Alien Hunter

From a story by J.S. Cardone (well-known producer and director), comes a film that shamelessly rips off sci-fi classics starting with the polar setting from “The Thing from Another World” (1951) (there’s even a carbon-copy scene where the researchers form a circle around the recovery site), then moving on to the already-trite extraterrestrial infection trope (in this case they add some ridiculous talk about protozoa), a plot device dating back at least to the 1955 British movie “The Quatermass Xperiment“.

From a technical point of view, “Alien Hunter” isn’t an inconsiderable effort: it’s blessed with quick pacing, adequate art direction, and the manual special effects are more than respectable (the computer graphics weren’t quite ready for prime time). As for the cast, James Spader once again demonstrates his lack of affinity for science-fiction, having been typecast as a more-or-less reformed womanizer, a role he’s played in about 3/4 of his filmography, and one completely unsuited to the sci-fi genre (as made crystal clear by the cutting remark the character of his ex-wife Kate throws in his face: “You’re always sorry. Then it always turns into jokes and innuendos“).

The story collapses towards the end with a closing scene echoing the one – already debatable in itself – from “The Abyss” (1989).