A Cookie-Cutter Horror Flick

Main Cast: Duane Whitaker, Judah Friedlander, Krista Allen, Clu Gulager
Director: John Gulager

Plot Summary: A group of barflies are trapped and attacked by monster aliens.

The horror genre has a tradition of welcoming first-time directors, being very generous on their film-making skills. Characters need not be developed too fully, plots are usually of the “me kill you” variety, and sets and locations can be cheap and filmed in the dark, for atmosphere and to save on props.

This film is a good example of the above. Set in one shabby bar, the sprinkling of colorful characters fight a battle against some type of alien creatures, not very well explained, but plausibility is something not always needed or wanted in this type of story.

I could spend some time in describing the characters: the troubled hero, goofy sidekick/comic relief, damsel in distress…but since these are nothing but cutout clichés, I won’t bother. The story is slight. What makes each of these types of movies interesting is how each character is killed. Timing, as they say, is everything, and the various deaths happen in this film in amusing, black comedy sort of ways.

More than anything else the introduction of each character is a clue to the tone of the film. I could see this as a computer game as well, with the player choosing among the various patrons with different abilities.

I amuse myself with such wanderings as this film is nothing new and, sadly, nothing great. It isn’t horrible either. It’s about a group of people trapped in one location and hunted by a alien critter. It is nothing more, nor less, and if watching that is something you’d like to do for an hour and a half, I can recommend far better films.