Xtro (1983)

Three years after the disappearance of Sam Phillips (Philip Sayer), his young son Tony (Brazil's Simon Nash) pines for daddy's return when mom Rachel (Macabre's Bernice Stegers) takes up with another man. The fractured household, which also includes a sexy babysitter (Bond girl Maryam d'Abo), is further upset when Sam mysteriously returns -and has a nasty habit of attacking local residents and seeping mysterious fluids from his wrist. Despite his father's menacing behavior, Tony continues to idolize him...even after he realizes dad might not even be human at all. A grisly, fast-paced blend of sci-fi thrills and gut-churning horror, Xtro became an instant audience favorite and remains one of the most popular British cult films today.

Xtro

The quality of the DVD is clear & very good. But I love to watch this movie when I was young, but right now, I dont feel it so scary anymore like last time when I watched this movie December 28, 2007

Wildly uneven gross out sci-fi/horror

Sam Phillips(played by Philip Sayer)is a family man with a wife ,Rachel (Bernice Stegers)and a son Tony(Simon Nash)One day he is abducted by aliens and the sct is witnessed by his son .His wife will not believe her son's story and insists he is rationalising his fathers abandonment of the family.
Then 3 years later Sam returns claiming he remembers nothing of what has happened to him in the interim.Soon his family begin to notice something odd is happening -such as his eating snake eggs ,and leaving behind a trail of horribly mutilated bodies .In the time of his abduction Sam hgas become an alien -a reptilian creature with a voracious appetite for human flesh .The object of his return is to take his son back with him to the alien planet from whence he came.

This movie bore the poster tag line "Not all aliens are friendly"in what seemed to be a refutation of the warm cuddliness of ET .The main point to make aboutthis movie Xtro is that its effects are gross and quite repellent.The gors content is high and viscera abounds .It is NOT for the delicate of stomach.The domestic scenes are poorly acted and directed and some material is just palin irrelevant -as per the telekinesis sub-plot and the scenes of toys coming to life .On the plus side you do get a very clear sense of the sheer"alien-ness"of the creature and its utter disregard for human life and its own urgent need to survive

Stir in some nudity with the violence and you get a graphic and explicit movie that when it works it works well but overall has too many dull patches to be anything more than adequate November 22, 2007

XTRO ! XTRO! Read all about it!

When a self-proclaimed cybernetic evil genius asks you to viddy a film, you don't ask questions.

The movie concerns a dad that gets abducted by a UFO and comes back after 3 years. While he's been gone, however, his wife has since shacked up with a man and a woman and they have some kind of San Francisco relationship going on.

Now that dad is back he wishes to take his wife and child back to space with him. He gives his child special powers to help him out. The child uses them with reckless abandon though as can be expected, and turns his toys into real life killing machines.

Careful study of this film, however, reveals it's all a scam. There's no such thing as UFOs, after all. No, it's obvious that the wife had been seeing this couple for some time and the dad was merely in the way. Therefore they drugged him and placed him under a brainwashing hypnosis thereby implanting false memories of the alien abduction.

After living like an animal for three years in the English woodlands, the brainwashing is wearing off and he comes to his senses. He still hasn't thrown off the customs and mannerisms of his wilderness life however, as he still is accustomed to his animal customs such as eating snakes eggs.

The child doesn't really have the power to bring his toys to life, he is doing the killings himself and uses his imagination that it is his toys doing it as a way of sparing his conscience and justifying the killings.

The old adage of what comes around goes around is reiterated in this film as eventually the brainwashing proves too strong and he reverts back to a dangerous animal-like killer.

There could have been more hot women. There was really just this one French chick who is pretty hot, and yes we get to see her in her birthday suit.

If you're looking for comedy, there's not much here, however, if you tune into the making of documentary there's plenty laughs to be had. The director goes on this crazy rant about how the movie was made and how he hates it. He rants like a mad man about how the only this he can do in life besides make movies is run a 7-11. His most proud acheivement is the fact that they found this movie on display in the home of a serial killer! October 6, 2007

Worst Ever!

I saw this in the theatre back in 1982 and it is the worst movie I have ever seen...still to this day! I'm shocked it's on DVD.

If you want to see a great horror/science fiction film watch THE THING by John Carpenter. July 14, 2006

Good bad B movie!

I saw this film at the cinema when it first came out and there are some sequences that have stuck in my mind ever since. This flick is a whole lotta fun when you're not in the mood for a serious drama or heavy type of film. For a low budget job, it has very good acting and some cool sfx, and whilst it's obvious where it's inspirations come from, it really does'nt matter, at least not for me. (and I like serious sci-fi too!) It does have some very creepy moments and seriously stomach-churning gore, but it's just so weird you can't look away. Recommended for lovers of good bad B movies and thoroughly deserved of it's cult status. February 22, 2006

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