Film Review: ALIEN OUTBREAK (2020)

ALIEN OUTBREAK *** UK 2020 Dir: Neil Rowe. 85 mins

In true Brit style, everybody just needs to stay calm, but they don’t because whatever the alien infection is, it is too mysterious and strong for humans and panic begins to set in.

Panic stokes the realm of fear, so why panic?

This good film is high octane and keeps you riveted and spreads into your veins much like an irrepressible alien infection that will not be destroyed or controlled and offers an intriguing glimpse into a world of crazy fear and haunted alien mystery that will keep you glued to it’s end.

But have these strange entities come in peace or war?

Alien Outbreak raises all these questions and much more as the effective story and low-key, dark and thumping soundtrack by Amanda Rowe keeps pushing your adrenalin levels up to new levels of horrific intensity. The film leaves you feeling uneasy and stalked by your own imagination with some good horror close ups and even though it drags out the stalking and resistance element too much at times this did not ruin my enjoyment of the film at all. I had to know what it was all about, and this is the film’s great strength which it toys you with all the way through it’s intense plot that is set in some well placed and effective rural settings that are loaded with evenly balanced amounts of human desperation and desolation.

The cast is small and well led by Zoe (Katherine Drake) and Patrick (Ritchie Crane) and well supported by a few other good performances in a competent display of mysterious horror sci-fi where at any point I was waiting for the TARDIS to land and save me, but it doesn’t and this cracker of a film left me on a cliffhanger feeling sort of fulfilled but without any real answers.

Perhaps the aliens are too clever for our world after all, but whatever you make of this film it will push you through the darkness of the War Of The Worlds through to the dogged if not desperate resistance of Starship Troopers in a story that keeps you captivated as it maintains a good pace throughout.

Alien Outbreak heads straight for your jugular as it builds up to a strange but very addictive yet contextual finale, but you will need to watch it as a whole to really appreciate the full flavour of the film if you can escape the mental asylum of it’s world first.

Just one mortal question should remain unanswered for you and that is:-

Is all that resistance really so futile…..or not???????

Review by Nathan Sandiford