I like Eduardo Sanchez, the director of 'Blaire Witch' and 'Lovely Molly'. Sure, 'Exists' wasn't too good, but of the four movies I've seen of his, 3 were really great.'Altered' is a sci-fi/thriller/horror hybrid. In a nutshell, it's a movie about a few hillbillies who capture an alien in the woods years after having been abducted and experimented upon by the same extraterrestrial menaces. They bring the captured yet alive E.T back to one of there friends house, where horror and havoc ensue. I'm not going to go too much into what happens from there as that would be giving away the movie, but the plot is simple enough to be interesting without getting convoluted. The first thing I liked about this movie is that it clearly had a pretty limited budget. IMO, that worked out in Sanchez's favor, for instead of gratuitous use of CGI for effects, we get good old fashioned puppets, costumes and great make-up. It looks like a really good horror movie from the late 80's/early 90's which was a golden age in terms of special effects for the horror and sic-fi genre IMO.Most of the film takes place in one of two rooms, which creates a sense of claustrophobia and tension. Ridiculous as the premise may sound, it is not a light-hearted or campy movie. There is a constant sense of dread and fear, and the actors do there job without too much backstory to lend towards this effect. I also must commend the make up artist and costume designer. The Alien looks great, probably the best portrayal of an E.T since H.R Giegers' Alien design. The gore is noteworthy as well if you're into that kind of thing. When one of the red-necks becomes infected, it truly is pretty sickening .Unlike a lot of his other films ('Blaire Witch', 'Exists' and 'Lovely Molly') there is no 'found- footage' angle or use in 'Altered', which is a nice change of pace. I've said it before, so excuse me for being redundant, but while I don't mind the 'found-footage' technique when it's applied in a way that makes sense, it's nice to see a talented director like Sanchez step out of what I imagine might be his comfort zone and achieve with some grace, a traditional movie in terms of cinematography (it looks great btw).Fans of Sci-FI and Horror will both like this movie. It's kind of sad to think that this one's probably been overlooked, and truth be told, had I not known who directed it, I would never have rented a movie with a cover which screams 'B-MOVIE'!.My only complaint is that I wish it was a bit longer, but really, everything was quite satisfactory. A nice change of pace for the director of 'Blaire Witch'.

Just a slice of pure sci-fi fun. Enjoyed the actor playing the part of Wyatt. He was also enjoyable to watch in TAKEN. Always appreciate live action movies as the CGI has been far over done. The characters interact well and their development isn't over hindered by a straight forward plot. The guys play well off of each others giving a real feel of friendship, although strained during this incident. The female character, Hope comes across as truly upset and angry at the invasion of her home. An invasion by both Wyatt's friends and the ALIEN The scenes are well plotted and work well in terms of continuity. The alien creature is sufficiently nasty ad as fun to watch as the creature in ALIEN. I own the DVD and watch it frequently.

Altered is a great horror/sci-fi film with a straight story, good ambiance and proves that you don't need a $100 mil budget to create suspense. Also a really underrated one in my opinion. The film starts with a bunch of rednecks that hope to trap an alien (to extract revenge), since back when they were kids they were abducted. They have been trying to trap one of them nasty things for years and this actually became an activity to drink outdoors. None of them actually believe that they would catch an alien or even know what to do with it if they ever catch one. That is, until one night...they actually manage to trap one.It is really a great decision that the director took not to use CGI to portray the alien. Instead we have a man in rubber suit and a bit of good ol' animatronics (that's where most of the budget went methinks :) ). Some might find the alien ridiculous but I for one found it quite menacing. The film also have great make up effects like the sickly body of Cody— which was f*cking great. The film is not only about the alien and the ambiance of course. Each of the bunch actually has a character and depicted quite well throughout the running time of the film. You actually care about these guys. Some you might dislike but some you might like. Also the sheriff is a great little addition but Wyatt's girlfriend would be my only complaint as her character has no depth whatsoever other than being a screaming running bitch. Gore is not used gratuitously and it looks also great. The director really made good use of the cabin combining with great outdoor forest shots to create an eerie atmosphere. Verdict: if you are a fan of sci-fi/horror definitely go see this. Don't get put off by its IMDb rating.

I like it as far it had some good action moments that put me at the edge of my bed. Enjoyed the gore and some of the ponds in the movie. I'll recommend watching this movie on a nice Sunday evening..... just because its a chill Horror movie.I wish they would add more to the movie, meaning more information on what happen in the movie, because it didn't kind of start story off into a chase which was pretty interesting. This by far is a good alien movie to watch because its like the humans are now fighting back, but like in a cool hill billy way. For a movie made in like the mid 2000's passes for today film.