Aliens vs Predator is Deranged and Stupid, But Fun

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 145 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux


AVPR: Aliens vs. Predator – Requiem (2007)
Running time: 94 minutes (1 hour, 34 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence, gore, and language
DIRECTORS: The Brothers Strause – Colin and Greg
WRITER: Shane Salerno (based upon the Alien character created by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett and the Predator character created by Jim & John Thomas)
PRODUCERS: John Davis and Wyck Godfrey
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Daniel C. Pearl
EDITOR: Dan Zimmerman

SCI-FI/ACTION/HORROR

Starring: Steven Pasquale, Reiko Aylesworth, John Ortiz, Johnny Lewis, Ariel Gade, Kristen Hager, Sam Trammell, Robert Joy, David Paetkau, Tom Woodruff, Jr., Ian Whyte, Chelah Horsdal, and Meshach Peters

Picking up where 2004’s AVP: Alien vs. Predator left off, AVPR: Aliens vs. Predator – Requiem finds an Alien infestation aboard the Predator scout ship. A Predator has been impregnated by an Alien face hugger, which results in the birth of an Alien-Predator hybrid, the Predalien (Tom Woodruff, Jr.). The scout ship crashes in the forest outside the small town of Gunnison, Colorado. Soon the entire town is overrun with Aliens – killing, wreaking havoc, and breeding. Ex-con Dallas Howard (Steve Pasquale) leads his brother Ricky (Johnny Lewis) and a small band of locals in a struggle to survive against the Alien infestation. Thrown into the mix, however, is a veteran hunter, Wolf (Ian Whyte), from the Predator home world, and he’s itching to kill Aliens and ready to destroy all evidence of both alien races presence on Earth.

Many bad things can be said about Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. The acting stinks, except for Woodruff and Whyte who play the lead monsters and who really get into their roles (doing great work under thick costumes and makeup). The blame for the bad acting can be placed on a large ensemble cast that exists only to be bait, food, victims, and breeding stock for the otherworldly monsters that have invaded their town. The storyline eschews common sense in favor of slaughter, but in the hands of the imaginative script writer Shane Salerno, this is a good thing. Take it in with too critical an eye and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem seems like a bad video game pretending to be a bad movie.

There is, however, much to delight in this cheesy gore-fest for those who won’t view it with the critical eye this film doesn’t deserve. Those same people will have to forget the better parts of the two sci-fi/horror film franchises that spawned “AVP” – Alien (1979), Aliens (1986), and Predator (1987). Directors Colin and Greg Strause and Shane Salerno have fashioned a bloody, stupid monster movie full of rude violence, tasteless shock value, and shamelessly gory displays of human and alien bodies being torn and ripped apart, stabbed, shot, eaten, sexually violated, etc. It’s the kind of joyfully sadistic exhibition that will either be called low art or crass schlock.

I call AVPR: Aliens vs. Predator – Requiem a bloody entertaining monster movie with bucket of blood for every bucket of cheese. It’s the perfect Christmas gift for the guy who wants a bloody mess out of his horror movie.

6 of 10
B

Sunday, December 30, 2007