BIFF Movie # 3 - Almost Human

Almost Human is a cracking little horror comedy with what must be one of the lowest budgets ever.  The film was made on the credit cards of the writers and producers but don't let that stop you from enjoying this creepy little film if you're a fan of gore/slasher films/alien abduction.

The film starts with the protagonist, Seth, driving in a very distracted scared manner to his friend Mark's house.  Strange noises and lights are following him.  When he arrives we discover that a third friend has disappeared, "sucked up by a blue light into the sky" according to Seth.  The weird noises and lights flickering on and off continue until a very loud ear piercing scream is heard, and Mark is hypnotised and walking out into the yard.  Seth and Mark's wife Jen see him get sucked up by the blue light also.  Cut to 2 years later, where a series of news reports fill us in on what has happened with Seth and Jen not remembering exactly what has happened but they have lost contact with each other.  Seth gets nose bleeds and nightmares, but Jen has moved on and got a new fiancée and seems fine.

The action starts when a news report states that flickering lights were seen the night before which are identical to the ones from 2 years ago.  Seth has a bad feeling about this and what is about to happen.  He tries to warn Jen but she doesn't want to hear it.  Next thing we are following some hunters in the forest and what do you know, they stumble across a naked, goo covered Mark shivering.  They go to his aid, but apparently he doesn't need it....Mark looks like Mark but in reality is now an alien intent on killing anyone he comes across.  That's not giving anything away either, as all this happens in the first 20 minutes.  It's what happens next that forms the bulk of the movie, as Mark tries to get back to his great love Jen and start colonising earth.

Despite the acting being of a fairly low standard due to inexperienced actors, this is more than made up for by the special effects which are pretty damn good.  As a killing machine, Mark is almost 100% effective but not in any rush, which helps build suspense.  He also uses a good selection of weapons.  The splatter is used regularly and mainly on camera, and there is also a fair bit of 'goo' involved which my friend P said it was funny that I said "ewww" for that and not for the blood flying around.  I can't help that I find blood splatter funny! As I've said in previous BIFF reviews, I'm pretty desensitised to that stuff.

If you can get hold of it and you're a bit of a gore hound, I'd say this is worth spending about $10 on.  It's super fun, avoids the typical Hollywood neat ending and never really explains anything, just takes you on the ride.