Fresh veggies on aisle 1. Fresh kills throughout the store. Something terrible is happening at Hastings Market. Something bloody. Something deadly. Something inhuman. And caught up in the grisly horror inside the market are shoppers turned hostages, unearthly alien terrors and a dedicated commando band of raiders on a search-and-destroy mission to stop the intruders dead cold no matter where they hide. From Raw Feed, creators of the Rest Stop and Otis shockers, comes the sci-fi/horror tale Alien Raiders, a nerve-shredding battle for human survival against aliens that invade our world by invading our bodies. Be alert. Beware. Be afraid. The creatures next host could be your neighbor. Your kid brother. No its you!
Alien Raiders is produced by Dan Myrick who is the co-director of ‘The Blair Witch Project’ and directed by Ben Rock who also directed ‘Shadow of the Blair Witch’. Myrick says that ‘Alien Raiders’ “explores the mystery, suspense, fear and tension behind mankind’s fight for survival against an alien invasion. It’s taken the ingredients of horror and suspense from previous Raw Feed installments and adds a science fiction element to increase the anxiety factor.”
Despite all of these assurances from producer Dan Myrick, I was all set to accept ‘Alien Raiders’ as just another slightly cheesy scifi ‘alien invasion’ movie, which was ok by me because anyone who knows me, knows I love cheesy scifi movies. So imagine my delight when this little direct to DVD gem turned out to be a well written, tightly woven storyline with more than decent acting in the key roles.
Writers Julia Fair (screenplay) and David Simkins (written by) put forth a neatly crafted spin on a familiar theme and place their characters and this theme into an unusual setting. Normally you go to the supermarket to get groceries, not to held hostage by a a group with unknown intentions and certainly not to be possessed by an alien parasite! While a grocery store is a limiting environment, it serves the story well to convey how normalcy can be overlapped with the unimaginable.
I’ll be the first to admit that ‘Alien Raiders’s is filled with cliched characters, but what raises them up from this is the fine choice of actors in the key roles.
Carlos Bernard (best known as Tony Almeida in ’24’) plays Aaron Ritter, the leader of the assault team on the hunt for the alien parasites. Bernard plays the role with a mix of gritty paramilitary toughness and angsty heroics when he so could have easily brought only one dimension to his typical scifi-horror movie character. Ritter’s team is rounded out by his right hand man Kane (Rockmond Dunbar) and savvy scientist Sterling (Courtney Ford). Dunbar had the most challenging role as his character had the most potential for falling into a stereotypical ‘cocky badass’. Dunbar rises smoothly above that stereotype and yet never let’s you forget that Kane means business.
Mathew St. Patrick plays Seth Steadman a hostage negotiator and a father concerned for his daughter being held inside the store. St. Patrick gives a rich and layered texture to his character of a man slowly coming to terms that something beyond his realm of experience is happening in the ‘quiet town’ he thought he had moved into.
While ‘Alien Raiders’s is not a high budget film or even a film on the level of ‘Aliens’ or ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’, it is a very well edited, well acted little scifi-horror movie and in my opinion well worth the time to pop some popcorn and sit down to watch it.
Check out the official site for ‘Alien Raiders’ which is available on DVD February 17, 2009. You can purchase this DVD through
Grade = B-
Reviewed by M R Reed
I’m a huge fan of Carlos Bernard however I’m not sure if I can sit through a film about Aliens. yikes!