SPECIES is a B-movie with an A-list cast, nothing more and nothing less than that. Its tired, hackneyed plot is like something out of a '50s alien invasion flick, and the film as a whole is little more than excuse for lots of gratuitous nudity and some gruesome bloodshed along the way. One of the most notable things is that the alien is designed by H. R. Giger, the designer behind the most famous screen Alien of all time, and to hammer the similarities home we have an eerie soundtrack that seems to rip off ALIENS at every single opportunity. Sadly, the only time we really see Giger's work is at the climax, where it's represented by some shoddy CGI effects that I remember thinking were good back in the day. Now, watching this with hindsight, I see that they stink. If only we had more of the cool alien suit and less CGI, I might have enjoyed this a whole lot more.

The storyline is so predictable that it's hardly worth bothering with. A female alien in human form attempts to mate with lots of guys, but usually ends up killing them instead. Of course, the good guys are always just behind, and don't meet up with her until the climax. Natasha Henstridge stars in her breakout role as Sil, the alien, but her appearance is little more than an excuse for lots and lots of topless nudity. She doesn't make an impact other than that, and neither does Michelle Williams playing the young Sil. More interesting are Michael Madsen, delivering an adequate hard-ass character with little material to go on, and Marg Helgenberger cast as a love interest before C.S.I. came along. Ben Kingsley is here too, but he just seems weird, while Alfred Molina is trying too hard as the oh-so-British professor. I did like Forest Whitaker, though, who brings warmth and depth to his role as an 'empath', somebody with a psychic link to Henstridge's killer.

A predictable ending involving characters being stalked through the sewers and a ridiculous killer baby aside, this is for the most part routine fare. There's one outrageous gore scene where a woman has her spine ripped out in a toilet cubicle and one decent suspense scene in which a couple of the characters are trapped in a sealed room with a rapidly growing alien organism. Other than that, SPECIES is a film just not really worth bothering with.

Dennis Feldman's 'Species' is a severely underrated science fiction film from the 90s. The film touches on many themes, including the meaning of life, human desires, specifically procreation, human interaction, kindness/empathy, selfishness, fear, manipulation, intuition, following orders. It does so in a way that is mostly sublime enough that it comes across as genuine. For example there is a fairly believable romance buried in there underneath layers of alien slime. The dialog is mostly well written and to the point, the actors are great and there's lots of attention to detail. Combine that with some great and grotesque visuals, courtesy of the late Hans Ruedi Giger and some Cronenbergian body horror and you're in for a fascinating ride through Los Angeles.

The dialog doesn't always work, like when they're trying to track her down and are quickly jumping to conclusions about things that the audience already knows. Scenes vary in quality, some feel a bit rushed. While the effects are mostly excellent there are some subpar ones, too.

Overall I highly recommend it if you can get something out of sci-fi horror.

In 1993, SETI program receives a transmission documenting how to splice alien DNA with human DNA. Xavier Fitch (Ben Kingsley) leads a secret government project to do just that. They created Sil (Michelle Williams). Her growth is extremely rapid. When Fitch tries to destroy her, she escapes. She metamorphoses into a grow woman (Natasha Henstridge). She learns quickly in a world she doesn't know. Fitch gathers a diverse team to find and kill the potentially dangerous creature. Dr. Stephen Arden (Alfred Molina) is an anthropologist. Dr. Laura Baker (Marg Helgenberger) is a molecular biologist. Dan Smithson (Forest Whitaker) is an empath and Preston Lennox (Michael Madsen) is the mercenary.

There is enough backstory to justify it. I really like the idea that she's interstellar weed to kill off humanity. It's Alien in a pretty package. Alien is one of my favorite movie and I certainly don't mind the pretty package. Natasha Henstridge is a little more than simply pretty. She shows both wide-eyed innocence and a bit of murderous spark. The empath is ridiculous but I still like the hunt and the thrills.