Horror Movie Review: Extraterrestrial (2014)

Uninspired name aside, Extraterrestrial is a surprisingly decent flick with some good scenes of horror, plenty of mystery & some really clever visuals. Visuals that do admittedly distract somewhat from the sub-standard cliché driven story.

The movie opens showing a panicked woman trying to gain entry to a gas station. The attendant doesn’t want to know & sends her away. She goes into a nearby phone box & disappears in a flash of light. The attendant watches in shock as the empty phone box comes crashing back down.

Aliens then.

A little bit later a group of clichés are heading for a weekend break at a secluded cabin in the woods. The group are forgettable characters who engage in the usual horror movie pastimes, drinking, drugs & sex. One of the group, Kyle (Freddie Stroma) decides now is the time to propose to his girlfriend, April (Brittany Allen) which doesn’t go well.

After far too much time arguing over the rejected proposal, we are thankfully sparred any more by the sudden crash landing of an alien spaceship. The most stereotypical alien spaceship ever. The group find it & are amazed to see foot-prints leading away from the crash. It looks like whatever was inside survived!

Back at the cabin the group end up shooting dead the surviving alien (a stereotypical looking alien) Thinking they’ve got the story of the century they head out to the nearest town for help. Unfortunately for them though, that alien had friends…and they’re not happy.

What follows is a violent & tense fight for survival against beings from another world. Just what exactly do they want? The local sheriff (Gil Bellows) who believes his wife was abducted years before is going to find out!

The thing about Extraterrestrial is that while it utilises far too many familiar horror tropes & clichés it does them well enough to be enjoyable. The characters might be rubbish but the acting is solid enough. The gore has some imagination & a finale on an actual alien ship ramps up the mystery & tension nicely.

There are few complaints about the acting, most don’t have much to really work with but a few well-known names like Gil Bellows & Michael Ironside add some weight to the cast.

Where the movie really excels is with its visuals, the use of colour really adding an other-worldly feel to things. The power these aliens possess is like nothing else & survival seems impossible. Once you get past the first 30-40 minutes of boorish & standard sci-fi horror, the film gets interesting enough to make it a worthwhile watch.