Touches You

Great Film overall

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Run for your lives, Earthlings! The Kulku are coming! Seriously. Due to a disease infecting their race, these aliens need human blood to survive. They may err in focusing their attention on the beautiful blonde daughter of stiffly heroic Brad Johnson (as Stephen Chase). She is one of those "selected" as a sacrificial donor, and the Kulkus' existence depends on the blood of pretty blonde Erin Ross (as Heather). Even strapped down on a table, Ms. Ross is very pretty. But, big problems occur because Mr. Johnson doesn't want his daughter to be sacrificed. Managing half-snarls, he goes after the blood-thirsty invaders...The Kulku aliens look just like Earth people, but with whitened eyebrows. They also have circular communications patches pasted on their faces...These aliens seem incredibly stupid in how they go about their mission, but the script does mention them needing a specific amount of blood in a timely manner; it really isn't logical, but they do try to construct an interesting sci-fi plot. Director Robert Stadd and his crew have one striking scene when alien Nathan Anderson (as Kor) dressed in white picks up a reddish ball, which causes a little girl to run away in fear. However, "Alien Siege" is almost completely unnecessary. There is no reason, either creatively or financially, to stop re-runs of "Dark Shadows", "Star Trek" and "The Outer Limits" for this kind of product.** Alien Siege (2/26/2005) Robert Stadd ~ Brad Johnson, Erin Ross, Lilas Lane, Nathan Anderson

A silly little outing that tells of an alien attack on our planet. Sure, the story is epic in scope, but on a budget that allows for only a couple of shoot-outs in the woods, it doesn't really work.The moment I saw the aliens in white makeup with little radio receivers glued to their faces I knew I was in for a cheesy, sub-STAR TREK style outing. Execrable CGI effects, consisting of laser beams, UFOs and people disintegrating within 'blood bags', are not to be taken seriously.The cast, headed by the wooden Brad Johnson, fare no better. Indeed, one of the only reasons I tuned in was to see Carl Weathers; he's bagged a minor role playing a tough army general. Weathers kicks ass - the rest of this film does not.We're left with a concoction of silly effects, low-rent action scenes and lots of dull pondering over right and wrong while a dozen or so plot holes are generally glazed over. Not the Science Fiction channel's greatest hour, then...

The sad thing is, the special effects are pretty good. For one-- I like especially like the beam weapons-- they make the air sizzle when they pass through-- which makes sense energetically speaking.And the Aliens being distinguished by White eyebrows. . . a nice low budget FX trick to make a distinction between US and THEM. I'll even forgive the aliens being stiffer than triple plywood.The Premise, though, isn't psychologically workable -- I mean, our gov'ts would willfully just collaborate to round up Hundred or thousands to MILLIONS of their own people to be drained of their blood and lives? Maybe this was an attempt on the writer's part to explore the whole Nazi-Collaboration angle, but it doesn't click.And last-- the putative hero here-- is absolutely NO hero. In fact, this man, in the face of the possible extinction of the Human race, has ONE mantra: Save my Daughter. Save my Daughter. I don't care how many other people die, but Save my Daughter. . .and while we're still at it Save my Daughter. . .And when we've Saved my Daughter, I'm outta here.Jeez, I mean, the viewer has to ask himself: "Um, why am I watching this, 'cause the hero is a selfish, self-centered douchebag." The Moral Message is clear: If this guy's daughter was not being culled, he wouldn't give a hoot. Usually, these monster/alien movies generally make Scientists out to be less than well-rounded-- but this guy would make Dr. Evil spit in disgust.So because of this totally cardboard, selfish, unlovable, and emotionally UNsympathetic nimrod is the FOCUS of this movie-- the viewer loses touch with the growing moral quandaries nagging the young alien overlord, or the sacrifices of the Resistance, or the unease of the Human Military being forced to collaborate in the mass culling of their own people.Wasted effort. Wasted Script. Wasted Carl Weathers. Wasted FX. Just wasted. . .aghhh! If you've nothing better to do before you turn in for the night, watch this-- and have your finger ready on the Fast Forward Button, especially when they start talking in one place.Trust me, you won't miss much.

For starters this was a pretty good Sci Fi flick. Although I don't much like Brad Johnson, he does a yeoman like job with the Dr. Stephen Chase role. Miss Ross plays his daughter, with the (apparently) obligatory personality characteristic of always arguing when she's told to do something. I'd think the feminists would get tired of this ubiquitous character trait, but maybe it's one of which they approve. Ah, they probably don't watch sci fi anyway. Miss Lane, who plays Blair, isn't exactly a babe, but she's kick-ass tough. As she says to a couple of soldiers she's just taken down, "I have unresolved anger issues." I really like this kind of strong female character. Remember Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) in "Alias"? I also don't have any issue with the technical stuff. The shuttlecraft, the ray-guns, etc. all seem adequate for this level of production. Unlike so many, even high-budget films, the good guys did manage a respectable number of hits for their efforts with automatic weapons. Dr. Johnson does seem rather too knowledgeable in the operation of alien devices, but he is a PhD, and he has been studying their artifacts for years, so maybe that's okay. I was amused that he managed to hang onto his coat, until at the very end when he finally went out into the cold Montana air and left it in the shuttlecraft.As for the main theme of the movie and the ethical dilemmas it poses, I believe we may have a case of art imitating life, because I see "Alien Siege" as a metaphor for the Holocost: all the allusions to "race" and "blood"; hauling all the selectees off to the collection points; the total lack of resistance by almost all those selected; the co-operation of the American troops and officials in the whole process reflects near repetition of everything I have read about the roles of local collaborators with the Nazis. The big difference in the movie is that there is a resistance movement and that it is successful. That's an opportunity that the Jews, as a minority in all the occupied and co-opted countries, did not have. I'm glad to see that Carl Weathers' character, General Skyler, got out of this with his hide. Carl often fares much less well at the hands of his alien foes. Remember what "Predator" did to him...