Xtro (1982)

A man who was abducted by aliens returns to his family three years later, but his presence affects them negatively.

Director:

Harry Bromley Davenport

Writers:

Harry Bromley Davenport (story), Iain Cassie

Stars:

Philip Sayer, Bernice Stegers, Danny Brainin

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Philip Sayer	...	Sam Phillips
Bernice Stegers	...	Rachel Phillips
Danny Brainin	...	Joe Daniels
Maryam d'Abo	...	Analise Mercier
Simon Nash	...	Tony Phillips
Peter Mandell	...	Clown
David Cardy	...	Michael
Anna Wing	...	Mrs. Goodman
Robert Fyfe	...	Doctor
Katherine Best	...	Jane
Robert Pereno	...	Ben
Sean Crawford	...	Commando (as Tok)
Tim Dry	...	Monster (as Tik)
Susie Silvey	...	Woman in Cottage
Arthur Whybrow	...	Mr. Knight

Storyline

Tony's father Sam, abducted by aliens three years earlier, returns to earth and seeks out his wife and son, but Rachel has since been living with Joe and the reunion is awkward. Joe doesn't trust Sam, and Rachel can't quite decide what her feelings are for her two men. Sam is not the same as when he left, and he begins affecting Tony in frightening ways.

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Plot Keywords:

alien | pregnancy | violence | city | british horror | 

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Taglines:

A brutal excursion in terror

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 January 1983 (USA)

Also Known As:

X-tro

Filming Locations:

Artillery Row, Westminster, London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Amalgamated Film Enterprises

Technical Specs

Runtime:

81 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

A DVD release says in the synopsis that Sam Phillips is a scientist. However, this isn't mentioned anywhere in the movie at all.

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Goofs

In the prologue, Tony and Sam are seen together before Sam's abduction. The movie then fast forwards to three years later. Despite this, Tony doesn't seem to have aged at all. He still looks the same age throughout the whole movie.

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Connections

References Alien (1979)

User Reviews

A lot better than it's rating suggests!

After being abducted by aliens three years earlier Sam (Phillip Sayer) returns to earth and reunites himself with his wife Rachel (Bernice Stegers) and son Tony (Simon Nash). While Sam was away Rachel moved on with her life and started seeing Joe (Danny Brainin) and after the arrival of Sam at the couples flat Joe begins to suspect that Sam is not all that he appears to be.

‘Xtro' is not a bad little sci-fi horror movie in my opinion. While it suffers from bad, wooden acting and a sometimes incoherent plot the film is generally well thought out and capably directed by Harry Bromley Davenport. The biggest complaint I have with the movie was the lack of character development with regards to the alien. While some creatures or villains are scarier when the viewer is unaware of its origins I feel this particular life form would have benefited from at least a slight background story which was sadly lacking. However, though the plot can be sometimes a little confusing, most of the story eventually comes across well despite leaving a few unanswered questions and being slow in places. As I previously mentioned the film was fairly well directed and this really comes through in a few scenes which generally have an extremely trippy and unnerving effect.

The effects in ‘Xtro' are quite surprisingly of very good quality especially considering the budget for this flick. Though one or two of the make-up effects looked rather out-of-place from the rest most of the effects were well produced and made ‘Xtro' a rather gory movie which should keep gore fans happy. This movie found its way onto the infamous Video Nasty list and though it probably should not have been put there one can almost understand why as it features a couple of particularly brutal scenes involving women. Having said that there are far more vile movies out there and it would seem ‘Xtro' was just a poor victim of media propaganda.

‘Xtro' is certainly worth a look in my opinion for sci-fi/horror fans. Complete with a delightfully erratic and haunting 80's soundtrack the movie is fairly entertaining despite its shortcomings. ‘Xtro' is probably not for those who expect a lot of action but instead a good movie for people who like slow-paced movies with various plot aspects to think about. My rating for ‘Xtro' – 7/10.