The Deadly Spawn (1983)

Simply Perfect

Excellent but underrated film

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

What this film lacks in budget and professionalism it certainly makes up for in terms of special effects; I would say that these are some of the most inventive, imaginative and damned good effects that I've ever seen in an amateur film. Okay, so some effects, like the miniatures at the beginning and end, are predictably awful, but the actual alien creatures themselves here definitely do not disappoint.The plot is a typical one involving an alien invasion which begins with a meteorite crashing into the woods (hmm, where have we heard that before? THE BLOB maybe?). Scores of little worm things are released into the countryside, and some take refuge in the open basement of a house, where they quickly develop. The family members are then picked off one by one by the horrible creatures. So, to put it very basically, a group of people, trapped in an isolated location, are menaced by a toothy beast. I guess the makers of this film saw ALIEN when it came out four years previously.The acting is, as you can imagine, really bad, with people either reading the lines off their cards or simply not bothering at all. It's not really, really, bad but it's quite laughable. There's nothing in the way of scenery or atmosphere, and the amateur nature of the film is noticeable at all times. And, sad to say, towards the end it all gets rather silly indeed, with our young hero employing the same methods as Roy Scheider did in JAWS to get rid of the monster.But...there are some real stand-out moments here which just have to be seen to be believed. Some notable gore moments include a corpse with worms wriggling from the eye sockets and bursting from the sockets, and a head being pulled off and the decapitated body being thrown through a window. There's another hilarious moment where the worms attack a group of old ladies having a party. The creatures themselves sometimes look bad, sometimes look real enough to be convincing, especially during an impromptu dissection on one of them.The highlight of this film for me, and I'm sure for many others, comes when a young boy ventures into his basement. He wanders through the darkness before his torch lights something up in the gloom. It's the alien, a multi-headed creature with rows of sickly-looking teeth, something which could almost be Lovecraftian in nature. At its feet (or should I say tentacles) lies a half eaten body. Then, from its jaws, falls the head of the boy's mother, all mutilated. The tiny monsters then proceed to tear the flesh from the head in graphic detail. Let me say, this scene is absolutely PERFECT. It immediately repulses, horrifies and scares, setting out exactly what it was meant to do. The effects work, because the basement is dark and the darkness hides any joints. There's no CGI, this monster has body, texture, you can almost smell it. I'm actually inclined to say that this one scene is one of the best I've ever seen in a monster movie; in this one moment everything falls into place and it actually becomes better than ALIEN, the film which it was ripping off. Therefore, it has to be watched because of this, just to watch this totally unexpected, graphic and shocking moment. And the rest of the film isn't that bad, so why not give it a go?

I guess I expected too much from this low-rent independent cult Sci-Fi horror favourite, as it delivered on the cheesy gore and monster effects (an infestation of outer-space slug parasites with imposing pearly whites) that was like something of a old-school 1950s monster throwback, but when that wasn't the case the characters that the story concentrated on were awkwardly dull (outside the young lad) and the dialogues just as mundane. Sometimes you can look over that fact, but the main problem lied in some slow stretches with nothing but trivial exchanges which added nothing new than to prolong the outrageously tacky, but icky action with annoying stoppages. In that aspect the film didn't outstay its welcome at only 80 mins long. Some inventive flourishes (dramatic camera angles springing up) and nasty shocks (a surprise or two in the carnage filled deaths), in somewhat a familiar plot structure. Kids trapped inside their home with hideous, unfriendly monsters. The material kind of finds inside in both camps; serious but not without a touch of humour. Leading the way is a resourceful young boy (a fan of horror films) with a wild imagination, but who might just be the only one who can rid earth of this threat. His first encounter in the dank, darkly lit basement is a surreal treat. The creature effects start off nothing more than POV shots, shadows and silhouettes… but that's not for too long. They are impressively effective and also goes for it boldly inspired closing shot. Director Douglas McKeown's mechanical handling shows up some patchy traits but for its low-scale production, he creates some crafty atmospheric stages and the accompanying music score packs an eerily spacey touch. Trashy, but mildly fun.

But unfortunately my hopes were not answered!Many people have given great thoughts on this movie, so I needed to check it out! But unfortunately this movie (at least for me) came off as pretty mediocre! The acting was poor (but I honestly did expect that!) and overall the movie pretty boring.And don't get me started on the gore! People treat this movie like its one of the goriest movies ever made! And if this is one of the goriest than I must be the most gore-watchable movie buff ever!This is a cheesy movie but not in the way that makes it good (like Killer Klowns from outer Space)! It is not very entertaining and I'd rather watch something like... (Insert good B-movie here)The only reason I'm giving this a 5 is because the special effects are pretty good for such a low-budget!Overall: Only watch it if you need to watch EVERY B-movie in history!2.5/5 5/10

I never heard of this movie before until this week, I Just can't not believe that I have never seen this movie before.The plot: Two campers in the New Jersey woods have their outdoor fun interrupted by the arrival of a meteorite crashing nearby. They go to investigate the crater, but are suddenly attacked and devoured by alien parasites who have hitched a ride to Earth. After finishing off the campers, the hungry space monsters head for a nearby town, where they make their domain in the basement of an old house soon begin polishing off one hapless inhabitant after another. Four young teenagers, plus one boy, try to find a way to stop the angry space monsters before they reproduce and literally eat humanityI saw Night of creeps/Slither before this movie, I can not believe this one came out before them However I really like night of the Creep and I love Silther think they are both awesome.The space monsters in this movie look like fat slugs that is taller then door and somehow it make (We never get to see how he makes them) small kind worms just like the one in Slither but these are bit bigger has have very sharp teeth to skin in human fleshNice mount of blood his movie decent acting for low budget movie, The ending I was like oh my god, Who have got to be joking, it just so bloody funny, I love the ending so much that I going to give a 10/10 I Know this came in 1983 but it's the best horror I have see this year!