ALMOST HUMAN (2013)

Studio:       IFC Midnight
Director:    Joe Begos
Writer:       Joe Begos
Producer:  Joe Begos, Anthony Ambrosino, Josh Ethier
Stars:     Graham Skipper, Vanessa Leigh, Josh Ethier, Michael Locicero, Susan T. Travers, Jami Tennille, David Langill, Kristopher Avedisian

Review Score:

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Summary:

Two years after disappearing in a blue light from the sky, a man returns home where his former friends begin to suspect he has been transformed.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

October 13th, 1987 – Patten, Maine – Seth Hampton arrives at his friend Mark Fisher’s house in a panic. Seth explains that their friend Rob Baker disappeared in a bright blue light that then followed Seth to Mark’s house. Mark’s girlfriend Jen Craven enters before the lights begin flickering and a shrill sound is heard. Mark goes outside in a trance and disappears in the blue light. Based partly on Jen’s confused account, Seth is questioned by police regarding Mark and Rob’s disappearances, but he is ultimately released for lack of evidence.

Two Years Later – Seth watches a news segment on TV about the return of strange lights in the sky and unexplained power outages. After being dropped off at the diner where she works by her new fiancé Clyde Dutton, Jen sees the same news report.

In the woods near Derry, two hunters find Mark lying naked and shivering on the forest floor. They approach him and are knocked over when Mark emits an ear-piercing scream. Both hunters are killed and Mark takes the clothing from one of them.

Seth goes to see Jen at the diner and asks if she saw the news report. Seth tells Jen that his dreams give him premonitions related to the incident and he predicts that Mark will return.

After receiving directions from Derry to Patten, Mark kills a gas station attendant and a customer. Mark stows the customer’s body in a truck and drives back to his former home. Mark murders the man and woman now residing in his old house and takes their bodies to the shed. There, a tendril emerges from Mark’s mouth and inseminates the corpses with something alien from inside his body.

Mark looks for Jen at her fiancé’s place and ends up killing Clyde. Jen comes home and confronts Mark. Her initial emotion is overcome by fear when she realizes he has changed. Mark promises to give Jen the family she always wanted if she joins him in taking over the bodies of others. When Jen resists, Mark attacks her.

Seth receives a cryptic phone call from Mark indicating that he has returned and reunited with Jen. Seth arrives at Clyde’s house and finds Jen still alive in the shed where the other bodies have entered cocoons. One of the bodies emerges from its cocoon. Seth and Jen are forced to kill it.

Mark enters the shed and attacks Seth. Jen distracts Mark by swinging an ax into his back before retreating inside the house. Mark knocks out Seth as another body emerges from its cocoon. Mark then goes after Jen.

Mark finds Jen, tears off her pants, and begins to impregnate her through the tendril from his throat. Seth kills the pod person in the shed, arms himself back at the house, and shoots Mark in the head while Mark is in the act of assaulting his ex-girlfriend. Seth then battles another pod person downstairs in the kitchen while Jen wrestles with Mark’s headless body.

Their respective attackers subdued, Seth collects Jen and brings her to the truck outside. While driving away, Jen begins to transform. Seth escapes the vehicle and flags down a passing motorist. Seth gets into the passenger seat, but Jen breaks the window on the other side and kills the driver. Seth takes control of the vehicle and runs over Jen after she pulls the driver out and kills him.

Seth stands over Jen’s body, prepared to bash her skull with a rock. Jen pleads with Seth that she is still normal and needs his help to remove whatever is inside of her. Seth beats her to death with the rock anyway. Policemen arrive and order Seth to stop. He ignores their commands and the police shoot Seth dead. In a post-credits scene, another naked body is seen awakening in the woods. The man appears to possibly be Seth.

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Review:

With its John Carpenter font for the opening credits and composer Andy Garfield channeling Alan Howarth with a moody synth score, “Almost Human” makes no secret about its inspirations from the word go.  Round out the atmosphere with a late 1980’s setting and there is no mistaking the throwback vibe of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” meets “The Thing” that triple threat writer/director/producer Joe Begos wishes to evoke with his debut feature.

In a panic, Seth arrives at his friend Mark’s house with bugged-out eyes and an unbelievable tale about their friend Rob having just disappeared into a blue light from the sky.  That light follows Seth to Mark’s place and takes Mark, too.  After two years of psychiatrist visits and predictive night terrors for Seth, the light in the sky returns.  So does Mark.  Except this Mark is a shell of his former self, transformed by horrors unknown into an alien vessel intent on turning his former friends into hosts for his new masters.

For better or for worse, a little bit of both perhaps, Joe Begos keeps his first film simple.  The easy does it approach roots “Almost Human” within a scope of achievability for a minimal budget and wet behind the ears talent.  It is a smart way of not straining too far beyond available means to turn the movie into a multi-layered epic it does not have the resources to pull off.

Conversely, there is little more to the movie besides what is already mentioned in the above summary.  Running a quick 70 minutes without credits, “Almost Human” is a straightforward slasher with an entranced pod person substituting for the masked maniac.  Deeper revelations about his alien origins are nonexistent, as is any chunky meat for a skeleton plot about small town residents trying to avoid being spun into cocoons, and failing.

“Almost Human” serves up several side dishes of character development that fail to fit in, merely taking up space as non-essential fluff padding scenes of alien assaults into feature length.  Mark’s ex-girlfriend Jen has had her hours reduced at work, a problem she shares with fellow waitress Tracy, making for a subplot and a secondary character with no bearing on anything.  Seth has his own work troubles.  His boss is on him about erratic behavior and his shelf-stocking buddy goes on about needing to get out of the house more.  As short as the movie already is, it isn’t tight enough when it comes to reining in B-stories with little impact on the big picture.

“Not ready for prime time” is a gentle way of labeling the acting.  The performers appear enthusiastically game for their roles, although it is evident that they need to amass more text on the back of their headshots to up their credibility as characters.  Whether portraying bewildered, surprised, or fully terrified, the unilaterally employed reaction for everyone involved is always held back eyelids and parted lips.

Begos makes up for the unripe performances and prevents “Almost Human” from looking like an amateur-grade effort with excellent production value and effective sound design.  The cinematography completely masks relative inexperience behind the camera and gives “Almost Human” a polished, professional look.  Sound design on both fronts of score and audio effects complement the visuals and go a long way towards fulfilling the film’s intended tone of retro-styled terror.

Achieving that tone is not a complete success, however.  Other than a title card saying so, there isn’t anything about the movie that particularly screams 1980’s.  Regardless, “Almost Human” is still a solid attempt at crafting a worthwhile low-budget feature.  Keeping the story minimal simply ended up as both an asset and a detriment.  Possessed alien host slaughtering victims one by one can make for reliable horror entertainment, but it is also ultimately disposable.  Now that his feet are wet in the genre, it is already time for Joe Begos to branch into bold for his next go behind the lens.

NOTE: There is a post-credits scene.

Review Score:  60

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