Altered

• USA • 2006 • 88m •

• Directed by: Eduardo Sánchez. • Starring: Adam Kaufman, Catherine Mangan, Brad William Henke, Michael C. Williams, Paul McCarthy-Boyington, Misty Rosas, James Gammon, Joe Unger, John William Wright, Shea Elmore, Klaus Heesch, Matt McCann, Phil Stevenson. • Music by: Antonio Cora, Exiquio Talavera.

Fifteen years ago, five men were abducted by aliens. Only four returned. Now, these same four men have managed to capture one of the creatures who killed their friend and ruined their lives. It's time for payback but payback swings both ways.

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Trailer #1

1:01

Trailer #2

0:53

Review:

This is a pretty trippy film, though I mean that in the most non-hippie way possible. It drops you in the middle of confusion and trusts you to be smart enough to figure it out yourself. By the time you do, you'll probably notice some flaws. But until then, Altered will take you on a fairly gripping ride.

Since figuring out what's going on is one of the appeals of this movie, let me try and describe it to you in a way that reveals as little as possible. 15 years ago, something terrible happened to 5 rednecks. There was Wyatt (Adam Kaufman), the best of the group; brothers Cody (Paul McCarthy-Boyington) and Timmy; high school football star Duke (Brad William Henke); and tag along Otis (Mike C. Williams). What happened to them killed Timmy and left the rest of them outcasts. But last night, after years of trying, Duke, Cody and Timmy have finally gotten the chance for some revenge. They don't know what to do with that chance, so they seek out Wyatt. He's been living for years as a paranoid shut-in out in the woods with his new girlfriend Hope (Catherine Mangan), unable to get past what happened 15 years ago. So, his three old friends come to Wyatt. On a table in his garage, they chain down a green beast with teeth and claws and eyes that can control a human brain. Then they ask Wyatt, "What do we do now?" What Wyatt tells them is hard to accept. What actually happens is something they won't all live through.

Altered is a crazy-cool idea for a movie and these filmmakers pull it off relatively well. I'll get to a few trifling criticisms, but I first want to state that this film not only keeps you guessing, it gets you interested enough to care. The actors make you believe these are ordinary people who've been bent out of shape by an extraordinary event. The direction is direct and lets a complicated tale unfold without any bells or whistles. The intensity is ratcheted up bit by bit until you're ready for something remarkable.

Unfortunately, nothing really remarkable occurs. The ending isn't bad by any means, but it is much less smart and much more formulaic that the rest of the film. After a heck of an effective build-up, the payoff in Altered isn't really anything to get too excited about. It's also true that these characters aren't nearly as good as the situation they're put in. They don't have a lot of depth and these filmmakers don't seem to know how to balance the story between them.

Given the stinking, pus-drenched detritus that makes up much of the sci-fihorror genre, the weaknesses of Altered are quite minor. Grading on that curve, this movie is probably an A-, something a sci-fihorror fan should really see. On a more objective scale, it's somewhere between a B- and a C+, something that might not blow you away but you won't regret watching it.

Review by MBunge from the Internet Movie Database.