Week of Reel Whorror!: The Invasion Will Not Be Televised - Day 7

It's here.... The moment you've all been waiting for. Of all the alien invasion films to chose from, the question remains, which is worthy for inclusion in the Week of Reel Whorror!? Naturally, Reel Whore has to end The Invasion Will Not Be Televised series with a personal favorite; a film featuring an alien invasions that's both gory and sexy.


Species

Release: 07.07.95
Rated R
1 hour, 48 minutes



Full Price




Xavier Fitch (Ben Kingsley) is a government mule whose been ordered to terminate his latest little science project. The project is a young girl, Sil (Michelle Williams), who isn't ready to be gassed and instead escapes into the night. Fitch reaches out to a handful of experts, Dr. Stephen Arden (Alfred Molina, Spider-Man 2), Dr. Laura Baker (Marg Helgenberger), an empath Dan Smithson (Forest Whitaker, Body Snatchers) and Preston Lennox (Michael Madsen, Reservoir Dogs), to assist in locating and neutralizing any threat Sil may pose.

Of all the invasion plots, this is by far the most clever. Aliens send their DNA sequence and an instruction manual on how to incorporate it within our genetic makeup over radio waves. Humans, being the curious creatures that we are, mix up the alien cocktail which grows to be the super hot blonde with an overwhelming desire to procreate. Obviously, no one's going to turn down sex from a horny Natasha Henstridge so presto fucko, you've got an instant alien invasion force being cranked from her womb.
  
Species doesn't quite get that far. Instead it shows the evolution of Sil from the young Michelle Williams (I still can't believe that's her!) to the sultry Natasha Henstridge. Adult Sil is naive to the ways of the world, and director Roger Donaldson (The Bank Job) deliberately shows Sil learning how to interact socially as well as other things like driving. This illustrates her high level of adaptability and helps to explain how she can elude the task force sent to annihilate her. 

Sil suffers from what can best be described as nightmarish wet dreams, monsters and demonic trains race through her sleeping mind, hinting at the big bad alien which lies underneath that soft complexion. These further prove how undeniably cheesy Species is. Another reason to love Species is the casting; usually you might have one actor whose now a big name, but almost everyone here has quite the reputation.  
 

Dirty Undies

Did I forget to mention that Henstridge is naked more often than clothed? Gratuitous?...Most likely, but if you ever need the perfect distraction for an alien invasion, it's pretty damned effective. Men, and women, seem to lose all rational thinking when Sil appears before them in the buff. She sidles up all innocent-like and, if she doesn't like what she sees, it becomes a bloodbath of alien tentacles and spikes. For audiences looking for sex and slaughter, it's a win-win. 

The Money Shot

Many a slasher movie tries to awkwardly wedge in sexual situations to gratify audiences. Species does us one better by intertwining sex with the impending carnage. It's shameless, but effective; the result being an alien invasion that at least half the planet would be helpless to withstand.