I am the fountain of affection

... is the theme of the sci-fi movie marathon I'm in right now. And we just watched Alien Raiders, a really excellent low-budget sci fi suspense/thriller. Perhaps because they shot it during the writer's strike, they got some really excellent cast involved, including Carlos Bernard, Mathew St. Patrick, Rockmond Dunbar, and an actress who I haven't noticed before but who I liked a lot--she reminded me pleasantly of Maggie Gyllenhaal--named Courtney Ford.

I've got a Donnie Darko vibe about this movie, in that I saw it in a theater before anybody knew about it and it enormously exceeded my expectations. It's just really well done suspense, that knows when to show gore and when merely to suggest it, and that is written, paced, edited really well. We had the director, Ben Rock, for Q&A afterwards, which was enjoyable, though he didn't reveal any deep dark secrets. He comes out of The Blair Witch Project and related projects, but I promise, the shaky-cam is minimal, used in a couple expository bits, that's it. It was shot entirely in a supermarket and surrounds, and it uses its resources really really well. Big thumbs up for the foley and editing. Big thumbs up in general, and rmd concurs.

It's direct to DVD, coming out this Tuesday, and I highly recommend.

[Thanks for birthday wishes, folks. The winter blues get me enough that maybe I should have a birthday-observed at a sunnier time of year!]

[[I have a movies tag and a films tag? Must fix.]]

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