18 June 2016

ALTERED. (2006) REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS.




ALTERED. (2006) DISTRIBUTED BY ROGUE PICTURES. DIRECTED BY EDUARDO SANCHEZ. SCREENPLAY BY JAMIE NASH. STORY BY EDUARDO SANCHEZ AND JAMIE NASH. STARRING ADAM KAUFMAN, CATHERINE MANGAN, PAUL MCCARTHY-BOYINGTON, BRAD WILLIAM HENKE, MICHAEL C. WILLIAMS AND JAMES GAMMON. REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS. ©

This horror film about aliens was slow to start and I was nearly inclined to dismiss it at first. Then the second half kicked off and bam! We were in business.

The film was directed by the guy who co-directed THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, one of the scariest and most successful horror films ever made and practically the Mammy and Daddy combined of the 'found footage films' genre. So this fella sure has the credentials, for a kick-off.

This was his first solo project since THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT and, as I said, after a slow start it turned into an excellent and extremely gory movie about extra-terrestrials, the nasty kind.

That's right, I said nasty. Not the cute cuddly 'We bring you peace' type of alien from THE SIMPSONS or the films of Steven Spielberg, like ET- THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL or CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND. These guys are some seriously ugly muthas.

This film kind of inverts the notion of 'abduction by aliens' and turns it on its head. We've got three American guys, Cody, Duke and Otis, who've themselves captured an alien in the backwoods of their remote home town. It was no accidental capture, however.

We're told, not through flashback but through the conversation of the men, that this is payback for something that happened fifteen years ago. The three men, plus their friend Wyatt and Cody's little brother Timmy, were all kidnapped by aliens on a hunting trip.

They were 'experimented on,' which we humans always seem to think means extensive anal probing, snigger. Little Timmy never made it home. To make things worse, Cody's dad to this day still thinks that Cody murdered his own li'l bro and buried him in the woods somewhere.

The mens' hatred of the aliens is understandably strong, especially the foul-mouthed Cody's. His language is appalling. His Ma clearly never washed his potty-mouth out with soap when he was a young'un or taught him that swears make Baby Jesus cry...!

The lads bring their ugly captive to Wyatt's house. For the last fifteen years, Wyatt's been keeping himself apart from his fellow abductees and hiding out in his gaff, fearful of an alien return. The last thing he wants is for his mates to bring one of the nasty muthas to his own home.

What if it's a trap, for one thing? What if the alien calls its hideous chums and alerts them to the whereabouts of Wyatt in particular, Wyatt who's been so careful to keep a low profile all these years? And if the alien manages to get free of its chains, all of their lives could be forfeit...

The special effects are superb. There are high levels of blood and guts, especially guts. There's one especially imaginative scene involving intestines that I promise you will turn your stomach. The alien is every bit as dangerous and as revolting in appearance as you would expect a member of a hostile species to be.

The stuff that happens to the lads as a result of their actions is terrifying and physically disturbing. I think this might be one of the best and scariest alien movies I've ever seen.

Wyatt is totally dreamy to look at, which is always helpful. His girlfriend Hope has a lotta chutzpah, for a chick! In fairness, she's had a lot to put up with. It's just as well that Wyatt is super-hot, with a fit body and the kind of blue eyes you could quite easily lose yourself in. Ahem...!

I love the character of the Sheriff. He's exactly the kind of been there, done that, worn the T-shirt grizzled cynical old Sheriff you might expect to find in the backwoods of America. He's got balls and class to spare, and underneath his tough exterior, he's got a heart somewhere.

I recommend this film to any fans of gore and aliens. This movie's got both. In spades.


AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY OF SANDRA HARRIS.

Sandra Harris is a Dublin-based novelist, film blogger and movie reviewer. She has studied Creative Writing and Film-Making. She has published a number of e-books on the following topics: horror film reviews, multi-genre film reviews, womens' fiction, erotic fiction, erotic horror fiction and erotic poetry. Several new books are currently in the pipeline. You can browse or buy any of Sandra's books by following the link below straight to her Amazon Author Page:

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B015GDE5RO

 You can contact Sandra at:


http://sandrafirstruleoffilmclubharris.wordpress.com





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