Film 50/52: Xtro (1983)

Had things gone as originally planned, our 'X' movie would have been Ti West's X — which we were scheduled to run as part of our year-end wrap-up marathon in The Slaughtered Lamb Cinema this week. Unfortunately, a positive Covid test put those plans to rest, and in the hope that we might be able to salvage some of that event at a future date, I opted to go with a different 'X' title — one that I hadn't watched since renting the original Thorn EMI videotape nearly 40 years ago.

My recollection of Xtro was that of a sleazy sci-fi/horror hybrid, with the feel of an 80s Italian horror film, containing an unforgettable scene of a woman giving birth to a fully grown man after being impregnated by an inelegantly designed alien creature.

In addition to reviewing trailers of several possible 'X' films, I watched Siskel and Ebert's review of Xtro to see what they said about it at the time, which I've inserted below in case you're interested in their impressions.

Oddly enough, their scathing review convinced me that I needed to revisit the film to see if it was truly lacking any value whatsoever as they had so vehemently claimed. 

I actually glad I did. My recollections of it being somewhat sleazy, and feeling like an Italian horror film proved true, and all in good ways. The movie doesn't waste any time getting right to the action, with the inevitable alien crash landing and deadly encounter with a young couple driving by. From there, it moves along at a brisk pace with a number of very cool (and often bizarre) set-pieces in its way to a grim conclusion.

Written and Directed (and scored — surprisingly well) by Harry Bromley Davenport, Xtro begins with a father and son playing in the yard of a cottage when the father is abducted by a bright light in the sky. A few years later, an alien spacecraft returns to earth, bringing a creature who impregnates a woman who gives birth to a grown man — the missing father. He finds his wife living with another man, an au pair, and his son. The man moves in with them, claiming no memory of the missing years. He soon shows his son that he has special powers, and explains that he is the reason why he came back.

On this viewing, I saw in Xtro something I've always appreciated about Don Coscarelli's Phantasm — it's a bit of a kitchen sink movie. It's like Davenport sat down and came up with a dozen crazy ideas, and found ways to fit them all into his film. A pet snake on the loose, snake-egg eating, toys coming to life (including a life-size G.I. Joe), gratuitous alien egg-laying, blood drinking, alien impregnation-fu and Rob Bottin-style bladder-fu. Maryam D'Abo was the only name I recognized in the cast (as the au pair Analise), but I thought they all did a pretty good job selling the insanity in the film, particularly Philip Sayer as the father, Sam, and Simon Nash as the son, Tony. 

Needless to say, I found it a very entertaining re-watch after all these years, and it was fun to experience on the big screen for the first time. So much so that I decided to roll right into Xtro II: The Second Encounter (also directed by Harry Bromley Davenport) which was also on the DVD copy I had. Unfortunately, I gave up as soon as it was clear the sequel (starring Jan Michael Vincent and Paul ["Dutch" from The Omega Man] Koslo) had nothing to do with the original. I fast-forwarded through to the end, and as best as I can tell, it's an attempt to outdo James Cameron's Aliens on a direct-to-video budget, without any of the qualities of that film (which I already feel pales in comparison to Ridley Scott's Alien). But it did reaffirm how much more entertaining the original Xtro was! And I'm quite comfortable bypassing Davenport's Xtro 3.