MY CALL: High-budget Sci-Horror done right! Alien monsters, gross gore, tentacles, pulsating cocoons and xenomorphic transformations bring visually titillating popcorn fun. MORE MOVIES LIKE Species: Other than the first sequel Species II (1998), I might consider Decoys (2004) a good double feature. Splice (2009) also follows a similar vein.
The 90s enjoyed a wave of movies (e.g., Arrival, Sphere, Contact) producing some ideas of what would happen if aliens were to respond to our messages sent out into deep space from the project SETI: Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence. As one might imagine, most of these movies didn’t focus very much on themes of sex. And then there was Species. But make no mistake, director Roger Donaldson (Cocktail, Dante’s Peak) prioritized the thrills, effects and suspense over the raunchy frills for this 90s R-rated summer blockbuster. Truly, I forgot how awesome this movie was!
Living her life in a bubble under 24/7 observation by a team of scientists, a genetically engineered half-alien girl (Michelle Williams; Halloween H20) in a government research facility has been scheduled for destruction. The girl escapes, rousing a military manhunt and a top-secret operation to capture her. Her instincts drive her to feed in preparation for a metamorphosis wherein her skin pulsates and ruptures as 90s CGI tentacles burst from her body and cocoon her into a gorgeously gross mass reminiscent of Aliens (1986) and Gremlins (1984). From this mass emerges the now grown adult Sil (Natasha Henstridge; Species II-III, Maximum Risk, Ghosts of Mars).
Sil’s primary researcher Xavier (Ben Kingsley; Self/Less, Bloodrayne) assembles a team to track her down to prevent her from accomplishing her goal of… well… mating with an Earth man and producing offspring. This team includes hitman Preston (Michael Madsen; House), Dr. Arden (Alfred Molina; Hideaway), Dr. Baker (Marg Helgenberger; After Midnight, Species II) and psychic Dan (Forest Whitaker; Bloodsport).
Having stowed away and cocooned into adulthood on a passenger train to Los Angeles, the now fully developed and beautiful Sil wanders the streets and learns about the world. But what particularly fascinates Sil is not lacy dresses nor TV shows. What catches her eye are pregnant bellies and small children as her evolutionary drive takes over.
Sil’s behavior is right out of a nature show. She kills when she feels threatened (that poor train employee), she violently dispatches anyone that presents as mate competition (that floozy at the club), and she desperately seeks to reproduce. In many ways, this plays out like an intelligent crime thriller movie hunting down a spy. Sil quickly learns she is being followed and by whom, and begins to predict, outsmart, and ultimately go on the offensive against them. Then the movie shifts from a manhunt crime thriller in style, to a monster hunt.
The mostly practical special effects in this movie hold up really well even today! In an exciting laboratory scene, the alien’s DNA produces a squiggly writhing mass of tentacles and puffy jellyfish-like morphology as it rapidly expands on-screen and skitters its way towards nervous prey. Then at an LA night club Sil yanks out a woman’s spine for hitting on the same man; she kills a pushy man by blasting her tongue out the back of his head; and she eventually mates and births a monster.
Sil’s transformation to her alien form is also quite a sight—and designed by H. R. Giger, so expect some comparisons to an Alien (1979) xenomorph. Outside of some CGI tentacles, severed finger regeneration and finale wall-crawling monster moments, everything practical is visually outstanding. This movie’s effects are graphic, gory, and they spared no expense!
I loved this movie as a teenager (for obvious and shameful reasons). But I still love it today (for very different reasons). Truly, I think this movie remains awesome and worth your time.