-Written by Kyle Bain.
When you’re shocked by a surprise pregnancy, it’s only natural that you accidentally open a portal that allows dangerous aliens into your world. Now inundated by those aforementioned creatures, Jimmy (K.C. Clyde) and Everly (Renny Grames) are tasked with saving their small country town. Alien Country is a comedic, yet attempted intense journey through a battle with extraterrestrials.
Independent science fiction films can be challenging to develop, more often than not as a result of the fact that they are low budget and the amount of CGI needed in order to bring these stories to life far surpass the means of that budget. Alien Country, unfortunately, struggles like so many films of the science fiction genre that have come before. The computer generated images are wildly ineffective, and they steal from the validity of the film–if there even was any to begin with. The story alone makes Alien Country difficult to appreciate, and from nearly the opening moments I struggled to see much on the positive side in this regard.
Alien Country never really gets going, never hones in on one storyline, and as it jumps around from place to place and story to story it becomes even more challenging to follow. Am I supposed to care about the pregnancy? Am I supposed to care about the alien invasion? Am I supposed to care about the fact that some of the aliens are good? Am I supposed to care that there’s beef between some of the townspeople? Am I supposed to care that one of the main characters wants to become a famous singer? Honestly, I’m not entirely sure which is the primary storyline. The title certainly dictates that the alien storylines should be the focus of the film–but it often takes a backseat to the many other storylines running alongside it. Alien Country is inundated with secondary narratives that serve no purpose and only bog the film down further.
As if Alien Country didn’t already suffer enough problems, poor acting makes the intended intense moments become laughable rather than what this team had hoped for. I don’t honestly know if this falls on the actors or Director Boston McConnaughey, but the fact of the matter is that not a single actor is able to effectively convey emotion.
Not much of Alien Country worked for me; not much of it worked to evoke emotion, to make sense of the multiple storylines, or for it to reach viewers in any way really. Alien Country is campy, which works for some films and for some viewers, but the way in which the cheesy comedy is delivered throughout the course of this film just isn’t effective. Alien Country is ultimately ineffective, and even the final seconds of the film adds another narrative into the fold–one that ultimately steals whatever level of legitimacy the film had up to that point.
Directed by Boston McConnaughey.
Written by Renny Grames & Boston McConnaughey.
Starring Renny Grames, K.C. Clyde, Rachele Brooke Smith, Corbin Allred, Charla Bocchicchio, Austin Archer, etc.
4.5/10 = WORTH THE RISK, BUT YOU’VE BEEN WARNED
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