Alien Outbreak (2020) Review

Alien Outbreak (2020) Review

A small rural community is quarantined by an alien presence. Local police officers Zoe (Katherine Drake) and Patrick (Ritchie Crane) battle through the night to take control as they become cut off from the outside world. Residents begin to behave strangely and mass panic spreads throughout. With the help of others, Zoe and Patrick begin unraveling the mystery and soon discover it is not all as it seems. Can they save their community before it’s too late?

Writer-director Neil Rowe has crafted an alien invasion flick that is much better than you’d expect, especially if you’ve read the idiotic reviews on sites such as IMDB. It’s true that the film’s acting is variable, which is often the norm for lower budget fare, but it never falls to a standard that threatens to take you out of the viewing experience.

Cast standout Ritchie Crane is a perfect fit for the role of Patrick, the film’s rugged male lead, and makes for delicious eye candy too. Aside from the acting ALIEN OUTBREAK gets so much else right. For starters filming in the South West of England (just down the round from me) pays off location-wise, enhancing the sense of hopelessness for characters stuck in the middle of nowhere.

Elsewhere I’ve praise for the film’s visuals, they are a wonder. I particularly loved the night time shots outside of the public house our protagonists are holed up in for a short while. The framing and lighting enhance the mood and atmosphere. The effects work is also of a high standard, unusual for a production relying on more limited financial means.

The film’s electronic soundtrack pulsates and throbs in the style of Carpenter/Morricone’s score to 1982’s THE THING and elsewhere there are moments that remind of the original ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 fortunately the nods aren’t so blatant that the film ends up a pale imitation of such classics.

There’s a novel twist that ends ALIEN OUTBREAK on a high note however, just before that, the film’s last third feels like a misstep after the relentless tension of the first hour. This is common complaint for me with sci-fi invasion flicks – even H.G. Wells WAR OF THE WORLDS flounders in its final third before delivering a corker of an end surprise and ALIEN OUTBREAK is no different, almost working from the same template. Otherwise this is a strong UK entry in the alien invasion subgenre that will please those with a modicum of film-sense that doesn’t always think bigger budget films are always better.

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