schlock filming escapades with Gary’s teen sister Sam (Phoebe Rex; The Last Divide).
The neighborhood teen jerk Billy (Calem MacDonald; The Umbrella Academy) has a thing for Sam and talks her into having a raging Halloween party in her barn… which occurs during an alien invasion. The party rages, things get way out of hand, and kids get abducted by aliens.
It takes a while for the aliens to play a significant role in the movie. They look like classic “greys” with huge hands. Abducted kids are melted with pink goopy acidic slime, dowsed in green goopy alien vomit, and transformed into a gangly clawed Baraka-Freddy Krueger monster. These effects aren’t top shelf, but they are trying their best. As long as you wanted something silly and gross, this works.
The production shortcomings are most apparent in the writing, party scenes, and the aliens’ ship whose interior is like a cheap cavern set from 1960s-era Doctor Who. The movie shines brightest when the kids are having fun filmmaking, and goopy gross things are happening. Most of the action was pretty weak, but the movie definitely has spirit and tries hard for us.
The big downer is that the better-quality fun, gross, goopy gore is very limited to a couple scenes—not that there aren’t numerous minor bloody gore gags to be enjoyed as well. And sure, the movie has its silly charm to make up for some of its faults. But it’s really not enough to recommend this unless the recommendation is more for younger viewers newer to the genre.
As such, I may not broadly recommend this movie. But I enjoyed it for what it was and appreciated its efforts. Moreover, I’d really like to see what Eisener could do with a more workable budget!