They Are Among Us |
  • USA • 2004 • 120m •   • Directed by: Jeffrey Obrow. • Starring: Alison Eastwood, Michael Orr Hughes, Anne Apra, Lacey Beeman, Corbin Bernsen, Bruce Boxleitner, Amy Bruckner, Domenica Cameron-Scorsese, Ryan Deegan, Michael DiLallo, George 'Buck' Flower, Shannon Gardner, Colby Giovacchini..      Right before Danny's eighteenth birthday his mother and father start acting strangely. They're both acting as if Danny's life is going to change suddenly once he turns 18, and Danny knows something is up. With the help of his uncharismatic friends, Danny eventually learns that one parent is a human and the other is an alien. As it turns out, much of the town has been taken over by aliens, and they've managed to stay secret thanks to the help of a non-alien plastic surgeon.
|
Trailers:
| Length: | Languages: | Subtitles: |
Review:
Co-produced & directed by Jeffrey Obrow I thought They Are Among Us was average at best. The script by Lars Hauglie takes itself extremely seriously & is badly structured. For the first 45 minutes They Are Among Us tries to be a mystery & build up to the shocking revelation that aliens are among us, unfortunately the narrative is poor & unlike any good mystery there is nothing within that opening 45 minutes to hold your interest to hook you or engage. Sure there's a couple of brief scenes with an alien in them but apart from that I found it both dull & forgettable. While watching They Are Among Us I was thinking that it could be some nightmarish mutant offspring of a cheap rejected episode of The X-Files (1993 - 2002), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (either the 1956 one or the 1978 remake) & Dawson's Creek (1998 - 2003). The character's are poor, the dialogue is poor & there's not one single surprise within the entire film while the ending leaves everything wide open & doesn't really resolve anything. Having said that it's reasonably well paced & might pass 100 odd minutes painlessly enough if your not too demanding. Oh, & one more thing for those that have seen it you'll know what I'm talking about but what the hell happened to the missing friend Langford (Garikayi Mutambirwa)? One minute he seemed vital to the plot & the next poof he's never seen, heard or mentioned again!
Director Obrow films like an episode from a TV show which comes as no surprise since it was made-for-TV. The whole thing looks flat, unadventurous & utterly forgettable. The special effects are few & far between, there's basically a couple of aliens & it's just some guy with sharp teeth & funny coloured skin while at the end for some reason that is never really explained there's big alien that appears from nowhere & then just disappears into thin air. Forget about any blood or gore as there isn't any. There's no tension or atmosphere & there's definitely no scares while the main villain is some old geezer with bad hair.
Technically They Are Among Us is reasonable, it's quite well made but it's all rather average. The acting wasn't great & I'm sure some of the cast were chosen for their looks rather than their acting skill of which they have little.
They Are Among Us is nothing special, it didn't do much for me although at least I watched it to the end with having to use the fast forward button on my remote.
Review by poolandrews from the Internet Movie Database.
Movie Database