Altered

Altered
Starring: Paul McCarthy-Boyington, Brad William Henke, Adam Kaufman, Michael C. Williams
Directed by: Eduardo Sánchez

Style: Alien revenge
Blood and Guts: 4
Fright Factor: 3
Laugh Factor: 0
Weapons of choice: Firearms, teeth
Overall rating: 4 out of 5

Most people are suckers. Aliens abduct them in the dead of night, do all sorts of unspeakable things to them, drop them off again, and nobody ever does anything about it but whine and complain and try and convince others that it will happen to them. This is not the case for this group of four friends. Instead, they plan how to capture one of the creatures that abducted them years ago. Once it is captured however, none of them quite know what to do next. More importantly, none of them can foresee just how grave the repercussions of their actions will be.

Altered showcases how an independent little horror film can be better than many feature films. All of the characters are well fleshed out, allowing us to care about their fates and how the story plays out. The direction is also well done, allowing the tension and, at times, suspense of the scene to do the work rather than cheap camera tricks. The special effects are are well-used, with quite a bit of violence happening but all appropriate rather than excessive.

What makes this film work is that it isn't trying to be the greatest horror film you have ever seen. It is straight forward, simple, and sets out to tell you an interesting story. It never tries to be more than it is by utilizing outlandish or inappropriate effects, and all of the actors and crew work as if they are committed to the telling this story. The alien doesn't try to be outlandish and instead is actually very intimidating, especially when it is revealed what happens when it bites you.

If I had one criticism of the film, is that it overuses its darkness a bit too much. There are some effective shadows, but the entire film feels like it was soaked a little too long in the dark. It's the one film contrivance that feels forced, trying to impose an atmosphere rather than letting the story, the environment, and the actors do that naturally.

I would recommend seeing this film if you're looking for a different kind of horror film, one that uses story and character to chip away at your nerves before letting a vicious alien loose on all of it. It probably has better acting than you'll see in most studio pictures, and even more rarely, actually knows what it is doing.