Alien Raiders |
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 • USA • 2008 • 85m •   • Directed by: Ben Rock. • Starring: Carlos Bernard, Mathew St. Patrick, Rockmond Dunbar, Courtney Ford, Jeffrey Licon, Samantha Streets, Derek Basco, Bonita Friedericy, Bryan Krasner, Keith Hudson, Joel McCrary, Joseph Steven Yang, Philip Newby. • Music by: Kays Al-Atrakchi.      It's the end of yet another night at Hastings Supermarket, an idyllic family grocery store in Buck Lake, Arizona. But the normal monotony of rounding up shopping carts and settling out the cash drawers is broken at 11:07pm, just before closing when a group of masked and armed-to-the-teeth militants invades the store, immediately killing several of the employees and shoppers and holding the rest hostage. Though the hostage-takers at first appear to be robbers or terrorists, they reveal themselves to be a cadre of rogue scientists that has discovered and tracked an alien infestation to THIS STORE on THIS NIGHT, and they are determined to find out which of the survivors are extraterrestrials and end the invasion at any cost.
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Within a fantastic setting, with a plot frame-work similar to John Carpenter's The Thing, we look at a hostage situation where those in captivity might carry alien creatures which threaten humankind ala Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The scientists, who at first appear to be your typical terrorists, are, in actuality, on a mission to save the human race. Among the scientists was a member who could tell whether a human host was carrying the alien within, who had "chemistry issues" which resisted complete takeover, but he is shot and killed by one of them. The film's main objective is to determine who is infected among the hostages, who isn't. Meanwhile, through a botched plan to secure a gun and escape from the clutches of their captors, unleashes a powerful human host containing an alien which can withstand a great deal of punishment. The scientists who aren't killed by it, attempt to negotiate a trade between the hostages that were checked for infection with another able to read whether they have contained the head of the aliens in the grocery store or not.
Ben Rock's Alien Raiders is derivative of other classic sci-fi horror action hybrids and there's a twist at the very end I think many viewers can see coming if they pay attention. That said, I thought Rock was able to effectively maintain interest thanks to the mystery regarding who's infected, handles a series of suspenseful, exciting, and rewarding action sequences within the grocery as our heroes search out the aisles of the store for the powerful monster alien-infected human quite well, and really kicks things off in fine fashion with the opening siege, setting up the on-going plot in a riveting way. While I was afraid Rock might shoot in that frenzied, haphazard guerrilla style quick edit-shaky cam manner I've had to adapt to in low budget action-horror, he quickly abandons that for a more restrained, and tolerable method, while still maintaining a level of pace, and moving through the story without succumbing to lethargy. Cast is not bad for this kind of movie, representing frightened and worried individuals dealing with a very troublesome situation.
Mathew St Patrick is police chief, Seth Steadman, the step-dad of a check-out girl, Whitney(Samantha Streets). Carlos Bernard is Ritter, the leader of the scientist commando team, infiltrating the grocery store, understanding personal sacrifice after having to kill his infected wife. Courtney Ford is Sterling, the doctor who tests the blood and understands the bio-reactions of those who are infected. Jeffrey Licon is Benny, Whitney's boyfriend who protects her during the crisis..interesting how he's rewarded for his sterling efforts.
With so few good sci-fi action with horror elements existing in today's marketplace, Alien Raiders might provide you with some real entertainment..it's not exactly the most original flick out there, but it still offers some good chills and plenty of ultra-violent visceral thrills.
Review by Scarecrow-88 from the Internet Movie Database.
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