Synopsis:
A grocery store becomes a landscape for intergalactic battle in this grisly sci-fi thriller. As the Hastings Market closes down for the night, its lingering shoppers become hostages for a crack military unit that takes control of the store. The team seeks out the deadly alien intruders lurking in the aisles, with the power to inhabit the bodies of humans.
Special Features:
Additional Release Material:
Featurettes include Hidden Terror - The Making of Alien Raiders, The Special Effects of Alien Raiders, Tape #9: Sterling Explains Alien Alien Parasite Physiology and Meeting Ritter, Tape #12: Spookies Job The Alien Buster Explains His Talent; Text/Photo Galleries; Trailer Gallery; DVD-ROM Features - Whitney Cam: Blog Posts After the Buck Lake Incident
Review:
Alien Raiders is one of those rare gems you run across while doing an article like DVD Straightjacket. Once in a blue moon something that looks on the outside like it’s going to be a Sci-Fi Channel Movie of the Week grade film turns out to be something of much better quality than that. But can you blame me? When scrolling through a sci-fi or horror news site, would you think any differently if you saw the name Alien Raiders for a film?
But then I found out who was producing and writing this little project. None other than Daniel Myrick and Julia Fair from Blair Witch Project fame. Now it seems like these days people have started to write off and forget about the impact that Blair Witch had on the movie industry in the 90’s and even in filmmaking history. I believe it had as great or the same influence on indie filmmakers and that industry as Clerks did. To me, it’s like dismissing the film as a fluke or something, which is criminal. My how time cheapens and skews the real impact of something in history.
As usual, I begin to digress. To make a long story short, the film is a strange mix of The Mist and The Thing if you can imagine that. The lighting of the film is rather dark, so you have a lot left to the imagination which I thought was very cool and adds a suspenseful flavor to it. The isolated setting of the inside of the store and the parking lot gives you a very uncomfortable feeling of claustrophobia and limitation. It’s set in a small town that seems pretty cut off from civilization, leaving much to be desired in the way of technical equipment and communications. It has just enough formulaic stereotypes of these kinds of movies to make it humorous (which you can tell is what the director was going for), but at the same time mixes other elements of cinematography and camerawork together to set it apart from other films of this nature in the genre. It has the twist ending that you would expect from one of the directors of Blair Witch, but still comes off well. The testing for alien DNA gives you that stressful feeling that you feel every time you see them do the same in The Thing.
I highly recommend this to lovers of indie horror and sci-fi films. Think about it as one of those Sci Fi Channel movies that they actually got right and looks good. You will not be disappointed. (Review by Eric Shirey)