The Deadly Spawn
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Movie Reviews of The Deadly Spawn
Movie Review: great cheesey fun
Summary: 5 Stars
this movie is basically about an alien being that crash lands to earth in this small town where the alien goes on a rampage of killing then devouring people, having small alien babys, and growing. this movie is great, its a fun to watch alien movie, with a great alien in the movie, if you like to watch cheesey 80s alien horror movie, then defineatly go check out this movie.Movie Review: best sci flick ever
Summary: 5 Stars
Awesome effects, creepy aliens, loads of gore, awesome story. What more do you want in an Alien horror movie. One of my favorites of all time!! Im not going to ruin any of the movie so thats all I will say, see it!Movie Review: Graphic gore at its finnest!
Summary: 5 Stars
Rent the video back in the 80's. WOW did I enjoy this film. The fx are not bad for that time. Thank you Synapse for the great dvd. Clear picture and lots of extras. Forget renting it go out and buy it.Movie Review: Extremely gory cult classic comes to DVD
Summary: 4 Stars
I have now suffered through so many zero budget horror films that I'm starting to express serious reservations about watching any more of them. You know the sort of "movies" I'm talking about. Some dolt with a hankering to become a the next Quentin Tarentino borrows Mom and Dad's video camera, hires friends as "actors," spends a grand total of a buck and a half on the budget, and shoots the thing in their basement. The editing technique consists of hacking together scenes with two VCRs. I've gone on and on about the greatness of the DVD revolution, how the arrival of this medium has allowed us to see films that haven't seen the light of day for decades, but there's a downside as well. The clamor for product, any product, to fill video store shelves means these shot on video crudfests find a distributor. Heck, the big chains carry a lot of these types of films nowadays. It wasn't always this way. Enter the 1983 movie "The Deadly Spawn," a film that, if made today, would almost certainly be a shot on video production. Twenty plus years ago, however, even low budget filmmakers had to shoot on film.
And the "Deadly Spawn" IS low budget, painfully so. Yet the movie works. The picture begins with a sparking meteorite crashing to earth (We've never seen that before!) and disgorging a disgusting alien life form with murderous intent. Two campers who witness the fireworks are the first to fall prey to the beastie, although their deaths take place off camera so we don't see the alien right from the start. The creature then travels to a nearby house to take up residence in the dark, dank basement. Why? Because the alien needs a quiet place to spawn. Anyway, the family that lives in the house wakes up and begins their daily routine. Mom and Dad are the first ones up, and they're also the first ones to go down into the basement and die horribly. Their kids, Charles (Charles Hildebrandt) and Pete (Tom DeFranco), think nothing of their parents' absence. Chuck, a horror film fanatic with a love for makeup effects and magic tricks, is too busy cooking up new schemes to bother his Uncle Herb (John Schmerling), a psychiatrist worried about his nephew's grisly hobby, and his equally concerned Aunt Millie (Ethel Michelson). As for Pete, he's an astronomy nut looking forward to his friends coming over for a visit.
Charles eventually heads down into the basement and discovers the creature, which has three heads that consist of nothing but mouths packed full of rows upon rows of jagged teeth. Yuck! Even worse, the kid notices two supremely disturbing things. One, the alien is giving birth to what looks like hundreds of little wormlike creatures, and these too sport jagged teeth and an insatiable appetite. Two, and far more relevant, Charles notices the alien spawn feasting upon the ripped and torn face of one of his parents. Upstairs, Pete and a few of his friends discover one of the alien spawn and ponder over what they've found. Is it a worm? Or is it a new life form never before discovered? Pete and his pals are about to find out the hard way. To give the film a further sense of unfolding chaos, a gathering of old folks meeting nearby finds out in no uncertain terms that these little alien spawn play for keeps. How to stop the spread of the monsters? How to save humanity from the crawling terror in the basement? Charles steps up to save the world with a few little tricks and a whole mess of magic supplies, but will his efforts be enough to stop the evil? Prepare to blow chunks!
A fun movie, indeed, although it has problems one always finds in low budget productions. The difference here is that the movie occasionally turns the faults into a force for good. For example, the acting won't win any awards, no doubt about it. I cringed at some of the lines and situations in the movie. But the leaden dialogue and campy performances--see the old ladies screeching during the alien attack--actually helps rather than hurts the film. You're laughing even as you're grossed out by the onscreen carnage. One difficulty inherent in any low budget horror flick usually revolves around the special effects, something I'm proud to say isn't a problem here. The monster looks great, and the gore effects are truly stomach churning. I already mentioned the face chewing, but we also get eyeball violence, decapitations, and other cheer worthy carnage. It's obvious the filmmakers dumped practically every dime they had into making the alien and her (I guess it's a her since she's spawning) vicious attacks look as convincing as possible. Another wise choice involved limiting most of the film to the action unfolding in the house. Doing so gave the movie a real heavy claustrophobic feel that works well for a horror movie.
According to an article I read some time ago, Synapse Films spent more money than the movie cost to prepare the print and compile the supplements for the DVD. After listening to and watching the plethora of extras, I believe it. We get two commentary tracks, one with producer Ted Bohus and the other with writer-director Doug McKeown and other people associated with the production. Cast and crew bios, a trailer, behind the scenes stuff, outtakes, audition footage, a comic book treatment, and an alternate opening sequence round out the bonus materials. It's great to see a cult classic, and "The Deadly Spawn" is definitely cult classic material, receive such regal treatment on DVD. All horror film fans need to check this movie out at some point. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll groan, and you'll ultimately applaud--guaranteed!
Movie Review: Hungry Aliens in the Basement
Summary: 4 Stars
It is so wonderful that this classic B-film is available in a clear DVD (my old VHS is really showing age). The DVD even comes packed with plenty of extras which include quite a few picture galleries, a comic-book style prequel, audition footage where you not only see people who didn't make it into the film, but you see cast members trying out for different rolls, even an alternate opening. But best of all is the wonderfully clear print of the film.
A meteor crashes near a pair of really bad actors camping in the woods. They investigate and are quickly made into alien chow before the opening credits. The beastie then moves to the basement of a nearby house. Torrential rain may have been a coincidence during filming, but it added nicely. The houses inhabitants include a family of four and a visiting aunt and uncle. The parents try to set out early on a trip. The key people are really the kids. The older science and fact oriented brother, and the younger, monster-obsessed brother. One denies the existence of monsters and aliens even when experienced first hand while the other never believed they could be real but is well equipped for understanding the situation.
But the monster in the basement is not all (and no it doesn't stay down there). The creature is spawning and countless smaller aliens begin to infiltrate the house and the neighborhood looking for treats to eat. Eventually the locals and authorities get involved and work to wipe out the threat (sort of like in the end of Night of the Living Dead). But the ending is one that is unexpected unless you have gone through the extras before watching the film.
Pure grade-B fun with an interesting cast, some fun moments, plenty of obviously-fake gore. All in all it makes for a nicely rewatchable monster film.