One of Robert Shaye's first films in which he produced (later he produced the A Nightmare on Elm Street series) as Harry Bromley Davenport (who also co-wrote and did the music) brings us a gory, sometimes not 100% coherent story of a father (Phillip Sayer) who is abducted by aliens only to return years later to try and reunite his family. At first glance reading that synopsis it may seem to almost be a family picture, but that is far from it as your eyes are welcomed to a few gore scenes that are indeed memorable. There are some rather unsettling scenes. One in particular is where the full grown father is reborn through a woman's womb. But, if you take this British horror/sci-fi film for what it is or tries to be, which is a low-budget movie that brings gore and tries a different approach than Steven Spielberg's E.T. in aliens invading earth than you may enjoy this early -80s gorefest. Also starring as the french roommate Analise was Mayam D'Abo who by the late-80s was Bond girl Kara Milovy in The Living Daylights.

Alien is a haunted house movie in space that has begat a slew of imitators, copycats and outright rip-offs. 1982s Xtro, on the other hand, is truly a movie that has something for everyone: if everyone includes folks who want to see movie about a father reconnecting with his son, as well as a film where Maryam d'Abo is repeatedly naked, a kid discovers his psychic powers with a weird clown, an Alien-style birth scene of a fully-grown man being born out of a pregnant woman ("What is it with all the alien birth scenes in these movies? What is wrong with people?" asked my wife), toys coming to life, a child hunting down people like The Omen…truly Xtro is about ten movies worth of ideas in one scuzzy, scummy exploitation fever dream.I'll do my best to summarize the plot, but at any point, you may declare, "You're just making this up now." I assure you that what follows is as close to the filmed truth as possible. It truly is that weird film that even surprised a jaded viewer such as myself.Tony and his dad Sam (Phillip Sayer, The Hunger) are playing fetch with their dog. On the last stick through, much like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Sam tossed the stick high into the air and the screen goes white as he gets abducted.Three years later, the light appears in the sky again and an alien creature scurries across a British countryside road. It gets hit by a car, yet survives to kill the driver and his passenger, then find his way to a cottage where it impregnates the lady who resides there. Moments later, Sam is reborn, clawing his way out of the woman, even biting into a bloody umbilical cord before he leaves. This is ten minutes into the movie. And if you think this is the end of the craziness, read on….Sam wants to find his son, who lives with his mother Rachel (Bernice Stegers, Macabre), her new boyfriend Joe (Sinon Nash, Brazil) and a French babysitter named Analise (the aforementioned d'Abo, The Living Daylights) whose sole job seems to be getting naked every time she is on screen. Sam has nightmares about his dad every single night, waking up soaked in blood. Oddly, it turns out that the blood isn't his.READ MORE AT http://www.thatsnotcurrent.com/xeroxenomorphs-xtro-1982/

When first seeing this enthusiastic effort back in 85, I fully appreciated this film for it's originality, sick gore, and just being such an entertaining flick. I still do, but not just as much, but I still hold this movie experience deep to my heart. The scene which still stays in my mind to this day, which I find scary, was the soldier, tank scene, and too the bedspread blood scene. I fully appreciated, maid (Maryam d'Abo-The Living Daylights) fully naked and free. Walking a much similar path of plot to later alien films, the story revolves around the return of a father, gone three years, without a word, who can't remember what happened, as being overtaken by an alien, so we notice certain changes in his behavior, wonderfully played by actor, Phillip Sayer. Not at all pleased by this intrusion, by the new, common looking boyfriend (Brainin) certain conflict arises between the two, but the wife, of course gets sucked back in by hubby, who has now got to the little boy, who starts becoming murderous, starting with the killing of an old bat neighbor. Xtro is such a commercial treat, with 80's unrealistic gore, the last scene, quite graphic (don't touch pods in the bath) nudity, humor, conflict, good acting, and special effects. The film somehow has an enigma, or something that makes it come off better than it should. But really, the problem, I found with the movie, was there was just too little, to make it easy to follow, as if this part was really neglected. This was the real fault with this British. The film too has a nastiness about it, which just enhances it. Not for everyone's taste, Xtro, is a sci fi horror lover's delight, less violent than Inseminoid.

How in THE HELL can I even CONCEIVE to realise this movie came from the guy that brought me "Mockingbird Don't Sing"... HOW? I just finished watching this UK splatter film. I will say here this is one of those few times when the script is terrible yet I give it a decent rating. SERIOUSLY this movie has holes in logic the size of Russia. One of the reasons why I give it 6 is because of it's rather crazy imagination going wild, I sometimes can watch those sorts of movies (HEY I liked the first Troll movie didn't I?) but it's the cinematic equivalent of junk food, enjoyable but not good for you on a regular basis.Bromley-Davenport's directing is actually top notch for a movie of this kind under the conditions they were in as far as budget and directing went.So this is decent - but as far as splatter film goes I'd rather watch movies like The Thing.