ALIEN APOCALYPSE (2005) Review

Directed by: Josh Becker

Starring: Bruce Campbell, Renee O'Connor, Remington Franklin

I'm always up for watching a film with Bruce Campbell in it. From THE EVIL DEAD to MY NAME IS BRUCE to MANIAC COP I have to say that I haven't found any of his movies to be overly terrible.

I'm actually surprised it's taken me this long to see ALIEN APOCALYPSE because I've heard so much about it, mostly about how terrible it is. I decided it was time to finally find out for myself.

ALIEN APOCALYPSE bears a striking resemblance to PLANET OF THE APES. A small group of astronauts have been in cryo-sleep while on a probe mission for 40 years. Their ship has finally crash landed on Earth and they step outside only to be greeted by what looks to be a post-apocalyptic wasteland. They soon discover that aliens have invaded and are using the human population as slaves and bounty hunters. After an altercation with said bounty hunters, the astronauts are captured and taken to a nearby sawmill to be put to work. After meeting the local slave population they are given the lowdown on all the excitement they missed while in space. It seems that the aliens landed about 20 years earlier and have been using the planet to supply themselves with their primary food source which just so happens to be wood (although they don't seem to mind a bit of human flesh on the side). Rumors that the president of the US is still alive and gathering a fighting force in the mountains encourages astronaut and doctor Ivan (Campbell) to seek him out and help lead the rebellion against the alien overlords. Ivan used his charisma, passion and medical skills (it seems that in the future anybody can be fixed with a little chiropractic work) to recruit more humans as he strives to both free the human race (including his romantic interest Kelly (O'Connor)) and become known as 'The Great Healer'

ALIEN APOCAYPSE has some horrible effects, a terribly written script and some dreadful acting, but it seems that most of this crappiness was intentional. I can't imagine otherwise. If you love this special breed of shockingly bad sci-fi film then you will love this. With all of its flaws (there are many) it is somehow an enjoyable film though and probably best enjoyed with a few friends and lots of alcohol.