Dark Breed (1997)

DARK BREED is another hit from the team at PM Entertainment, who seemed to put out minor gem after minor gem in the years 1996 to 1997. This one's a heavily derivative science fiction thriller in which a team of astronauts are infected by alien organisms which turn them into ruthless killers. Only B-movie favourite Jack Scalia can stop them, aided by a female alien on his side.Sure, this is a film that blatantly copies bits from ALIEN, ALIENS, and THE TERMINATOR, but that doesn't stop it being a decent piece of entertainment. It's very fast-paced, for a start, and very violent, with all manner of gruesome death scenes taking place throughout. The trademark PM vehicle chases and crashes are present and correct, and a strong cast does well with the material too. Even the early CGI effects aren't bad. Watch out for ROBOCOP's Felton Perry as one of the infected, George 'Buck' Flower as a tramp, and UNDER SIEGE 2's Jonathan Banks as the chief villain.

Starts out with a space shuttle crashing into the water, the military stands by and getting ready to rescue the people inside w/ a fear of contamination. The guys that crashed jump out of the water (infected by the aliens) and starts killing, jumps into vehicles and the military chases after them - car crashes and things explode during the high speed chase! Next the military are after them for the rest of the film and there are scientist/doctors that want to check out the men infected.The infected men will go back to being themselves and then the aliens will take them back over again - so there is some back and forth with that going on.We have no idea why the aliens are wanting to take over earth... but they have eggs to hatch to "raise" an army of their own to do so. Maybe the earthlings made them mad to begin with by trying to take there eggs.Lots of cheesy 80s action going on in this 1996 film... if you like that and aliens then you might like this movie!! 3/10

"Dark Breed" is a middle-of-the-road creature feature.**SPOILERS**Upon returning to Earth early, the astronauts of the Space Shuttle Aquarius, Joseph Shay, (Jonathan Banks) Zimmerman, (Sal Landi) Rice, (Josh Clark) Jackson, (Leon W. Grant) Powell, (Felton Perry) and Deborah Saxon, (Donna W. Scott) are feared to be infected and manage to escape. Ordered to find them and bring them back, officers Nick Saxon, (Jack Scalia) Lt. Burgess, (Cindy Ambuehl) and Fox, (Carlos Carrasco) go out to search and begin to track them down. After managing to find several of them, they soon discover that the aliens have a spy amongst them to divert them away from their target. That leads them to learn of an alien parasite that has infested the astronauts to take over the planet for their own race of beings, and they race against time to stop their diabolical plan to eliminate the planet.The Good News: This was a pretty surprisingly good film. One of it's best features is it's action-packed narrative. It plays out much more like an action film than it really should. This is mostly evident in the beginning, where it features several really impressive action stunts. The truck's charge through the exploding battlefield is a pretty good scene, and the highway sequence is nothing shot of brilliant. From the acquisition of the vehicles to the brawl through the trailer and the ensuing chases, this is a great scene that does a whole lot right. That it concludes with a spectacular car crash and explosion is a lot better. The gunfight at the motel is also pretty good, and there's a really great hospital massacre scene gets some great moments in. There's also the film's highlight, the final confrontation in the alien's headquarters. The massive structure, the creepy interior and the fantastic way of lighting the entire area makes it a lot more suspenseful and give it an eerie look to it. The action in the scene is quite intense and gets some great mileage out of it. Along with other action scenes spread throughout the film, they make the film seem incredibly fast-paced and manages to stay entertaining quite easily, a great feat for a simple creature feature. The pretty high body count also works for the film's favor, giving it lots of kills and some great gore. There's a plethora of gunshots, a broken neck, several bashed against the surroundings, along with more graphic ones including having a hand punched through the stomach and coming out the back, being ripped apart from a creature underneath the skin, a special device tearing a victim to pieces and more, leaving this one pretty bloody. There's also a really graphic autopsy to add, along with all the non-fatal wounds acquired during the fights. These here make this a really entertaining creature feature.The Bad News: There isn't a whole lot here that doesn't work. The main one is the aliens themselves. They're rarely on-screen, and the few times they are on make them look incredibly fake. The appearance is way too rubbery and covered with obviously fake goo that just makes them look like any generic alien out there. The fact that they transform in two of the single cheesiest-looking scenes ever doesn't do any favors, looking like third-rate bloopers for any creature feature made. Making them look even cheesier is that in human form they simply decide to make their eyes yellow-ish, cat-like eyes and it takes all their suspense away when they look like that. Also not helping is that the film is really clichéd and plays out like any normal film in this genre. It's quite easy to see where everything's going from the very beginning, giving it no real surprises to play on. These make it a little less than perfect, though it's still quite good.The Final Verdict: Though this one did have some problems, all-together this was a nicely action-packed film that does manage to entertain. This one's mostly for the lovers of cheesy creature features or of the more action-packed variety, though those of more serious fare seek caution.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and Brief Nudity

Can't believe these actors signed on for this. Guy wearing an Air Force full service uniform shooting a bazooka...I think not. Not to mention the bazooka is a 2-man weapon....Story points are not made clear; e.g., why the possessed astronauts are standing in the middle of the road, waiting for a truck that's hauling a mobile home. Maybe they were just waiting for someone to stop, I don't know. These were good, reputable actors, relegated to a movie that relied on stunts and special effects instead of telling a story. The basic premise is fine, but there's only so far that suspension of belief will go, and this movie requires you to go way beyond it. Could it have been done better? I think so. Use the same actors, get a better writer, and you might have a decent movie.