Evil Aliens (2005)

Jake West has been a constant figure on the British horror scene since his 1998 vampire thriller Razor Blade Smile, though his presence has mostly been felt since in his work producing excellent DVD extras through his own company Nucleus Films. In 2005, he made his second feature, the "splatstick" Evil Aliens, a wild, lowbrow knockabout that channels early Peter Jackson.

Evil Aliens is as daft as they come, brimming over with silly humour and low-rent gross-out effects but narratively it's something of a mess - there's no plot to speak of, just lots of people wandering about looking for an invasion force of Predator-like aliens. Playing like a British remake of Jackson's Bad Taste (1987), it nevertheless manages to keep the gags coming thick and fast and the blood flowing nicely, mostly distracting you from the fact that nothing much is actually happening. And it stars Emily Booth, something of a goddess around these parts, so that certainly helps.

But despite its plot shortcomings Evil Aliens is undeniably huge fun - it opens with a hilarious and truly disgusting close encounter that culminates in a nasty anal probe scene which sets the tone perfectly. What follows is a series of some-funnier-than-others sketches boasting some impressive effects (the design of the aliens is particularly good), variable acting (though Booth is excellent giving easily the best and most natural performance of her career), lashings of gore and a bit of sex. And under the right circumstances you could really ask for no more.

West is canny enough to know just how stupid Evil Aliens is and he positively revels in it, as do his cast. He's a real fan of 70s and 80s splatter and his love of the genre shines through in every frame. Hardcore fans will have a high old time listing off the many other films that West knowingly quotes from and references and yet the film never feels like a mindless clone - it a has a distinctive enough look and voice for West to get away with his magpie like filching of classic movie moments.

Evil Aliens is a lot better looking than Razor Blade Smile - West has not only matured as a director and brings his considerable experience as an editor to bear on the project but he also had a bigger budget to play with. Though the shot on digital video (and later transferred to 35mm), Evil Aliens looks surprisingly slick and Life Creation's combination of CGI, prosthetics and make up effects are wonderful in their low budget cheesiness. The standout effects moment comes near the end when the surviving humans make a final stand against the alien horde - with a combine harvester! The resulting carnage manages to outdo even the lawnmower scene in Jackson's Braindead (1992) for sheer volume of gore.

If you like your horror gory and tasteless, with inter-species sex, some genuinely funny gags, gruesome cattle mutilations, fabulously aliens who really are very evil indeed, nasty abuse of various body orifices and tons of in-jokes and film references (including a brief scene on the set of the non-existent Razor Blade Smile II and a scene inspired by one of West's favourite films, Don Coscarelli's Phantasm (1979)) then Evil Aliens will be right up your street.

When I first reviewed Evil Aliens, albeit very briefly, in the wake of its screening at the 2005 Frightfest, I wondered if anyone would really feel the need to see it more than once. Well having done so for this longer appraisal, the answer is a definite yes - in fact Evil Aliens works better the second time around when you spot more of the references and in-jokes. Best watched with a group of like-minded friends and a copious supply of alcohol on hand to help take your mind off the fact that there's not actually a lot going on here, Evil Aliens is a film for hardcore fans made by a team of enthusiastic like-minded people.
KEVIN LYONS

Last Updated: 1 January, 2009