Altered

I have to write about this movie. It received no publicity, and every synopsis I've ever read of this film makes it seem like low-rent, b-grade horror movie. Nothing could be further from the truth. "Altered" is a brilliant chamber piece about being caught in a frightening situation from which there are no safe exits. And I fear the film will always be discredited and dismissed because the main conflict revolved around the presence of....well, a killer alien. And to be upfront, one of the film's few flaws is that the alien does look like it came straight from a Roger Corman movie. But in fairness to the film, it had a limited budget and creature effects can only look so good when you're trying to create them on the cheap.

The film focuses mainly on the characters of Wyatt, Duke, Otis and Cody. Years ago, Duke, Otis, Wyatt, and Cody's brother Tommy were abducted by aliens. Duke and Otis were released after short while, but Wyatt and Tommy were held much longer. Eventually, Wyatt is returned, and informs the others that Tommy has died. The nature of Tommy's death is known only to Wyatt, who refuses to elaborate. This is all told through present-day dialog with no cheesy scenes aboard a spaceship.

About 10 years have passed since the abduction. Naturally, no one has ever believed their story about abduction. Wyatt lives in seclusion, militia-style. He keeps a cache of weapons, all his doors have multiple locks, and he even has locks on all his kitchen cabinets and his refrigerator. Duke and Otis have been setting traps in the woods where they were abducted, trying to catch an alien to prove that they are not lying. The hunt is not taken very seriously, and is mostly an excuse to hang out in the woods and drink beer. Cody is now part of the hunt, and wants vengeance for his brother. Cody is a class-A fuck-up, and when Tommy went missing it was assumed by everyone (including their parents) that Cody had murdered his brother. Behind his anger and brashness (and sweet jesus, he is an unlikeable character), he actually has the most sympathetic motivation: he just wants his dad to stop looking at him like a murderer. When the film opens, the unthinkable has happened: an alien has stepped into a bear trap. The impulsive Cody immediately wants to kill it, but Duke (as the unofficial leader of this group), realizes that they are in over their heads, so they tie up the alien and bring it to Wyatt's house. Wyatt, the smartest of the group, reluctantly allows them inside. The rest of the movie takes place within 2 rooms of Wyatt's house.

The central dilemma is a doozy. The captured alien is constantly trying to break free, with increasingly deadly consequences. Keeping the creature subdued is putting them in great risk, but it will kill them all if released. On the other hand, if they kill the alien, the rest of the alien's race will see humans as a threat, the consequences of which are unfathomable (but likely involve a lot of dead humans). And while this may still sound like typical b-movie fare, the bulk of the movie is dialog-based rather than action or gore (not that it lacks either of those). Wyatt is the smartest, and knows the alien must stay alive. But Wyatt is still secretive about what happened aboard the spaceship after the others were released, so the others wonder if they can trust him. Cody is a violent idiot, Otis is a coward, and though Duke is well-intentioned, he is barely smarter than Cody (but at least Duke realizes it). There is also the presence of Hope, Wyatt's live-in girlfriend. Naturally, she is completely in the dark about Wyatt's past, making it difficult for her to accept the current situation.

The situation gets more and more tense. Hope calls the police, dim lights and shadowy objects seem to be moving around in the sky, Cody becomes increasingly psychotic, and the captured alien keeps finding ways to inflict harm on all of them. And when there are plot twists, they come from the directions that you least expect.

I've re-watched this movie several times, and I enjoy it more with each viewing. Don't get me wrong, it's far from the perfect film. But it's so rare to find a horror film where the characters are trying to rationalize their way out of a situation instead of fighting their way out of it (or run screaming away from it). And it's also rare to see a horror film with this much ambition, even if it ultimately gets limited by budget constraints (the acting is much better than your typical indie-horror fare, and serves the movie well, but is still not A-level).

I highly recommend this movie, and I wish more people would stumble upon it.