Alien Apocalypse
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Movie Reviews of Alien Apocalypse
Movie Review: To the Bruce
Summary: 4 Stars
Bruce Campbell.. That's all i need to say about this movie. Anyone who doesn't know who Bruce Campbell is, has been living under a rock. This is one of the greatest actors of our generation. Not selling out completely and loving every minute of his career.
This movie is a must see for any Bruce Campbell fans.
It's enjoyable and i'm glad to have it in my collection.
Movie Review: Pure Camp on a shoestring starring Bruce Campbell
Summary: 3 Stars
Synopsis:
Alien Apocalypse follows a group of astronauts who come back to earth (Oregon to be exact) after 40 years in cryogenic sleep only to find that the world has been over-run and enslaved by insectoid aliens that have a propensity to chop off fingers and eat people's heads. After being captured by the aliens and forced to work at a sawmill (for what reason I never was quite sure), two of the astronauts, Dr. Ivan Hood (Bruce Campbell) and Kelly (Renee O'Connor of Xena fame) manage to escape and try to follow up on rumors that the United States president is still alive and raising an army to fight the aliens.
Hood eventually manages to raise a rabble army (through the help of Chiropractics) to fight the aliens with the expected results.
About the Movie:
A Tv movie shot on a shoestring budget in the woods in Bulgaria with a lot of local extras and actors, this movie is a b-film through and through. The production values are fairly low though it does boast some special effects, including a few explosions and computer animated effects.
Campbell is the king of B movies, and one does not watch a movie of this nature and expect Oscar winning performances or dialog (Though I don't think Campbell is a bad actor). He isn't given much to work and his iconic attitude and silly bravado falls short. Campy dialog is fine, but it just feels like everyone was phoning it in. The bad script is main culprit. All the locally hired actors and neanderthalish dialog didn't help. Not even the pleasant presence of Renee O'Connor could help much.
It's hard not to compare this movie to the best of the Evil Dead films where shoestring budgets were used to good effect despite the lack of money. Despite having no money, those films had amazing FX and costuming. And of course, the quirky scripts were wonderful.
In this film, the costuming is really poor (everyone looks like they just bathed, despite having been enslaved in medieval conditions... and you got to love their vinyl coats), the characters have little chemistry, and the setting just makes you scratch your head, especially since at the beginning of the film, a narrator states that there are no trees left. Next thing you know, they're in a lush woods by a sawmill.
Then we have the battle scenes. Aliens with blasters versus guys with crappy homemade bows. Who wins? Not the Aliens of course.
Finally the ridiculous nature of the whole thing collapses under its own weight. It's mildly amusing at points, but falls far short of other Campbell vehicles such as Bubba Hotep or the Evil Dead films.
On the other side of the coin, this DVD contains a commentary track by writer/director Josh Becker and star Bruce Campbell. Bruce Campbell is always fun to listen to on these commentary tracks. Hearing him and Becker discuss and joke about the movie and how it was filmed and developed as it plays is almost as good as a Mystery Science Theater track. The movie itself is terrible, but with the commentary track on, it's actually watchable. I love Campbell's wit.
About the DVD
Alien Apocalypse comes in a DVD hard case in anamorphic widescreen (1.77:1) picture on this DVD, with Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Surround 2.0 audio tracks. The digital transfer is pretty good.
It comes with a few special features which include the aforementioned commentary track, behind the scenes footage, a storyboard gallery, Bruce Campbell's biography, and a few unrelated movie trailers.
Movie Review: Schlocky, but worth a look...
Summary: 3 Stars
I've been a Bruce Campbell fan for a loooong time, so adding this movie to my collection was a natural. Bruce, as is typical, just has a unique presence and is always worth watching. The rest of the film...well, that's another story....
Plot? Worse than bad. Had potential, but just never delivered because something this schlocky should be played as camp. How in the world could anyone think that this was a "serious" sci-fi plotline? Apparently at least one director.....
Dialogue? Took what was already bad and made it worse. Same reason as above.
Production? Momentually bad costuming and disastrous special effects. The scenery was beautiful and I guess it is hard to screw up or dress up a woodpile.
Acting? Unlike some other reviewers, I will tell you that I was disappointed in all of the acting, even Bruce Campbell's. However, having seen most of the cast in better productions, this is clearly not a case of talentless bums reading a script. The director, on the other hand, carries all of the blame and should seriously consider a career in accounting or dry cleaning or something else that requires no sense of humor or timing. No feel whatsoever for what could have been a delightful sendup.
Conclusion? Watch the film if you are a die-hard B-movie fan or a Campbell fan or both. Don't expect much. Perhaps turning this film into a party game would work.......
Movie Review: Half-decent B-movie romp with Bruce Campbell
Summary: 3 Stars
B-horror movie god Bruce "Evil Dead" Campbell is the main attraction of this Sci-Fi Pictures original, in which Campbell and Xena: Warrior Princess' Renee O'Connor star as opposing humans against devious, grotesque aliens hellbent on, what else, annihilation of all mankind. The special effects are about what you would expect from a Sci-Fi Channel original movie, and were it not for Campbell, this would just be another forgettable schlock-fest, but thanks to pretty much him alone, the flick ends up being enjoyable. All in all, Alien Apocalypse is worth checking out for fans of Campbell (and you all know who you are), but if you want to see a surprisingly great flick with the man, you'd be better off checking out Man With the Screaming Brain instead.Movie Review: Alien Apocalypse
Summary: 3 Stars
I have just two things to say about this movie, Bruce Campbell. Seriously Bruce makes the movie. I probably wouldn't care much about this one otherwise. But Campbell has personality that comes across and even if the effects aren't great, the story is so-so, and the rest the cast can barely make you watch, Bruce will keep this B movie afloat. Bruce is a NASA astronaut that lands on a planet ran by insects. Humans are their slave workers. Bruce raises a rebellion and the bugs don't stand a chance. I am seriously thinking about buying it just because of the fun I had watching it. Decent Campbell vehicle if you enjoy his acting. If you enjoyed this catch "Man with the Screaming Brain".
CA Luster