“Species” was an interesting movie that blended a strong
cast of actors, scenes designed for nothing more than making the audience jump
in their seats, and nude scenes featuring former model Natasha Henstridge. It
also includes work designed by H.R Giger; he designed the Sil alien and the
nightmare train. I feel that the main reason this movie was made was to
showcase Natasha and Giger, although there is nothing wrong with that. Three
sequels were made that include more of the same action and quest to fulfill one’s
sexual urges.
In the early 80’s, the SETI satellite picked up a
transmission from an alien source telling us how to create an endless source of
fuel. Shortly after that, it received a transmission telling us how to splice a
strand of alien DNA to a human’s. Several experiments are performed and with
the one named Sil being the most successful. The government officials in charge
of the project decide that she should be killed when they see that she has
grown from an infant to a 12 year old girl in a matter of a few short months.
While the technicians attempt to kill her with gas, she escapes from the scientific
complex that she was created in and manages to get onto a train and disappear.
A group of various experts is called in to hunt her down and kill her before it’s
too late, not knowing what she might do to an unknowing population. As they
begin their search, Sil creates a cocoon and transforms into a full sized
adult, leaving the train once it arrives in Los Angeles. There, she begins to
look for a potential mate to spawn with. Her first few attempts fail, with the
crew finding the bodies shortly after she kills them. She realizes that she is
being hunted to she fakes her own death. Believing that she is dead, the team
goes to celebrate. She follows them to their hotel, and after being denied the chance
to mate with the member of her choice, she tricks another one into having sex
with her. As soon as she is impregnated, she kills the team member and is
chased into the basement levels of the hotel by the others. The basement area
isn’t what I would expect to find but it makes for the perfect setting for the
final showdown of the elite team and Sil.
Favorite moment – proving how adaptable and durable she is,
I like the scene where she is hit by a car, taken to a hospital, and heals herself
as a doctor is examining her injury.
