A father is abducted by aliens, only to return 3 years later & find that a new man has moved in with his wife & young son. This British science fiction shocker appears to have gained many bad reviews over the years for being grotesque, silly, etc but I personally think that it's an excellent film & worthy of cult status. The many special effects are well done (so much better than these modern, horrible CGI ones). In addition to aliens there is a creepy clown, a life size action man doll that comes to life & a toy tank that fires real shells! Great soundtrack that adds to the feel, plus a bit of nudity. It did briefly make the Video Nasties list here in Britain but is not considered a bona fide one. I just revisited this on VHS but have also just bought the recent limited edition blu ray loaded with extras, I'm looking forward to Xploring that!

An unpleasant low-budget effort that's definitely not for the squeamish, this British sci-fi film occasionally hits the mark but more often than not is just a confusing failure. Made at a time when the industry was just about dead in this country, XTRO follows the same path as the films of Norman J. Warren (eg. INSEMINOID) in creating a deeply disgusting - and often disturbing - little film with lots of cheap but effective effects work. The film starts off with an intriguing alien abduction plot - always guaranteed to give me the shivers - before turning into routine stalk-and-slash territory in which the small cast are just about all wiped out. However; this does deserve some credit for at least being partially original (although it follows in the wake of ALIENS, the films couldn't be more different other than they have a killer alien in them); the often bizarre and uncomfortable death scenes have been seen nowhere else.XTRO is a memorable movie but for all the wrong reasons. Chiefly memorable are the sick and deeply unpleasant special effects work which overcome their low budget to rival any big-budget film from the same period. The cast is generally uninspired, although all of the actors and actresses do have some experience, I've found. Philip Sayer manages to be quite spooky at times as Sam. Bernice Stegers is fine as Rachel, but her character does some stupid things (like go back with Sam when he arrives) which make her unlikeable. Probably the nicest person of the lot is the unsuspecting Joe who gets murdered for his actions! Later Bond girl Maryam d'Abo plays the nanny and has a nude scene periodically. Meanwhile, a pair of dwarfs called Tok and Tik play the action man and the monster respectively, adding to the intrigue. XTRO isn't a very nice film to watch but if you really want to be horrified in a bad way I would recommend it. An example of the effects that can be created with a fevered imagination and not much money.

Delving equally into the realms of both sci-fi and horror, this terrifically trippy gem is a wholly unique and fantastic relic from the early '80s splatter cycle that deserves much wider recognition than it currently enjoys.The film is largely focused on a young lad named Tony, who witnesses his father vanishing into a blinding beam of extraterrestrial light. Three years later, Daddy inexplicably comes back to reunite with his son, but this touching reconnection has obstacles in the form of Tony's mother and her new boyfriend, both of whom are understandably curious why the absentee father was gone without a trace for so long and exactly where he was during that span.Thankfully, we're let in on the secret early, and we know that the genesis of the proud papa's return involves the arrival of a temperamental alien beastie, which disembowels pesky humans who get in its way and utilizes a decidedly phallic tentacle appendage to impregnate an unfortunate gal and grace her with dicey honor of giving birth to Dad 2.0. In the film's most unquestionably indelible sequence (which we can only assume is the one that prompted Xtro's addition to the "Video Nasties" list), we get to witness the gory and gooey re-emergence of Tony's dad, who actually crawls out of the woman's womb and bites through his own umbilical cord for good measure.Though the term is never used in the movie, the titular Xtro seems to be a monstrous interstellar parasite of some sort, which Tony's father passes on to him. The transference imbues Tony with the ability to bring his toys to life and set them forth on murderous missions, and to summon a creepy dwarven clown to serve as his henchman. If that last bit sounds silly, okay, it probably is, but I'll be damned if the film-makers don't pull it off, and the hallucinogenic visuals employed during the clown's spells of merry mayhem produce some of the coolest moments in the film.All of the portions that veer into this territory are equally surreal, and though the plot is a bit disjointed because of the way it weaves between straight creature carnage and more bizarre elements like a life-size plastic solider doll stalking an annoying landlord through her apartment, the sum total of Xtro is an extremely enjoyable caper unlike anything you've ever seen.Despite the limited production resources at hand, the monster effects are notably impressive, and the movie doesn't skimp on the red sauce either, so in addition to the uber-splattery birthing scene there are several more grisly set-pieces sprinkled throughout. The climax also boasts some memorable transmogrification visuals as father and son begin to assume their gruesome alien forms, and though the ensuing conclusion where Tony's mom makes one final dreadful discovery is built on pretty fuzzy logic, it effectively punctuates the film and ends us on a high note (if you dig Xtro enough to explore the bonus features, take a look at the alternate ending; it doesn't make much more sense than the one that was ultimately used, but it is undeniably nifty).Elsewhere, the skeletal elements are all well above par. The cast of unknowns clearly took the material seriously, and all of the performances are admirably solid; the presence of the lovely Maryam d'Abo certainly doesn't hurt either. The pace is steady and engrossing, and there are plenty of unsettling touches of suspense introduced along the way. Additionally, since we never actually see any sort of spacecraft, the presentation isn't marked by dated matte effects, so the film has held up much better than many of its contemporaries.Director Harry Bromley Davenport was wise not to provide too many particulars about the lethal lifeforms which populate the world of Xtro. We do get some graphic glimpses of what they're capable of, but most of their physiology and purpose remains unexplained. This would seem to bode well for future installments in the franchise, since based on what's here there's a lot of promise in the prospect of dipping deeper into the mythology of these creatures. I won't be able to let you know how that turned out until I get around to reviewing parts 2 and 3, but even if the sequels fail to live up to the lofty benchmark that this inaugural outing sets, Xtro works extremely well as a stand-alone venture.If you share my fondness for the golden age of low-budget splatter and this one has slipped under your radar, do yourself a favor and add it to your list. I'm not sure if Xtro qualifies as a bonafide classic or not, but this evil E.T. flick definitely delivers the goods in a big way. Highly recommended.

This sci-fi horror film from the UK is certainly something of an oddity. It tells the tale of alien abduction but in a way no other film ever attempted to. Sure, it has some similarities to the likes of Alien and E.T. but they are really just superficial ones, as this movie takes it's influences and puts them together in a very bizarre way. Xtro is often mistaken for a video nasty, which it never was. It made one of the published lists by mistake and so the legend followed that it was one of those infamous flicks. In fairness, it wouldn't have been all that surprising if it had made the DPP's hit list seeing as several other films tagged with the video nasty brush were even less violent and gory than this one. But, don't be mistaken, Xtro is certainly not a disturbing film, it's just a bizarre one.If it wasn't for the overall weirdness this would be a pretty useless movie to be perfectly honest. It's quite poor in so many ways. But how often do you get to see a woman giving birth to a fully grown man? Or a human sized action man conducting a house invasion? Pretty much never I would say but you can here. And the weird alien creature spotted on the country road early in proceedings is pretty freaky. So to be fair to Xtro, it does dare to be different, even if it cannot entirely escape it's overall rubbishness in most other respects.