AVH: Alien vs. Hunter (2007) is a masterpiece of poor film making with boring characters, lazy special effects and a pedestrian plot ripped off from a mediocre film, but still manages to be worth watching. William Katt, famous for his role in the 80s hit Greatest American Hero, stars as a washed up writer in a small California town who leads a ragtag band of whiners from one place after another getting decimated by the “Alien” and the “Hunter”. The motivations of the characters are so obscure that when one character kisses Katt on the forehead she goes into an embarrassed ramble of how she didn’t mean it. Why would such a platonic action need to explained so vigorously?
The movie poster grossly exaggerates the quality of the special effects in this film, which are wonderfully atrocious. While the “heroes” face off against a guy in a bad rubber suit they would cut to a shot of a huge honkin’ spider-like monster walking through the forest. I was halfway through before I realized they were supposed to be the same creature. The filmmakers at “The Asylum” obviously created the suit, and then changed what he looked like in post-production CGI. The Hunter, meanwhile, looks like a collection of parts taken from the bargain bin at a hardware store. Don’t bother looking back at the poster, because the Hunter looks nothing like that.
*** SPOILER ALERT! *** I’m going to give away the “twist ending” because it exemplifies something I’ve noticed about “Asylum” films. In the end, the Hunter takes off his mask and reveals he’s human. He talks to someone, in English, looking forward to the next hunt. So, was he a human-looking alien on Earth or was he a human on an Earth-like alien planet? We’re not sure, but if we assume he was a human-looking alien on Earth then why was he letting the monster run amok and not even try to communicate with the poor saps stuck in the middle? If it wasn’t Earth why was everything exactly the same as Earth in such boring ways? The biggest problem with this “twist” is that it completely depends on you having seen the original. If we don’t assume the Hunter is an alien creature from the beginning, then it’s no surprise.
***
Overall, this film gets a reverse three stars since it lacks everything you’d want from a good film, but has everything you’d want from a bad one. Bad special effects, lame dialogue, pointless violence and a ridiculous premise.
-*** stars out of five
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Sounds fantastic. The funny thing to me is how the difference between a good movie and a bad movie can often be a matter of the budget. Like if "GI JOE: Rise of Cobra" had a budget of 10 million, it wouldn't even had made a blip on the radar.
But I admire these guys because they manage to crank out these movies and still make money. Kudos. The part about how the monster kept changing sounds hilarious.
Even the movie's own promotional material contradicts the twist ending!
"A galactic hunter chases the most dangerous alien creature in the universe to planet Earth, where humanity is caught between predator and prey."
Actually, that explains everything. So, it's about an alien who comes to Earth to stop the "Greatest American Hero" sequel.
I found an interesting article on the background of the filming which goes into why it was such a disaster. Apparently, the director was a complete idiot who spent more time on his iPhone than directing the movie. He left pages of the script unfilmed, would demand retakes and changes for no reason, and left a pile of footage that the editors had to piece into a movie. The ending was supposed to show that the Hunter was a time traveler from the future. Still doesn't make much sense, but explains a few things.
http://www.dreadcentral.com/reviews/alien-vs-hunter-dvd
GAH sequel…lol
Wow. That article is a gold mine of information. I never knew Asylum took those movies so seriously. Great link. The time-travel thing doesn't make sense but at least it explained if the "hunter" was human or not.