Moving Pictures: Alien Raiders (Warner Bros)

Alien Raiders is supposed to have won Best Sci-fi Feature at the 2008 Shockerfest, but while the film does have some panache, there’s nothing special enough about it to make it more than another excuse for an idea.

It starts out well: a supermarket in a small American town is raided by what the customers assume are a team of violent robbers. In a rather extraordinary action opening, it transpires that the group are actually looking for someone, and have a weird person acting as a kind of sniffer dog, detecting the evil aliens inside harmless looking customers and staff.

So far, so great, but soon after the vigilante team take hostages and there’s lock-down, we’re then stuck in the bloody supermarket for an hour-and-a-half. This could have worked had their been enough imagination invested in the rest of the movie, but too much of the dialogue is laboured and stereotypical action/horror/sci-fi fare, and any seasoned film fan will be able to predict exactly what happens.

Sure, the aliens are pretty scary, but we don’t get to see more than a glimpse, presumably due to the film’s low of special effects budget. What’s more, the origin of the aliens is never even explained, so the audience really is expected to find enough meat in what turns out to be one very simple idea extended well beyond sense.

As is often the case with crappy films, there are numerous ‘making of’ features and other bits and pieces that I couldn’t be bothered with… hey, I couldn’t hardly get through the film, let alone put myself through more torture on the ‘extras’.

Production values are okay, considering it’s a cheapy, and although fairly standard, the picture and sound are both serviceable. Shot on HD video, there is some grain apparent in the darker scenes, and the surround system doesn’t get much of a workout. GARY STEEL

3 Stars