Macabre…ish Horror Review: Alien Country
Alien Country, 2024/ 1 hr 36 min
In a desert town, Blue River, Everly (Renny Grames), a singer with big dreams finds herself pregnant and stranded on her way out of town. But Jimmy (KC Clyde), comes to the rescue. Everly leaves him with her broke down car and a positive pregnancy test.
Something abnormal happens but it seems as if some of the locals are not surprised. One of which is Bo (Austin Archer, you might know him online as yourpal_Austin). He and Gus (Joseph Reidhead) are particularly interested.
Meanwhile, it’s demolition derby night in town and Jimmy is not just a mechanic, he drives in the derby and tonight he drives badly. But in the back of his car is a briefcase that houses some kind of device. After Jimmy takes it out, it lights up and opens a portal to another world. So he and Everly walk right through and she brings back a souvenir. But before they return, some alien life exits first and the portal closes behind them.
Everly thinks they should go to the cops but Jimmy sees dollars signs. But first things first, she has a gig to get to. And at the bar, Jimmy immediately shows off the briefcase and it’s the device to anyone who’ll listen.
Gus and Bo arrive to confront Jimmy about the case, start a bar brawl and someone warns them that there are aliens outside.
One of the aliens, attacks a man walking his dog, who later introduces himself as a good alien named Ben (Charan Prabhakar). He attempts to explain to Everly and Jimmy what is happening and hopefully help them stop it.
Nana (Barta Heiner), has been tracking and mapping alien activity in the area for 40 years. It’s at her house that they, Everly and Jimmy, all encounter and kill their first alien and meet Ben.
The rest of the movie is Everly, Jimmy and Ben running from Bo and the other aliens and trying to send them back home. But that’s not all, something diabolical has been happening in this town and someone’s been patiently waiting for this moment and if they win, everyone else loses.
First things first, I’m a fan of the opener, it definitely sets the tone and feel for the kind of movie this is gonna be. It’s upbeat and has the feel of a 90s flick, in part because of the CG. The characters in this range from quirky to ridiculous. The cinematography is really nice and the alien physical effects are very good!
This is a fun buddy comedy and the alien action really liven the movie up. The tone goes back and forth between being serious and silly. There are some kills and death but it’s not graphic, this isn’t a horror movie so much as it is a sci fi comedy with a few horror elements. But fans of 90s horror fans are gonna enjoy this. There are some solid surprises in this film. I enjoyed it!
You could easily have a double feature of this and Paul or a palate cleanser after something like Attack The Block or Night of the Creeps and you’ll see why I say that by the end of the movie. If you like demolition derby, small town heros and aliens, you might like this! This feature was co-written with Renny Grames and directed by Boston McConnaughey.