Review Detail

9.7 4 10
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FanFix November 02, 2014 5040
Overall rating
 
9.6
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
I had never even watched the original version of this all the way through and thought it might involving a bit of suffering through some parts, but boy, did it move! I was riveted during the initial space mission. Woah! I thought this was a B-movie... it looks great for 1985! Tobe Hooper does great camera work to capture the astronauts' perspectives as they orient themselves in the alien ship. There's a lot of science gobbledy-gook in the beginning third of this film and the mechanics of this future world are a bit dicey, but the scenes are compelling nonetheless.

From the first time Mathilda May is on screen, every heterosexual male around is absolutely riveted to this film. The audacity of having her walking around naked is obviously one of the main facets of the staying power of this film. Before "Species", when had this ever happened?! They reportedly cast May since they couldn't find an English-speaking actress who would do it, and she's absolutely magnetic on screen. But the film doesn't stop there. You could probably write a college term paper on the psychological implications of how femininity is portrayed here. Something about the way May kisses open-eyed and hungry makes this not just exploitation, but about a kind of deeper horror and consumption. And the acting in general isn't all great, but whatever the lines were that were removed, what's left is pretty engaging... Hey, Sir Patrick Stewart! Holy crap, I didn't even know Capt. Picard was in this! In this cut, he actually gets his very first on-screen kiss (fun fact). It's all kind of uncomfortable, but that's probably the point.

This edit trims away the fat and adds in the right scenes to provide richness and context. It's all done pretty seamlessly except of a couple of the music cues. What great, insane fun this is. There can't be another movie like it. It manages to rise above it's humble beginnings and be more than the sum of its parts. Like the best of Roger Corman movies, it continually surprises you at how some part that SHOULD suck actually kind of doesn't.... much like a psychic vampire. Major thanks to JetSetWilly for one of the best and most fun edits I've yet seen!

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Yes
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Digital
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