Review of Species (1995) by Christopher S — 30 Nov 2013

Species is like a meeting between an amateur low budget film, and a big budget horror movie. On the one hand; the film has a great cast and is professionally produced, but on the other - the special effects are weak and make the film look like something out of an eighties film, and the plot concentrates mostly on its sleazy and often silly by-products. That being said, however, the movie is lots of fun; and overall I wouldn't hesitate to call it one of the best horror films of the nineties. The film takes obvious influence from a range of similar films, such as Tobe Hooper's Lifeforce and Jack Sholder's 'The Hidden', but it brings all of it's elements together well and somehow manages to feel fresh and inventive. The plot can be a bit of an eye roller at times, but it works well; as alien-human crossover 'Sil' escapes from a testing lab with a team of professionals, a psychic, an action hero, a woman and a science geek are on her tail. Sil's ultimate goal is to reproduce, and to complete that aim she must find a man. So basically, what we have here is a sexy, horny, naked chick being chased around before she can have sex with someone. Sounds good to me...but, I guess the biggest conceit of this movie is that someone who looks like Natasha Henstridge could wander around L.A. for a week without finding someone to have sex with.

I'm not quite sure how director Roger Donaldson managed it, but he's managed to get quite a few names to appear in his film; and most of them do well with their roles. Despite this being one of her first roles, Natasha Henstridge looks tremendously sexy(She is naked 50% of the film) and pure in the lead role and doesn't miss a beat. she looks the part, and does a great job portraying a sweet-looking virginal woman thats acts more or less like a alien prostitute. Ben Kingsley is the biggest cast surprise, as the former Ghandi actor looks slightly out of place in a B-movie like this, he definitely seemed to "dumb" down his acting a bit to meet the criteria of the film, I suppose. Michael Madsen(Kill Bill 1 & 2) is absolutely great in his typecast action hero role and the cast is completed by a memorable performance from Alfred Molina(Dr. Octopus from Spider-Man 2), and a rather annoying one from Forest Whitaker. Marg Helgenberger(C.S.I Fame) fails to make much of an impression as Madsen's love interest. The two plots that run concurrently are played out well, and climax nicely. a young Michelle Williams (Dawsons Creek) also starts off as Sil and has some really good scenes to open the film. The special effects are key in a film like this, and even though they're cheap throughout - they do look fairly realistic. It's not until we get to the end and the director decides to spoil it with some abysmal CGI that the effects become a problem. Not sure if they ran out of money or were close to budget..But even so, Species takes its plot well and isn't too serious, and I've got to rate this as a really fun flick overall.