| Xtro | |
|---|---|
Film poster |
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| Directed by | Harry Bromley Davenport |
| Produced by | Mark Forstater |
| Written by | Harry Bromley Davenport |
| Starring | Philip Sayer Maryam d'Abo Susie Silvey |
| Music by | Harry Bromley Davenport |
| Cinematography | John Metcalfe |
| Editing by | Nicolas Gaster |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema (USA) |
| Release date(s) | 6 August 1982 |
| Running time | 81 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Xtro is a low-budget British science fiction horror film made in 1982 and directed by Harry Bromley Davenport and co-produced by Bob Shaye.
Contents |
A family of three live in rural Britain. Sam Phillips (Philip Sayer), his wife Rachel (Bernice Stegers) and their young son Tony (Simon Nash). One evening when Rachel is out a mysterious light appears in the night sky and Sam disappears. People believe he has just run out on the family. Only Tony knows what really happened but no one believes him.
Three years after the disappearance of Sam, Tony still pines for his father. His mother Rachel has taken up with another man, photographer Joe Daniels (Danny Brainin). The fractured household also includes a sexy French babysitter Analise (Maryam d'Abo). They live in a small apartment in the city.
An alien crashes to earth and approaches the farm where the Phillips had previously lived in. The cottage is now inhabited by a woman (Susie Silvey). The alien attacks her and covers her mouth with an appendage and pumps something into her.
In the morning she wakes and the alien is dead. As she goes into the kitchen she suddenly feels sick. Her stomach swells and she dies as she gives birth to a fully grown man – Sam.
Sam makes his way to the city – somehow able to find where his son now lives. He reintroduces himself to the family and despite the obvious tension with Joe is allowed to stay.
Tony catches his father eating his pet snake's eggs and runs away. Sam catches up with him and tells him that the aliens changed him. He puts his mouth to his son's neck and injects chemicals into him. He wishes to change his son so he can take him back with him.
Tony finds he can make his wishes reality. His toy clown becomes a dwarf. His toy soldier becomes a life-sized plastic soldier who kills a neighbour with its bayonet.
Analise has a male visitor Michael (David Cardy) alone in her room. They are disturbed as Tony demands that she play with him. His toy clown knocks her out and he presses his mouth to her side and injects chemicals into her. Meanwhile a toy tank chases Michael around the apartment shooting live ammunition.
Analise is transformed. She is in a cocoon in the bathroom with green rubbery eggs coming out the bottom of the cocoon into the bath. The clown collects these eggs.
Tony and his father return to the cottage, pursued by Rachel. A bright light from the sky shines on them and Rachel sees Sam and Tony transformed into alien beings. The two aliens disappear into the night sky.
Rachel returns to the apartment and finds the fridge on its side. She opens the fridge door. The fridge is filled with a green semi-liquid substance. In it are several rubbery eggs. She picks an egg up. It seems to move. Suddenly an appendage bursts out covering her mouth. She falls to the floor with the egg pumping something into her mouth. The camera rolls back and the door closes on them.
The film was released theatrically in the United States by New Line Cinema in 1983.[1]
Xtro was briefly vilified as a video nasty, especially due to a particularly graphic scene early in film wherein a woman gives birth to a fully grown man. However, it was granted an uncut video certificate by the BBFC shortly after its successful cinema run.
The film was released on DVD three times in the United States by Image Entertainment.[2] The first DVD of the film was released in 2005 as a double feature with sequel Xtro II: The Second Encounter. The second DVD was released in 2006 as a standalone release. The third DVD was released in 2007 and was a triple feature alongside Xtro II: The Second Encounter and Skeeter.
In Britain the entire Xtro trilogy was released in box-set, remastered anamorphic widescreen with 5.1 for Xtro II and an interview with director Harry Bromley Davenport covering the production of all three films.
Director Harry Bromley Davenport made two sequels to the film, Xtro II: The Second Encounter and Xtro 3: Watch the Skies.
In March 2010, Davenport confirmed that Xtro 4 was in the works.[3] Speaking to Fangoria.com, he stated:
“I am going to be starting XTRO 4 this summer; you are the first to receive this shattering news,” Davenport tells us. “A script by Daryl Haney is in the works, and my sales guys are salivating. It’s going to be a very odd movie indeed. Sort of back to the roots of the first one, but much stranger and, hopefully, more uncomfortable.”