Night Feeders

This is the story of four friends who go on a hunting trip into the woods and get attacked by a group of hungry aliens who just landed. It's a low budget production but the filmmakers have definitely squeezed the most out of their resources and there are some original touches and unexpected twists along the way. Don't get too excited though this is only mildly diverting stuff.

The film opens on some spectacularly cheap CG effects of a satellite in orbit being destroyed by what appears to be a meteor. Down on earth in redneck country two fishermen see the meteor splash into the lake beneath them and when they investigate they become the first victims, disappearing into the depths in a bloody cloud of water.

We are then introduced to the main characters, four friends on a hunting trip. They make a refreshing change from the usual group of vacuous teens and the best character by far is the fat redneck with a heart of gold. When one of the group goes fishing alone he is chased by a creature he can't quite make out and runs into the local Sheriff who convinces him it was just a bear. The group revise their opinion when the deer they've killed is mysteriously stolen from their car and they find a strange tooth at the scene. They decide to leave but when an alien turns up they crash the car and are forced to make a run for it on foot.

The aliens themselves are unimaginative and portrayed through a mixture of bad CG and rubber suits which are mercifully given little screen time. Although the creatures are aliens they could really be anything and this is more of a monster movie than sci-fi. There's a little bit of cheap gore and blood splatter but nothing spectacular.

The group are picked off one by one and end up trying to barricade themselves in a remote house. They discover the aliens are averse to light and try to use this as protection but they are a pretty inept bunch. The redneck emerges as the lead character and events in the second half of the film break with the usual genre clichés to provide quite an interesting and comical finale.

The acting is surprisingly good for a low budget flick aided by a decent script and the odd touch of gentle humour. The pick of the bunch is the redneck character and it is really refreshing to see a fat, dim redneck as the hero. The direction isn't so great but it easily exceeds most low budget efforts and the pacing is good.

This is quite a fun movie and certainly one of the best independent low budget features I´ve seen. The amateur cast really give it their all and while it may not be the most memorable film there are certainly worse ways to spend 83 minutes.

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