Extraterrestrial (2014 film)

Extraterrestrial
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Colin Minihan
Written by	The Vicious Brothers
Starring	Brittany Allen, Freddie Stroma, Melanie Papalia
Music by	Blitz//Berlin
Cinematography	Samy Inayeh
Edited by	The Vicious Brothers
Production company	Abduction Films, Manis Film, Pink Buffalo Films
Release dates	April 18, 2014 (2014-04-18) (Tribeca Film Festival)
Running time	106 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$3 million

Extraterrestrial (also known under the working title of The Visitors) is a 2014 sci-fi horror film that was directed by Colin Minihan, based on a script by both Vicious Brothers.^[1] It stars Brittany Allen, Freddie Stroma, and Melanie Papalia as a group of friends that must defend themselves against an alien onslaught.^[2]

Plot

The film begins with a woman (Emily Perkins) who runs to a nearby shop wanting to use the phone. She enters a phone booth, but is taken by an unknown creature. April (Brittany Allen) and her boyfriend Kyle (Freddie Stroma) are planning to go to her parents cabin for a romantic weekend alone, however she finds out that Kyle has invited his annoying friend Seth (Jesse Moss), Seth's girlfriend Lex (Anja Savcic), and another friend named Melanie (Melanie Papalia) along. Along the way, Seth sets off fireworks in the car and they are pulled over by Sheriff Murphy (Gil Bellows) who gives them a warning before letting them go. They finally make it to the cabin and begin drinking and smoking marijuana. Later on, Kyle proposes to April, which April rejects, angering Kyle. Suddenly they see something crash in the woods and upon investigating find that it's a UFO. After returning to the cabin they hear noises upstairs, and after getting April's father's gun find nothing but an open door. After finding an alien on the patio they shoot it to death. They then try and drive to town but find that the road is blocked.

Suddenly, a UFO appears and abducts Lex and the rest flee back to Travis' place, hoping for some answers. Travis gives them his theory in that the aliens and the US government have had a treaty since Roswell; they abduct people while the government is left in control to clean up the mess. They only have one rule: No Human must Engage Them. Since April shot one of them, it was considered a breach in the treaty, and now the aliens are out for blood. The kids run back to the cabin and board up the windows, while Travis stays behind to fight, only to get either abducted or killed.

After mistaking the police for aliens, Seth is arrested for shooting at the police. It is revealed that Sheriff Murphy's wife mysteriously disappeared and he finally believes that it was aliens that took her. As Murphy and Deputy Mitchell (Sean Rogerson) argue about Murphy's wife, an alien appears in front of the car and controls Murphy's mind to shoot Deputy Mitchell and himself. Before the aliens can get Seth, he is saved by April and they return to the cabin. Seth tells the group that they got into Murphy's head before he abandons the group. As he is running though the forest he is attacked by the aliens who are about to abduct him. He handcuffs his arm to a tree but he is still abducted, and his severed arm is left dangling from the tree. As the aliens begin attacking the cabin, Kyle locks April and Melanie in the basement so they don't get abducted. Meanwhile, Kyle hides in the bathroom with a knife, hoping to ambush the aliens. When he walks past a mirror, an alien jumps out and abducts him.

April and Melanie sit in the basement and recall the summer when April's parents took April and Melanie fishing. April soon realizes that Melanie has taken an overdose of pills and dies. April, armed with a crowbar, prepares to face the aliens but she finds out that they are leaving and realizes they have taken Kyle. She signals the UFO by setting off one of Seth's fireworks and she is abducted. April wakes up covered in slime and on another planet, where she finds out that the aliens are conducting experiments on humans; genetically altering a woman. Seth is then seen strapped to an operating table. He is covered in a strange slime and little larvae like robots, and has a triangle shaped drawing scarred onto his stomach. He is anally probed, and then dies from his wounds. April finds Kyle and revives him. They hug and the aliens return them to earth.

Kyle and April walk through the woods and upon seeing soldiers, they run towards them. They are shot, and as they are dying, April gives Kyle the engagement ring, which he takes and puts on her finger before they are executed. A soldier talks to a man in a black suit smoking a cigarette (possibly alluding to The X-Files character "The Smoking Man"), asking "What should we do with the bodies?". The man in the suit replies, "What we always do".

Cast

• Brittany Allen as April
• Freddie Stroma as Kyle
• Melanie Papalia as Melanie
• Jesse Moss as Seth
• Anja Savcic as Lex
• Gil Bellows Sheriff Murphy
• Michael Ironside as Travis
• Sean Rogerson as Deputy Mitchell
• Emily Perkins as Nancy McPherson
• Mike Kovac as Clerk
• Ian Brown as Farmer
• Fred Keating as Mike
• Mackenzie Gray as Man in Black
• Reese Alexander as Military Officer
• Buddy as Rusty

Reception

Critical reception for Extraterrestrial has been predominantly negative and IndieWire rated it at "C-" and commented that it was "an example of how not to make a horror film".^[3] Fangoria and Bloody Disgusting both expressed disappointment over the film, as both felt that Extraterrestrial utilized too many familiar tropes and cliches of sci-fi horror movies.^[4][5] In contrast, Den of Geek gave the film a mostly positive review and commented that the movie had "clever visuals to occasionally distract from its mediocrity."^[6]

Release

The movie had its world premiere on April 18, 2014 at the Tribeca Film Festival under the banner of IFC Midnight.^[7] On 12 May 2014 The Scream Factory released the film on Blu-ray and DVD.^[8]

References

External links

• Extraterrestrial at the Internet Movie Database
• Extraterrestrial at Rotten Tomatoes