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The Deadly Spawn aka Return of the Aliens: The Deadly Spawn (Douglas McKeown 1983) Trash rating
The Deadly Spawn is a poverty row minor gore classic from one time director Douglas McKeown (who shot the film mostly at weekends on 16mm film for a budget of $20,000). He wrote the script along with his buddies John Dods and Ted A. Bohus, the former also acting as director of special effects. Dods has indeed been busy since the film, working in makeup and special effects on the likes of Ghostbusters II (1989), Alien: Resurrection (1997), and The X Files (1998). On its initial release The Deadly Spawn was retitled Return of the Aliens: The Deadly Spawn in order to cash in on rumors of a sequel to Alien. The film took over $300,000 on it's opening weekend, and has since built up a loyal cult following, putting profits to date in the millions.
After a meteorite crashes near a a small town (sounds familiar) a couple of inquisitive campers decide to investigate. This turns out to be a big mistake as the rock is home to a very hungry alien (that looks like a phalic version of Audry from The Little Shop of Horrors). After munching on the campers, the yucky alien takes shelter from a storm in the cellar of a nearby town house, and starts spawning babies (these look like large tadpoles with oversized teeth). Most of the rest of the film takes place in said cellar as unwitting family members become dinner for the critter. The family's son, an obnoxious horror obsessed kid in therapy (who is actually very entertaining) figures out that the beast is blind and hunts by sound. He subsequntly inlists the help of his older brother and two friends, who together formulate a clever plan to kill the thing.
The Deadly Spawn is a poverty row minor gore classic from one time director Douglas McKeown (who shot the film mostly at weekends on 16mm film for a budget of $20,000). He wrote the script along with his buddies John Dods and Ted A. Bohus, the former also acting as director of special effects. Dods has indeed been busy since the film, working in makeup and special effects on the likes of Ghostbusters II (1989), Alien: Resurrection (1997), and The X Files (1998). On its initial release The Deadly Spawn was retitled Return of the Aliens: The Deadly Spawn in order to cash in on rumors of a sequel to Alien. The film took over $300,000 on it's opening weekend, and has since built up a loyal cult following, putting profits to date in the millions.
After a meteorite crashes near a a small town (sounds familiar) a couple of inquisitive campers decide to investigate. This turns out to be a big mistake as the rock is home to a very hungry alien (that looks like a phalic version of Audry from The Little Shop of Horrors). After munching on the campers, the yucky alien takes shelter from a storm in the cellar of a nearby town house, and starts spawning babies (these look like large tadpoles with oversized teeth). Most of the rest of the film takes place in said cellar as unwitting family members become dinner for the critter. The family's son, an obnoxious horror obsessed kid in therapy (who is actually very entertaining) figures out that the beast is blind and hunts by sound. He subsequntly inlists the help of his older brother and two friends, who together formulate a clever plan to kill the thing.
The Deadly Spawn is a charming little splatter film, despite it's painfully low budget. The acting although amateur, is surprisingly natural, as characters go about their normal day to day activities. We're given scenes of them having breakfast, reading the paper and making chit chat, all of it coming across as surprisingly realistic. The imaginative creatures are the most impressive thing about the movie though, and we see plenty of them. The fact that they look so good on what was a shoestring budget is nothing short of miraculous. Shots of the tadpole babies swimming through the flooded basement look incredibly convincing, amazing to think they were puppets. The Deadly Spawn was one of the now infamous 'video nasties', and it's not hard to see why, as the film is filled with splatter. Characters by turns have their faces ripped off, limbs bitten off, and in one hilarious scene, an old folks (who fight back valiantly) home is gorily attacked by the baby aliens. Much of the film is reminiscent in atmosphere (particularly the basement scenes) to Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead (1981). Though The Deadly Spawn isn't as technically accomplished as Raimi's film, it most certainly appeals to the same audience. To sum up, this is a must see for fans of low budget monster splatter, indeed if you liked The Evil Dead then you will definitely like this. It's highly entertaining, often funny, cult, bloody fun all the way, and the final twist scene is a riot.