Leofwine_draca SPECIES is a B-movie with an A-list cast, nothing more and nothing less than that. Its tired, hackneyed plot is like something out of a '50s alien invasion flick, and the film as a whole is little more than excuse for lots of gratuitous nudity and some gruesome bloodshed along the way. One of the most notable things is that the alien is designed by H. R. Giger, the designer behind the most famous screen Alien of all time, and to hammer the similarities home we have an eerie soundtrack that seems to rip off ALIENS at every single opportunity. Sadly, the only time we really see Giger's work is at the climax, where it's represented by some shoddy CGI effects that I remember thinking were good back in the day. Now, watching this with hindsight, I see that they stink. If only we had more of the cool alien suit and less CGI, I might have enjoyed this a whole lot more.The storyline is so predictable that it's hardly worth bothering with. A female alien in human form attempts to mate with lots of guys, but usually ends up killing them instead. Of course, the good guys are always just behind, and don't meet up with her until the climax. Natasha Henstridge stars in her breakout role as Sil, the alien, but her appearance is little more than an excuse for lots and lots of topless nudity. She doesn't make an impact other than that, and neither does Michelle Williams playing the young Sil. More interesting are Michael Madsen, delivering an adequate hard-ass character with little material to go on, and Marg Helgenberger cast as a love interest before C.S.I. came along. Ben Kingsley is here too, but he just seems weird, while Alfred Molina is trying too hard as the oh-so-British professor. I did like Forest Whitaker, though, who brings warmth and depth to his role as an 'empath', somebody with a psychic link to Henstridge's killer.A predictable ending involving characters being stalked through the sewers and a ridiculous killer baby aside, this is for the most part routine fare. There's one outrageous gore scene where a woman has her spine ripped out in a toilet cubicle and one decent suspense scene in which a couple of the characters are trapped in a sealed room with a rapidly growing alien organism. Other than that, SPECIES is a film just not really worth bothering with.

Michael O'Keefe Roger Donaldson directs this sexy slice of science fiction for MGM. In the early 1990's a Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence Project gets an answer from millions of millions mile away. If not disturbing, but eye opening, information details to scientists how to take alien DNA and splice it with human DNA. A creature(Natasha Henstridge)is formed and given the name Sil. This armor-plated creature, quick as a whisper, turns into a sensual vision of womanhood with one thing on her mind...reproduce. Sil manages to escape her containment and Xavier Fitch(Ben Kingsley), her primary creator, demands she be found and destroyed before she has the chance to breed.Violence and strong sexuality are mixed with sci-fi sequences that sustains attention. Henstridge is making her acting debut and surrounded by an apt cast featuring: Michael Madsen, Marg Helgenberger, Forest Whitaker and Alfred Molina. And briefly, the young Sil is played by Michelle Williams.

Python Hyena Species (1995): Dir: Roger Donaldson / Cast: Natasha Henstridge, Ben Kingsley, Michael Madsen, Marg Helgenberger, Forest Whitaker: Laughable thriller lacking the intelligence and payoff of Alien. It features a breed of alien that dines on people and looks exactly like Natasha Henstridge. With that respect she ages rapidly until reaching the Henstridge stage. She escapes from a lab that was to abort her and she stalks about in search of eager males and breeding, which leads to a nasty sexual encounters that are deadlier than any sexually transmitted disease. Perhaps she should get a guest spot on The Dating Game to help her chances. Lousy recycled peep show reduced to formula and predictable stupidity. Directed by Roger Donaldson who previously made The Bounty, and whose best asset is the special effects. Henstridge spends most of the film having nasty sex and displaying a look on her face that indicates that her underwear might be jammed up her crack. File in as the morons who test death are Ben Kingsley, Michael Madsen, Forest Whitaker, and Marg Helgenberger whose roles are reduced too running and either dying or narrowly avoiding it. One thing is for sure, and that is they didn't narrowly avoid the casting call for this trash. Had the film analyzed the reproduction aspect it might have been more interesting, but instead it becomes an aimless parade of violence that results in an array of guck. Score: 2 / 10

bsonnenm Dennis Feldman's 'Species' is a severely underrated science fiction film from the 90s. The film touches on many themes, including the meaning of life, human desires, specifically procreation, human interaction, kindness/empathy, selfishness, fear, manipulation, intuition, following orders. It does so in a way that is mostly sublime enough that it comes across as genuine. For example there is a fairly believable romance buried in there underneath layers of alien slime. The dialog is mostly well written and to the point, the actors are great and there's lots of attention to detail. Combine that with some great and grotesque visuals, courtesy of the late Hans Ruedi Giger and some Cronenbergian body horror and you're in for a fascinating ride through Los Angeles.The dialog doesn't always work, like when they're trying to track her down and are quickly jumping to conclusions about things that the audience already knows. Scenes vary in quality, some feel a bit rushed. While the effects are mostly excellent there are some subpar ones, too.Overall I highly recommend it if you can get something out of sci-fi horror.