Alien Siege DVD Review

I’ve heard a lot of great things about the Sci-Fi channel as of late. I’ve heard people mention a variety of shows that they watch religiously on the network, and others that say they’ve given up on Hollywood and instead swear by the Sci-Fi channel for a good science fiction fix. Unfortunately, being an avid moviegoer myself, I don’t allow much time for television, so I haven’t had much exposure to the glories of the Sci-Fi channel. Because of this, it was with great anticipation that I popped a copy of their made-for-TV movie, Alien Siege (2005), into my DVD player.

So much for first impressions.

If Alien Siege had been released in theaters it would be absolutely terrible. I’m talking about a “zero stars” level of badness. However, since it’s a made-for-TV movie a certain amount of leeway can be given, so I’m giving it the benefit of the doubt and a generous upgrade to a one-star rating. Ultimately, Alien Siege fails because of a weak script coupled with a budget that isn’t able to hide the flaws. A lot of theatrical science fiction films have weak stories, but the filmmakers are able to utilize some skillful misdirection through eye candy and special effects in order to distract us from the film’s weaknesses. Unfortunately, Alien Siege didn’t have the money to do this, so the flaws are consistently all too obvious.

The most promising part of the film is the premise, which is about a dying alien species that invades earth in order to harvest the blood of human bodies as a cure for their terminal illness. A lottery is continually drawn on earth to see who will have to sacrifice themselves, until the quota of bodies is fulfilled. The actual story is a very simple one about a father trying to save his daughter after she has been selected.

If all of this sounds a little familiar to you science fiction fans, it’s because the premise of Alien Siege is virtually identical to a cult sci-fi series of the mid 1980s called V. Nonetheless, given that it’s quite a challenge to be original in this day and age, the premise is still a good one and could have made for a thrilling (albeit derivative) made-for-TV movie.

Unfortunately, while the idea for the screenplay is solid, the screenplay itself is far from it. There are too many big questions left unanswered. Why doesn’t the United States government attempt some sort of resistance rather than passively complying with the demands of the aliens? Why doesn’t the government offer the blood of criminals on death row instead of sacrificing innocent civilians? Why do the aliens look identical to humans? Oh, that’s right, because this is a low-budget film that can’t afford alien make-up effects. To be fair, V did the same thing, but in that case the conceit was written into the script that the aliens were shape-shifters who were deceiving the humans by taking on human form. In Alien Siege the low-budget conceit is left entirely unexplained, which ultimately only draws more attention to itself.

Regarding other aspects of the writing, almost every other line of dialogue is cringe inducing. From being too on the nose, to being overly dramatic, to being cliché-ridden, the majority of the script plays out like a sci-fi soap opera (no offense to you soap fans out there). The poor actors are forced to spew out line after line of dialogue that would probably be impossible to recite well even if they were Marlon Brando.

Speaking of acting, aside from the primary characters, it’s all about as good as a middle school play. Once again though, a lot of the low quality performances can be traced to the low budget origins of the film. It was shot in Bulgaria in order to save money, and as such, all of the secondary roles were filled by a Bulgarian cast. Understandably, the Bulgarian actors didn’t speak very good English, so their lines were later overdubbed by American actors. The filmmakers almost certainly would have been better off leaving the original lines in, accent and all, because what we’re left with are stilted line readings in which the American voice-over actors attempt to sync their voices with the lips of the Bulgarian actors on-screen. This is no easy feat, and more often than not, the results are horrendous. The small handful of actors who are American do a reasonable job with their parts, notably Brad Johnson as the main character, Stephen Chase. Unfortunately, there are so many secondary characters that populate the movie that the quality of the acting is brought down as a whole due to the shabby dubbing performances.

The extras on the DVD are strictly by-the-numbers. An audio commentary with the director and cast proves to be entertaining enough, though it is far too self-congratulatory given the quality of the finished product, making for a rather superficial listen. Aside from that, only a set of production stills is included.

There’s a good movie lurking somewhere inside Alien Siege. Unfortunately, it’s all but lost amidst an array of budgetary issues and elementary screenwriting. Every once in awhile a moment of greatness breaks through the barrier, but the film is largely unsuccessful on the whole, even for a made-for-TV movie. If the general idea of the film interests you, I would instead suggest checking out V, as it has always been a fan favorite, and executes the interesting premise much more effectively than Alien Siege does. Hopefully our next Sci-Fi channel excursion will be a more memorable one.