Director: Brad Sykes
Year: 2008
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Creature Feature
Plot:
Receiving a distress signal from a nearby ship, the crew of a commercial freighter rescues a band of women left inside who take over the ship, but while doing so accidentally unleash an alien virus that mutates those it comes into contact with into a deformed beast forcing them to try to get off the ship alive.
Review:
This one ended up being a solid enough effort. Among the better aspects featured here is the rather enjoyable build-up that manages to get a lot to like. The different side-stories about the crew-members distrusting the new captain and the manner in which she took control of the ship shortly before meeting up by an accident to the former captain who was her partner serve as a great introduction to the group. As well, the discovery of the crew on the distressed ship who turn out to be the ones who try to take over the ship but end up releasing the virus by accident when they end up disrupting the power source stowed away onboard. This dynamic between the two crews and how they both respond to the virus that overtakes everyone where they get turned into monstrous, deformed mutants has plenty to like.
That also carries over nicely into the rather enjoyable action-packed confrontations on display. The start of the madness comes quickly as the sequences featuring the rapid-decomposing creatures due to the outbreak from the ruptured power source has a lot to like, much like the battles in the ship corridors where the two sides come together to fight off the advancing hordes. From there, the ever-growing hordes of creatures looking to turn the remaining crew stalking them through the ship creates plenty of high-energy action featuring wholly impressive monsters and gore engaging in fine battles across the various confines and areas. Mixing in some fine double-crosses about who is out for themselves, there’s plenty of enjoyable aspects to be had with this one.
This one doesn’t have too much to dislike about it. The main issue here is the blatant and outright plagiarism used to help sell the story, featuring scenes and concepts lifted wholesale from other films that are quite important to the genre. They’re quite easy to spot and not really useful or doing anything different with them, making for a rather disappointing utilization if that’s the case here. As well, the other problem is the completely ridiculous reasoning here for ensuring the device stays on-board which continues to produce new mutations through exposure to it which is all done for monetary gain that no one really justifiably warrants. This process is quite confusing and doesn’t have any internal reasoning to keep it on there, which when added to the underwhelming CGI are what lowers this one overall.
Overview: ***.5/5
A pretty solid genre effort that manages to hold itself up enough with its fun action and great setup that holds it up over the few minor problems in its ambitious concept and budgetary limitations. Give this a chance if you’re a low-budget creature feature fan or a fan of the creative side involved here, while those with less of a tolerance for that style should heed caution.
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