Not the finest of the Species

When ‘Species’ planted its horror roots in 1995 staring the super hot Natasha Henstridge a new scream queen was born, and a string of sequels was going to follow. Sadly the other entries in the series don’t measure up to the original, ‘Species: The Awakening’ included.

Miranda (Helena Mattsson) is a college professor who lives with her Uncle Tom (Ben Cross), a geneticist who unbeknownst to her mixed human DNA with that of an alien race to create her in a test tube. He took her from the lab she was created in and raised her hoping he could keep her alien side subdued enough for her to live a normal life. Only while out on a date the alien in her decided to come to the surface, resulting in a string of grizzly murders. As soon as Uncle Tom finds out what happened he tells her the truth and the two of them rush to Mexico to find his colleague in order to cure her of the alien illness. Once in Mexico they find out that Tom’s old partner in crime has been busy making other hybrids and Miranda finds out that she might be dying. Of course all of this leads too much more bloodshed and a good bit of T&A.

Part of the reason horror fans (both men and women) watch the ‘Species’ movies is the sex, and although ‘Awakening’ had sex in it, it just didn’t measure up to the level of the other entries in franchise. The gore and special effects were a huge part of what made the first move such a hit, but they didn’t pack nearly half the punch in this flick. Although the sound and cinematography were well done.

Mattsson did a good job playing the nice alien with the killer cooter, and she looks extremely good in her birthday suit. Marlene Favela was also really hot as the not so nice alien hottie Azura, and Ben Cross was decent as Uncle Tom. So I can’t fault the actor for tepid flick. I blame the crappy script and piss poor visuals. Director Nick Lyon did the best with the tools he had, but in the end the film still falls flat.

Do yourself a favor, rent ‘Species’ and stay away from the sequals. Species: The Awakening had its moments but it is even close to being a good movie, this is not a killer film.