Horror Movie Review: Species – The Awakening (2007)

The 4th & final Species movie knew it was in trouble before it even got going so smartly chose to drop the 4 in its title. What’s more likely in regards to someone who has never seen a Species movie before; watch Species 4: The Awakening or watch Species: The Awakening? Only one sounds like a sequel.

Either way, it’s not going to be a happy result. Species: The Awakening is the last (as of August 2017) in a series that was hardly stellar to begin with! You can read our reviews of the first movie here, the second one here & the third one here.

Miranda (Helena Mattsson) is a twenty-something woman who has been blessed with good looks, brains & an affable nature. She lives with her Uncle Tom (Ben Cross) since her parents were killed when she was very young. Or at least that’s what she has been told.

Miranda collapses after celebrating her birthday & is taken to hospital. There she transforms into an alien being (the main Species looking alien) & kills those she comes across. Tom manages to find her, knocks her out with an injection (human hormones) & the pair head off to Mexico to find his ex-colleague & ex-friend, Forbes (Dominic Keating).

Along the way he reveals to Miranda her true nature. She is the product of human & alien DNA. He has been injecting her with human hormones since childhood to suppress her alien DNA, hence her normal human growth. She never had any parents, she was cooked up in a lab by her Uncle Tom & Forbes. The pair went their separate ways after they disagreed over the use of the alien/human hybrids. However now it might only be Forbes who can save Miranda.

Unfortunately the plan goes wrong & instead of saving Miranda’s life they inadvertently allow the alien side of her to become dominant. She no longer has interest in anything but procreation!

Species – The Awakening is every bit as disappointing as you might expect & then some. It deviates from the plot line set up by the first three films, instead choosing to re-imagine a different scenario. Minor references to the original don’t help to link this film in, it requires depth to tell a story about nature vs man but there is none.

A horrible cast playing boring & forgettable characters, a lack of sleazy gore & cheap looking visuals do little to improve the bad story. This feels like a bargain basement film & very little effort has really been put in to tell an interesting story or delivering a visual treat. There is very little reason to care about any of the main cast.

The ‘horror’ moments are nothing but extended action scenes that look very silly. While this film has returned to the original H.R. Giger design most of the film focuses on a human/alien look that just doesn’t work. It looks cheap & is far from intimidating. Add that these human/alien hybrids have abilities never seen before & it becomes clear that no-one involved was really putting in much effort.

So follow their lead, don’t put in any effort by bothering to watch this crap.