Terminal Invasion (2002)

Terminal Invasion is not the kind of movie that you'll be likely to hold in high regard. It's no great piece of film-making. Yet it's still an enjoyable enough slice of fun, thanks to the brisk pacing, a lack of pretension, and Bruce Campbell in the lead role.

Campbell plays Jack, a prisoner who ends up in a tiny airport with two officers guarding him closely. One trip to the gents later, everything gets a bit strange and dangerous. People are dead, and Jack is the one being blamed by the other people in the airport, including the security guard. It turns out that the killer was an alien, and it may not be the only one in the airport. Jack tries to convince others of the danger that they're in, but if they don't want to believe him then he'll do whatever it takes to break free and make sure that the one pilot in their midst (Chase Masterson) flies him all the way to another country.

Directed by Sean S. Cunninghman, the man perhaps best described as part horror maestro and part carnival barker, this is standard b-movie fun, trying to overcome its low budget with the charisma of Campbell and the potential fun of the premise. It's hard to believe that it took three people to write the script (Lewis Abernathy, John Jarrell and Robinson Young), but it's not as flat and lifeless as many other TV movies of this ilk.

A large part of that, however, is all down to Campbell, who has cornered the b-movie market in smartass, cool anti-heroes. Masterson makes for a decent partner, as the bizarre reality of the situation becomes clear, and Kedar Brown and Sarah Lafleur also do pretty good work. Jason Jones, one of the more recognisable faces in the supporting cast, is onscreen for a little while, and he's the only other one to make a decent impression. Andrew Tarbet, C. David Johnson, Marcia Bennett, and others populate the story without ever feeling like more than stock characters/fodder for the dangerous alien.

There are attempts made to keep viewers on their toes, each one being either too predictable or too laughably silly to work. Still, I appreciate the effort. It may be nothing more than an average film, when all of the pros and cons are weighed up, but it could have been much worse.

5/10

http://www.amazon.com/Terminal-Invasion-Bruce-Campbell/dp/B001KEGR5W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405626342&sr=8-1&keywords=terminal+invasion

House IV: The Repossession (1992)

If you take this as following on from the second movie in the series, the film it is actually supposed to follow on from, then it doesn't make any sense. If you take this as following on from the unrelated third movie in the series then it doesn't make any sense either. I don't care what others may try and say, the only thing really linking all of the movies in this quartet is the fact that they are all set in a house. That's it. It's never the same house, which is clear from the surroundings and the interior layout of the place. It's just a house.

Having said that, House IV: The Repossession makes a bit more effort than the others to create a continuation of events in an established movie universe. For example, William Katt is back, albeit briefly, in the role of Roger Cobb. And then there's . . . . . . . . . . . well . . . . . . . nope, there's nothing else. Apart from events being set in a house.

A woman and her wheelchair-bound daughter happen to be living in a house that someone wants to buy and destroy. As the woman continues to refuse any offers made to her, the wannabe buyer resorts to more menacing ways of persuading the tenant to sell. The house itself is also making things more than a little tense for the stressed woman, but is it perhaps trying to actually help in some strange way?

Even compared to the sequels that came beforehand (official or not), this is a poor, poor movie. When it's not being completely crazy (a singing pizza, a "vertically-challenged" villain draining excess mucus into a jug, etc) it's just pretty dull. Those crazy moments make it at least watchable, but only just.

Director Lewis Abernathy, working from the script by Geoff Miller and Deirdre Higgins, doesn't seem to know where he's going with the movie. Is it being played for laughs? Is it a supernatural drama that wants to have a cheery, loving centre? Or is it a surreal, dark thriller? Nobody knows and, as such, it ends up being a bit of all of these things and yet off-centre with them all.

Terri Treas is watchable enough in the lead role, Melissa Clayton is also pretty good, Denny Dillon is a fun presence and Scott Burkholder is suitably ruthless as he is pushed further into a corner. And William Katt is okay in his small role.

Completists may want to watch this one but I'm telling you now . . . . . . . . it's easy enough to go through your entire life without it.

4/10.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/House-Collection-the-DVD/dp/B0002IAQUO/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1330285187&sr=1-1