Courtesy of MGM
With the musky essence of the Yautja hanging in the air, thanks to the recent release of Predator: Badlands, it is inevitable for the mind to wander toward some other cinematic alien hunter offerings. The most notable of the bunch is undoubtedly the Alien franchise, with its sleek, stealthy Xenomorph. Together, the two make an interesting pair. While the Predator epitomizes a particular view of masculinity with beefy muscles and an affinity for the hunt, the Xenomorph embodies more traditionally feminine traits with a deadly focus on reproduction. And there, the Xenomorph is not alone. In 1995, along came Sil, a particularly alluring alien entity who will stop at nothing to reproduce, in director Roger Donaldson’s sci-fi, action-horror thriller, Species.
An Experiment with All the Right Ingredients
Donaldson, the filmmaker behind everything from Cocktail and The Recruit to Dante’s Peak and Thirteen Days, helmed Species, with a surprising ensemble cast that includes Ben Kingsley, Michael Madsen, Alfred Molina, Forest Whitaker, Marg Helgenberger, Michelle Williams, and Natasha Henstridge in her film debut as Sil. Leaning hard into the creature effects and design, the production held nothing back, tapping H.R. Giger himself (of Alien fame) for Sil’s extraterrestrial concept. Then, it fell to Steve Johnson’s XFX for the practical effects and Boss Films for some early CGI work to bring Sil’s alien transformations to life.
Though a bit dated, there is still much to admire about the design of Sil and Henstridge’s portrayal of her in her more human, adult form. Simultaneously curious, naive, scared, horny, and dangerous, Henstridge induces sympathy and thrills in equal measure. Sil also has incredible fashion taste that must be seen to be believed, as an alien has truly never looked better in a wedding dress. Lucky for everyone, Species is easy to track down as it is now streaming on Prime Video.
Courtesy of MGM
Men cannot resist her. Mankind may not survive her.
A true genre-blurring excursion, Species is a high-concept sci-fi/horror, lovingly crafted, exploitation-infused procedural chase movie. After SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) scientists intercept an alien transmission, they use its gifted genetic blueprint to create a human-alien hybrid, aka Sil. During an attempt to exterminate young Sil, she escapes and train-hops her way to Los Angeles. Here enters the ragtag team of government agents, scientists, and operatives who must track her down before she succeeds in mating with a human male, kicking off a catastrophic new species. In her quest for a mate, Sil soon discovers that not all men make ideal partners, and love isn’t quite as easy to obtain as one might assume, even for a supermodel alien. Before long, bodies begin to pile up in gruesome fashion, resulting in a genuinely entertaining game of cat-and-mouse with the hunter becoming the hunted.
In a crowded field of sci-fi competition, it is understandable why Species has fallen a bit into the shadows. The film’s title font and early CGI experiments certainly don’t do it any favors. However, its interesting flirtation with erotic horror, the stacked cast, and unsettling creature design make it a mid-’90s time capsule worth cracking open again. Especially when viewed through the lens of a partner film to Predator and its more macho franchise leanings. So if you are one who appreciates Giger’s designs and movies that wear their schlocky ambitions on their sleeve, Species is a guilty-pleasure specimen well worth falling in love with.
Species, and many of its offspring, are now streaming on Prime Video.
Categorized: Streaming News
