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West kicks things off with a literal bang, as a copulating couple soon find themselves abducted; he meets a grisly (rear) end, she returns to Earth preggers and the subject of a tabloid television show. Once the news team – composed of the cleavage-heaving host (Emily Booth), the smartass cameraman and sound guy (Sam Butler and Peter O’Connor, respectively), the über-UFO geek (Jamie Honeybourne), and a pair of third-rate reenactment actors (Jodie Shaw and Nick Smithers) – makes its way to the remote Welsh isle, they meet the young woman (Jennifer Evans), her three inbred brothers, and, before long, the promised malevolent extraterrestrials, who bring with them all of the requisite bovine mutilation, cavity probing, interspecies intercourse, and murderous mayhem that comes with the territory.

The whole shebang is carried off with a frantic shotgun approach, a rapid fire of gags that sometimes hit to gloriously goofy and/or grisly effect. The computer graphics are as second-rate as expected, although some shots come off as surprisingly slick, taking an estimated $1.8 million budget into consideration. One subtitle reads “Who’s” instead of “Whose”, but one can’t blame them for cutting back on the grammar department, especially when the subtitled characters, the Welsh redneck kinfolk, would almost be funnier without them, or maybe just not quite as many. The cast keeps tongue firmly in cheek all around, even if the tone is so nudge-nudge that one risks bruising, with the standout being the cringingly credible Honeybourne, who bears a remarkable resemblance to American actor David Wain and wears his devout nerdness with an impressive degree of pride.

His dweeby character makes a Hitchhiker’s Guide reference early on, kicking off a remarkable amount of references (Aliens, Evil Dead, and Jaws, just to name a few) that could serve as a court exhibit testifying to West’s passion for the genre. Even the unpleasant invaders seem to be possible cousins to Predator’s baddie. As it proceeds, the film seems to develop more into a zombie comedy with aliens filling in for the undead masses, and despite a handful of painfully laborious gag setups involving banana peels and manure pools, there are enough clever moments (a blinded character employs the boom mic in an effort to evade and escape; another character mows down the villainous visitors in a combine) that, paired with a sheer reckless drive, make these ninety blood-drenched minutes coast right on by.

It’s all so exhaustingly schlocky, splattery, and scattershot, but for being a low-key horrorshow, there are enough gags that land with just the right energy in 'Evil Aliens' to keep those keen on films of its ilk interested throughout, even if it only works in bits, pieces, and chunks.

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originally posted: 08/14/06 17:47:45
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