They Are Among Us (2004)

Can we send them back?

They Are Among Us (Jeffrey Obrow, 2004)

Oh, yes, it's true-- they are among us. What are "they", you ask? They are bad filmmakers. And the Sci-Fi Channel snatches them up and gives them an outlet for their terrible, terrible offerings. I had some hope for this one, which has a pretty solid stable of B-movie and TV staples (Nana Visitor, Corbin Bernsen, Alison Eastwood, Bruce Boxleitner, Hunter Tylo-- yes, Hunter Tylo!), but let's face it-- this is godawful in every sense.

The story: a small town in Anywhere, America is hiding a host of aliens. Some of the town's kids find out about it. Of course, the alien invasion must be stopped! Except that, well, you know, they're already here.

The script had some great ideas; unfortunately, it does as little as possible with them. (Who thinks up a colony of aliens having a plastic surgeon on retainer? That's brilliant.) Worse, it seems to be trying to be as confusing as possible for the first hour; worse still, once the confusion is (somewhat) alleviated by Obrow tying the threads together, things get only marginally less confusing. The question is, though, do you want to understand what's going on by this point in the movie? You're probably better off staying confused. * March 25, 2008

You Can't Judge A Book By Its Cover

Obviously, the same goes for this DVD and the aliens contained within it. Nana Visitor, Alison Eastwood, Bruce Boxleitner, and Hunter Tylo head-up a cast of newbies who make a go of this dismal alien farce. Based on the DVD cover, you'd think that this flick was full of gory alien action and plenty of blood and guts. Unfortunately, the menacing alien on the DVD case only makes a couple of brief and uneventful appearances. Instead, we're left to figure out why aliens are preparing for a big celebration by doing the deeds of "Uncle Bob," who seems to be the top alien until the leader is reborn via Visitor and Boxleitner's son. Of course, he ain't havin' none of that, so he teams up with Eastwood, his drop-out bud and the girl he's always longed for in an attempt to stop the alien party and save the world.

This flick is boring. It drags along at a snail's pace, keeps the viewer nice and confused as to why things are happening, and eventually ends with the promise for a potential sequel or a TV series.

The cast comes off as really fake, especially Visitor and Boxleitner, who are so full of wholesome goodness that it makes you want to throw up. Corbin Bernsen reprises his sleazeball "L.A. Law" persona but instead of fighting for justice, he keeps the aliens' skins intact as a doctor.

The effects are okay, but then again, there weren't many effects necessary for this flick since only one alien appears to have not been a guy in a suit.

In closing, I don't recommend this flick to anyone unless they've got a fixation with Scarecrow or Clint Eastwood's offspring. Keep clear of this snoozer. June 5, 2006

THANKS FOR THE WARNING

THEY ARE AMONG US is a somewhat flaccid rehashing of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, with an obvious made for television veneer. A small town is plagued by what appears to be aliens inhabiting human bodies, but the script is plagued with an unfocused narrative and confusing red herrings. Alison Eastwood gamely plays an alien hunter, but we're never really sure where she's coming from or how she came to know about the aliens. A seemingly perfect family of father, mother and son are at the heart of the upcoming "event" which seems to be taking place on the son's 18th birthday. Good luck in guessing what this "event" is. Although the movie has decent effects, it is far from reaching the status of BODY SNATCHERS and ultimately ends up looking like a failed tv pilot. October 4, 2005

They Are Among Us, keep ignoring them.

This is obviously a straight to DVD release, or better yet it's fresh from the Sci FI Channels annals. All the old gang was here from Sci Fi high Nana Visitor, Bruce Boxleitner, Corbin Bernsen, Hunter Tylo; you know all the big names. The whole story is about this community, who early on you figure out they aren't normal, and there are creatures assumingly from outer space. The creatures are big headed, big teethed, and not really scary though I am not sure they were supposed to be. We have a teenager, Daniel, who is going to be turning 18 and something big, is going to happen at his birthday "celebration", and I guessed it wasn't going to be a new car with all the ominous music and hints. His parents, one of which is an alien his mother, the other of which is Laura Ingalls husband , try to protect him by sending him to Australia, the aliens don't swim I suppose or like Outback steakhouse. We have an outlaw alien bounty hunter in a Winnebago, Allison Eastwood (poor thing just couldn't ride on her fathers coattails like the rest of the Hollywood spawn), she is out to revenge her missing father with vials of collagen and bad one liners. The whole town is on a mission to convert our Daniel into whatever alien teenagers turn into, Hunter Tylo clumps around the entire movie with giant lips (I thought they ate collagen not injected it) and epileptic seizures when she is hungry. The ending is predictable and the aliens are supposed to be reminiscent of old 50's creature features but end up really looking and acting like my middle schools production of Journey to the center of the earth. I forced myself to finish watching it. So I would say skip it, watch children of the damned instead. September 13, 2005

They Are Among Us--a good scary sci-fi movie!

At the beginning of this movie, the music, the rain, and the graphics all set the mood perfectly. You know that you are in for a scary hour and a half. The premise of the story is good and made me wonder, "what if these things could actually happen?" I thought the actors/actresses played their roles well and were all believeable in their parts. On the technical side of it, the editing was very effective, especially toward the end of the movie with the numerous flashbacks. The director also did an admirable job and the ending left me thinking there might be a sequel in the works. I would highly recommend They Are Among Us to everyone who is a sci-fi fan and also to all who just occasionally like a good scary movie. July 19, 2005

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