Species: The Awakening (2007) (V)

Director:

Nick Lyon

Writer:

Ben Ripley (writer)

Release Date:

2 October 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Irresistable beauty. Unstoppable instincts.

Plot:

A scientist, Dr Holander, takes his niece Miranda to Mexico in an attempt to reverse the effects of the alien DNA he used to create her...

Plot Keywords:

Mexico | Scientist | Alien | Rampage | Female Frontal Nudity

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Edy Arellano	...	Calderón
Marco Bacuzzi	...	Rinaldo
Jan Bouda	...	Student #2
Ben Cross	...	Tom Hollander
Roger Cudney	...	Leland Fisk
Montserrat de León	...	Dancing Girl (as Monserrat de León)
German Fabregat	...	Technician
Marlene Favela	...	Azura (as Marlene Farvela)
Meagen Fay	...	Celeste (as MeaganFay)
Kristian Ferrer	...	Mexican Boy #1
Cynthia Francesconi	...	Collette
Alejandra Gollas	...	Trauma Nurse
Alizair Gomez	...	Mexican Boy #2 (as Alizar Gómez)
Eleazar Gómez	...	Student #3
Harding Junior	...	Student #1

Also Known As:

Species IV (USA) (working title)
Species: Quattro (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

94 min (approx.) | USA:98 min (unrated version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

Singapore:R21 | Australia:MA | Finland:K-15 | Argentina:16 | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:R16 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico

Company:

360 Pictures

Trivia:

The producers wanted to go back to H.R. Giger's designs of the alien creature due to popularity with fans and the absence of this decision in Species III (2004) (V). The original look is apparent but with different color variations and new spikes on the aliens' wrists of the nemesis. It is also a first in the series that a half human-half alien character does not change fully into the alien creature but has prosthetic eyebrows, veins and contacts for a long period of time in more than one scene.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Azura is lying dead at the bottom of the pit and Tom looks at her, you can clearly see she is wearing body-suits from the waist downwards.

Quotes:

Miranda Hollander: For their punishment Zeus gave them women.

Movie Connections:

Follows Species II (1998)

Soundtrack:

Dark As Love

I walked with a teenage alien

The scientist Hollander has got a beautiful niece, a very intelligent girl named Miranda (Helena Mattson) who starts teaching at university while she still is rather young. But when she becomes ill, Hollander reveals he's not her uncle and takes her to a lab in Mexico because that's where she was created - from alien DNA. The revelation of her origin is shocking, and Miranda starts to ask questions about ethics which are difficult to answer. Helena Mattson clearly is the most talented actress among the female aliens of the series (Henstridge may have more charisma, but not as much versatility), because in these scenes Mattson is very believably moving from shock to guilt - and onwards to the inhuman superiority of a higher developed species.

If this had been shot in the 1950s, it probably would have been entitled "I Walked With A Teenage Alien". I had low expectations, since the same franchise was being exploited for the 4th time, but the movie manages to be creative enough to put its own stamp on the saga. In the second half of the movie, the makers give in to the expectations of the audience with more fights (including a spectacular alien vs alien death-match), but until then, it was really clever, playing more than its predecessors with the idea of "shall we do that just because it can be done?". Somehow the religious symbolism didn't fit in - the Mexican alien is disguised as a nun and hit by a huge cross once - because aliens obviously have no connexion to earthly traditions like that. That's more for "The Omen", "The Exorcist" and such like. I voted 8/5/6/7 for the 4 parts of the series, which means: if you know only the original, but none of the sequels, I recommend you try at least this one.