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.
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| The Real Hunter |
*** 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.
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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
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="40426 ">2 Comments
I didn't have a desire to watch Alien vs. Hunter before reading this. Okay, I didn't know it existed. It's safe to say I never want to see it.
Ciara, some people (like myself) love the subtle pain of bad movies. Its a sickness. Isn't there a movie you just loved to hate?