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Alien Outbreak
UK 2020
produced by Amanda Rowe, Neil Rowe, Ian Rowe (executive) for Rendered Pictures
directed by Neil Rowe
starring Katherine Drake, Ritchie Crane, Philip Alexander Baker, Michael Terry, Ian Rowe, Chris Barnicoat, Peggy Salmon, Tom Menary, Jason Collins, Aaron Deakins, Gemma Wilks, Tony Mitchell, Jimmy 'The Bee' Bennett, Dominic Alford, Tamsyn Pickford, Jono Powell (voice), Neil Rowe (voice), Brigita Grigg, Andrew Horigan, Anna Angel, Ben Carroll, Jon Ian Dredge, Richard Gosling, Becky Harrison, Judith Hesmondhalgh, Dom Kennedy, Ash Linton, Sarah McCourt, Amanda Rowe, Sam Rowe, James Scott, Alexander Stephens, Ben Tallamy
written by Neil Rowe, music by Amanda Rowe, special makeup effects by Ash Linton, visual effects by Neil Rowe, Gareth Knight
review by Mike Haberfelner
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At first, it seems like nothing more than a typical day on the job for
Zoe (Katherine Drake), police sergeant somewhere in the British
countryside, where nothing ever happens. Even when she's called to a
suicide she suspects very little - but when she arrives at the scene and
witnesses yet another suicide, things seem odd, especially since she can
swear she has seen something moving in the shadows. On her way back, she
witnesses yet another suicide - and some robotic creatures that seem to
have to do with it. And she sees a spaceship. She reunites with her
partner Patrick (Ritchie Crane) in a pub that's soon under siege by the
robots, with their masters, giant humanoid aliens, waiting at a distance.
Zoe, Patrick, elderly Dale (Michael Terry) and half-crazed Mitchell
(Philip Alexander Baker) manage to make it out of the pub and into the
police station where they intend to wait for reinforcements, but the
police station is soon under siege as well, and the robots even find a way
in. Also, Dale kills himself, apparently a victim of alien mind control,
while Mitchell goes more and more out of his mind. When reinforcements
arrive, they're quickly wiped out by the robots, but buy Zoe, Patrick and
Mitchell enough time to escape. But riding to safety, wherever that might
be, Mitchell shoots himself without warning. Zoe and Patrick meet a farmer
who offers them protection at his place - but then they find out he keeps
an alien chained up in his barn just to torture it ... and soon the place
is overrun by robots and aliens alike, and it's more luck than anything
else that Zoe and Patrick make it out once more. But they soon have to
realize, there's nowhere left to go, really ... Now granted,
besides the novel idea of the aliens mindcontrolling people into suicide, Alien
Outbreak doesn't exactly break any new ground, narratively - but what
it does, it does very well: Sure, it's an alien invasion movie like dozens
others, but its concentration on character development is a welcome change
of pace, and the thing is well-structured and keeps the tension high
throughout. Plus the film makes the most out of its rural locations, and
the special effects are first rate, not only for a low budget movie like
this one. So even if this is not the reinvention of the wheel, it's
something that rolls really well, and deserves a watch for sure.
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