Thomas Bess’ review of:
Lets make one thing clear up front: Alien Raiders is an exceptionally stupid name for a pretty darned good alien invasion flick. From what I gather the working title was Supermarket, which may in fact be even more generic but at least it doesn’t spoil the surprise the way Alien Raiders does. Now of course you’re probably saying, “Dude, the title is supposed to at least give a hint as to what’s going on” and to that I say you’re right, but the neatest aspect to this story lies in the fact that for the first act and a half or so there is absolutely no hint of an extraterrestrial presence, so that when the scuttling, skittering things from beyond the stars do make themselves known, it catches the viewer completely off guard. Or at least it would have if the word Alien hadn’t been plastered right there in the freakin’ title. As it is, I’m afraid folks who pick this up expecting space bug mayhem from the word go might spend the first forty minutes wondering where the hell the aliens are and thusly miss a darned good set-up. But enough kvetching, let’s talk plot shall we?
Our story starts at Hastings Supermarket near closing time. Just as the employees and last straggling customers are about to leave, the place is stormed by a heavily armed group of paramilitary types (Bernard, Dunbar and Ford) and a weird eyed guy they call Spooky. Holding most everyone at gunpoint, the newcomers have Spooky go among the hostages and give em a sort of Vulcan Mind Meld whereafter they are either proclaimed ‘clear’ or ‘not’. Clear gets sent to the front of the store for eventual release, ‘not’ gets a hollow-point kiss on the forehead. For the sake of giving the audience a full length film, something goes terribly wrong and soon the team and remaining hostages are holed up in the market while a small but determined local police force tries to deal with what they think is an act of domestic terrorism. As you’ve probably guessed by now, things aren’t that simple and that the deadliest entity in Hastings Supermarket doesn’t need a gun to do it’s wet-work.
To say anything else about how things unfold would be unwise because as I mentioned above, the very best part of Alien Raiders is the feeling of being dropped directly into the middle of a firefight with no time to gather your senses. Sure you know that a group of folks with guns and other high-tech equipment have taken control of a small town grocery store, but for a while it looks like it’ll be nothing more than Die Hard with produce. It’s only when the story takes the abrupt turn to the left that seemingly innocuous details fall into place and you find yourself going “Oh, that’s neat.” The cast helps immensely with this task, especially Carlos Bernard and Courtney Ford as the leader of the squad and their medic respectively. These folks are obviously troubled by what they have to do, but when time comes to act, they don’t hesitate in the slightest. Clean or not, if you impede their mission, they’ll kill ya five times before ya hit the ground. Also worth noting is the grue that really starts to fly in the last act. While there’s nothing so iconic as the chest-bursting in Alien or schlocky cool as the brain slugs from Slither, what we do get to see in terms of monster and the havoc it can wreak on the human anatomy is quite nice for the most part.
I say ‘for the most part’ because there are times when Alien Raiders suffers from a serious case of shaky cam. Now I understand that this is often done for budgetary reasons and a hardworking director doesn’t want his effects shots torn to pieces by persnickety geek types (of which I just realized I am one. Well, admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery. Anyhoo…) but if your creepy-crawlies look good for half a second, I’d be willing to bet they look good for two or three. Certainly there’s no need to linger so long we start to spot the seams and the squibs, but the effects crew here did a great job with creatures and carnage, it seems a disservice that the audience would have to use frame by frame advance to really appreciate what they were seeing.
When the lights go up, Alien Raiders won’t have changed your cinematic life, but it is an enjoyable story with a solid cast and enough grue to keep most everyone satisfied. Oh and if you’re looking for a really esoteric theme for your next movie marathon it would make a great triple bill with The Mist and Splinter. Is “Grocery Store / Gas Station Siege” on its way to being a recognized sub-genre? Much like the titular menace, methinks they’re already among us.
‘Til next time, always remember that the calls are coming from inside the house.
Director: Ben Rock
Starring:Carlos Bernard, Mathew St. Patrick, Rockmond Dunbar, Courtney Ford, Jeffrey Licon, Samantha Streets
Running time: 85 produce splattering, aisle destroying minutes.
Here’s the trailer:
Tom Bess has sideburns that are so big they might be considered a beard shaving accident from afar. He blames his current mental state on Stephen King, Mike Nelson, Seth McFarlane and Vince McMahon but bears them no ill will. He passes his time writing movie reviews, but will flee the interwebs forever as soon as Allison Mack starts returning his calls.
