Alien Outpost (2014) User Reviews

Restrepo meets Starship Troopers

[C-Younkin · 6/10 · 27 January 2015]

Alien invasion movies are going to keep coming; no matter how god awful the recent stock of them have been ("Battle LA", "Battleship") it seems like there is still money that financiers still think should be thrown at blowing E.T out of the water. But if we're going to keep going down this road, it's clear that we could do much worse than the kinda-different "Alien Outpost" from writer-director Jabar Raisani. Raisani, a visual effects supervisor on quite a few mainstream projects (most recently "Game of Thrones"), gives us his first feature here, a combination of "Starship Troopers" and Sebastian Junger's war documentary "Restrepo." So the Earth gets invaded in 2021, a year later the alien Heavies have almost all been extinguished except for some stragglers who are being taken care of by military outposts around the world. 10 years later those outposts have been defunded and the men fighting the war have been forgotten. As if the real-life comparison doesn't hit you over the head enough already, a film crew has been assigned to document the efforts of Outpost 37, situated between Pakistan and Afghanistan. (That's all that area needs- Jihadist Aliens).

"Outpost's" approach is kinda cynical. Remember all those foreign kids Michael Bay has running around, celebrating when the Americans stop the Earth from getting destroyed? Well, that only has a "few-year" shelf life. The soldiers are at risk not just from aliens but also the locals, both of which likely to pull an ambush on the rocky and rough terrain. There are moments when things get intense, and there are moments when the guys just sit around/contribute to film crew interviews- bullshitting with each other, cleaning weapons, practical jokes, telling war stories, trying to add some sense to the mayhem. Despite every character being given a "bare-bones" personality, it's surprising how much a lot of this comes off as genuine, especially like in a scene where a soldier honors a fallen friend.

It's a shame that Raisani doesn't have as much confidence in his alien creations. We're either given brief glimpses or shots from far away. I want to say they resemble the Orcs from "Lord of the Rings" but I just couldn't tell. They also don't really do much besides attack during gun battles (machine, electric, laser, lot of different types of guns here), any other reason for having them inhabit this region makes about as much sense as the Sunni-Shiite conflict does to most Americans. We get a few decent battles and ideas but Raisani, along with co-writer Blake Clifton, mostly just gives us an under-baked war-documentary where aliens are just there for target practice.

Not bad .. not bad at all

[kosmasp · 6/10 · 4 June 2015]

I have to admit, I was expecting worse. I actually thought this would be playing at one location ("preferably" underground). And it wouldn't be a bad thing. Budget wise it sometimes is the best decision not to go "out there". But this movie does! You have quite a couple of locations (even if they are "deserted"/open land).

The effects also are on a level that is decent. Especially considering that is must not have had a big budget. Acting is OK, you have to get your head around the "Found footage/faux documentary" style of the movie though. Some scenes do acknowledge the fact of a camera man being there, other don't (or make no sense whatsoever, especially towards the end). If you can dig that, you'll be fine with the movie

Interesting.

[bbickley13-921-58664 · 5/10 · 7 February 2015]

Another found footage film. These things tend to be hit or miss. I say this for the movie, it did have some decent action scenes.

The film is about a documentary crew filming the men of out post 37. Located in the middle of nowhere, the outpost is used to clean up the "leftovers" of an alien invasion.

Pulling on the chain of the currant war of the time, the movie focus on the relationship between soldiers out on the field too long before the main attraction of seeing the monster.

In a predator like matter we learned to care about the boys and why they are fighting the enemy before they get slowly picked off.

Overall it was a hit for me. I love the action sequences and it felt like a real documentary.

Better than the present rating

[dmdb · 23 February 2015]

I only write reviews of movies with low rating, which actually are not that bad. Give them a chance!

This is also my first review on IMDb and I am doing it because this is one of the best low-budget sci-fi films I've seen.

At the time I am writing this, the movie has a 4.6 rating, but I think it deserves a higher one. I would give it a 6, and I think it deserves something between 5.5 - 6.

The plot is original, it is not ''yet another'' movie about this theme, and acting is OK, I think only this guy with camera does not know how to act ( he interviews soldiers ). VFX is solid, and if we consider the budget of the movie - it is great! I enjoyed watching it.

Alien invasion forces battle for survival.

[michaelRokeefe · 5/10 · 20 February 2017]

Not too futurist, aliens known as "Heavies" invade Earth in 2021. Footage is found of a final battle for human supremacy as an elite documentary crew follows soldiers as they battle for a critical remote outpost with the very lethal alien race that has managed to hold their ground for almost a decade.

Weapons and tactics are not so inconceivable that the remaining humans are not at a too large disadvantage. The aliens in this flick are not CGI, but built for entertainment purposes. Not mainstream high budget, but just decent enough you can sit back and enjoy. Grenades, guns, drones and F "bombs" are much needed for the humans to hold on to the outpost that seems like God turned his back on. Thrive and survive; a united mankind must defend our planet.

The cast includes: Reiley McClendon, Joe Reegan, Matthew Holmes, Scott E. Miller, Rick Ravanello and Brandon Auret.

Honestly

[MennoMan · 2/10 · 31 January 2015]

There will be those speaking of comparisons of modern combat and police action and this movie. There will be those speaking of the Cynicism in this move and the thought of the director... But this is not their review..... I am a movie fanatic. I love good movies. All kinds from action thru musicals to westerns. I also love documentaries. This is neither. this film is more in the range of budget based garage films and an art project from someone with plenty of friends and not real direction.

It falls way short on action even though you have plenty of guns going off. It fails on special effect, look quick, was that an effect? It fails on sound, shot as a documentary, no music is offered. Way short on story, Soldiers to chase out the remaining aliens left after an failed attack seek out the enemy from one of the few remaining outpost left in this final stage of cleanup. Fails in location, Pakistan which looks just like the California hills.

In short this movie just fails... Good luck even making it through. Fact is, you will get a better story, actors, effects, sound and story in an "Asylum Studio" mock film....

Interesting premise, but lacks the visual prowess and budget to pull it off.

[quincytheodore · 5/10 · 26 February 2015]

I have above average tolerance for shaky cam which comes in handy watching found footage movies, but I've just met my match in Alien Outpost. It's quite a shame since it has good prospect that could've been much more. By telling a story of alien invasion from the soldier's perspective and having more than ordinary skirmish, it starts decently until about halfway where it fails to keep the pace flowing or the camera steady.

This is the story of Outpost 37, the most dangerous outpost a soldier could be stationed in. An alien race called Heavies launched an invasion many years before, soon afterwards nations gathered and fended them off. Outposts are made to defend against their last remaining troops. The script is surprisingly very detailed, there are many aspects that other similar movies neglect to mention. Its use of military personalities, though somewhat overused, is fitting to set the tone.

The movie falls apart when it needs to excel. One of the main things about alien invasion movie is you at some point need the alien to appear. You might go for unassuming but effective design like District 9 or full blown larger than life entity. Sadly for this movie the alien is subpar, it's done with inferior CG of last decade. The design looks terrible, as though it's a reject from Mass Effect games or unused extra of Falling Skies. It has neither the technology nor make-up to convincingly deliver extraterrestrial threat.

Camera work is unfortunately just as bad. It takes a real finesse to capture warfare with precision, and it'd be much harder to create action scenes by first person view alone. The film is incredibly disastrous when action hits. It flings out of focus, screens literally lag and generally hard to follow what is actually happening. Mayhem of war should be conveyed better, not into mayhem in your screen.

Alien Outpost has the correct idea of highlighting the human aspect, but it simply doesn't have the technical production to create the intended effect.

Better than the reviews would indicate

[markleachsa-1 · 7/10 · 2 March 2015]

The title Outpost 37 is much better than the alternative Alien Outpost, the latter seeming to suggest some crappy Uwe Boll type film.

In fact I was very pleasantly surprised by the premise, the acting, and the cinematography. Although very aware that this was a low budget film with a necessary limit on special effects, I was engrossed by the story all the way to an end - which, albeit a little obvious some way before, was a satisfactory one. It left some questions and highlighted a couple of plot holes, but it was still way better than its budget would suggest.

What effects there were were effective, the cinematography and the editing sharp and snappy, and the actors surprisingly above par and very comfortable in their roles, making the film believable all the way through.

All in all a good couple of hours well spent.

OK for a low budget film but still bad.

[dragline777 · 3/10 · 16 February 2015]

One major thing that ruins movies for me is when character portrayal is so poor that you don't care about the characters at all. This movie actually did a good job at making you care about the characters (although other movies have done it way better) but that's about the only redeeming quality of this movie. Overall the film was very boring and EXTREMELY predictable, and very misleading for a sci-fi movie. Really it was just a watered down stereotypical alien invasion story but there wasn't even much emphasis placed on the aliens. In fact they barely show up in the movie at all. It is a different type of alien movie, which is cool, but they just could of done so much more with the premise. Not really worth the watch in my opinion.

Decent Movie Interesting Premise

[dellgines · 7/10 · 31 January 2015]

This was an OK movie to me and I was surprised that it got such low overall score. The premise was unique and grounded (relatively speaking) in the reality of what might occur if a failed alien attack took place.

The acting was OK. There were a few two dimensional characters, but I felt the relationship between the soldiers was on point as well as some of the male bonding hazing.

When one of the soldiers died you really felt the emotion of the team.

The special effects for the budget were pretty good and the ending was solid as was the build up.

I would definitely watch a sequel to the movie.

Movie Sucked

[briane01876 · 1/10 · 12 February 2015]

There is no post apocalyptic atmosphere the soldiers are all laughing and joking around. It looks like it was shot with a hand-held camera and the entire movie takes place in a base that is almost never attacked by aliens. There was one scene where they were shooting at muslims from 300 yards away.......but not aliens. Movie is pathetic the people who made it should be held for treason, crimes against American minds. The cover shows a big alien organic looking thing on it.....we don't see that we see a poorly Hollywood constructed base made of the same thing the Poor class in India uses for metal roofing. In the first scene they bang on the door which has a little Dollar Tree padlock on it which they shoot off because no1 answers.. then the soldiers inside play a prank on them and everyons laughing there are tons of sophomoric scenes where everyons just hanging around talking smack to each other. There are no aliens or action in this movie. Yet the soldiers claim "we get attacked everyday at this base so look alive". The people who made this movie were flat out lying....This movie is a joke that isn't funny.

Most underrated film yet

[jager-marc · 8/10 · 19 February 2015]

I'm truly grateful my instincts served me. The trailers were not great and the IMDb ratings for this film were awful... but I watched it anyway. IT WAS GREAT. No criticisms at all. I guess if you think 'hollywood nonsense' all flash no story makes a great movie, then this isn't for you.

If you liked movies like District 9, then this will be right up your alley.

Great characters, great story, great cinematography, great effects and great action!

I hardly EVER write reviews but just HAD to to try to make up for the poor reviews by idiots who have no idea...

Too many bullets, not enough story

[Top_Dawg_Critic · 7/10 · 1 November 2020]

Although the pacing was fairly decent, the 90 min runtime felt longer with the constant "pew-pew" and "kabooms" all the while looking for a real story.

Visual Effects turned writer, director, and producer Jabbar Raisani makes his full length feature film debut with Alien Outpost. The S/VFX - his specialty, were great. His directing was ok for the most part, outside of the annoying shaky-cam hand-held shots. The conceptual story itself and the docu-style presentation were a great idea, but the screenplay was poorly executed. It needed more story, or should've been a short film. It felt like its great production value was wasted on lots of a ammo. Casting was great with solid and convincing performances.

Nevertheless, and enjoyable popcorn-Sunday "war-action film" with a side of sci-fi. It's a well deserved 7/10 from me, and certainly undeserving of it's low rating.

Low Budget Not Alien Outpost

[nkasherov · 2/10 · 12 February 2015]

The idea - a documentary footage movie about the last anti-alien invasion outpost on Earth is great. However, the low budget execution makes the movie not worth watching. The movie in fact is showing us a USA military outpost in Afganistan - the setting is the same, landscape is the same, 95% of the time the enemies are human veiled Muslims. I am not kidding. If you watch this movie for its 98% of length not knowing anything about the Alien part of the title...well even if you know the title and they keep talking about the aliens you will still be convinced they talk about the Muslims. The meager few minutes showing us actual aliens and their base are not enough to redeem it, even if the effects are convincing. The low budget fails the movie even as an Afgan war movie - too many one on one interviews with soldiers to make it look more documentary-type and realistic. Too many shots of soldiers yelling and screaming and shooting at something we do not see - where is the action in that? When we see it, the enemy are actually other humans (Muslims) shooting ordinary weapons. Acting is good for what it is. I would really like to see this movie redone with a proper budget, better editing and more actual aliens in it.

Don't waste your time

[amichnea · 1/10 · 1 February 2015]

I first saw the trailer for this film and thought hey looks interesting, District 9 however boy was I wrong. This movie want's to be a serious war documentary... really. No idea why anyone would think that making a fictitious sci-fi war documentary would appeal to anyone.

This is what the movie offers: 1) Interviews with soldiers asking them about personal life, families etc (like you care about them as if they were real people in a real war) 2) Shaky camera all over the place with frantic movement and zooming, not to mention that any time the aliens were in range or any explosions would happen the camera would pretty much get distorted, digital cams and emp near them so you missed just about every special effect because the camera would get pixelated and distorted, great idea.

3) Writing about the effects of things in the film, how people got medals, what happened and so forth as if this was a real war or based on a real story and they were stating facts.

4) No story whatsoever, no explanation to Alien invasion why they were there or got left behind. We saw similar stuff in other films.

5) Poster and trailers look much better than the film.

Best part was how the humans have put up some kind of planetary defence system that stopped these highly advanced aliens from entering the planet yet the humans had no advancement in technology no special weapons or vehicles... wonder how the aliens could fire lasers and plasma cannons, mind control yet their space ships could not take down whatever the human military managed to put in space as defence.

As someone else has mentioned, the films seems like an art project for some movie students. I actually watched about 20/30 min then ended skipping and skipping until the end.

One to skip, nothing to see here, move along:)

Give me my 90 minutes back!

[fabioloust · 1/10 · 31 January 2015]

the movie is like: gunshots, swearing, shouts, screaming, more swearing, Rambo mode, more gunshots, more swearing, ahhhhhhh, a little blood, gunshots, more swearing...a sequence of movie clichés you saw 7 million times...2 poor aliens walking at 2 miles and hour speed, gunshots, ahhhhh!!!!! poor cgi, The end

Script is about...just forget it...

Acting is dreadful, script is evil, aliens are...ridiculous (both of them), commodore 64 cgi...

Not even for a rainy day...AVOID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Avoid!!!!

Avoid!!!!

Could have been worse, but I was expecting more Adrian Paul

[krachtm · 5/10 · 10 July 2015]

The plot: A pair of embedded journalists document what goes on at one of the last remaining anti-alien outposts after a failed invasion of Earth.

In the 2020s, alien invade Earth. Nobody really knows why. After some setbacks, we finally drive them off. However, they leave behind a bunch of soldiers, and the replacement to the UN sets up outposts to clean up. Ten years later, our intrepid journalists document the final days of one of the final outposts.

The first thing that bothered me was that Outpost 37 looks like it is set in the 20th century. One soldier carries around an old-school photographs of his mom, like it's World War II or something. What happened to being in the 2030s? It's distracting. How much money would it have cost to give one one quick scene where he uses a holographic projection? It doesn't even have to be particularly convincing.

Alright, beside that, how's the film? Well, there's a lot of talking, interviews, and exposition. Don't watch if you were expecting non-stop action. Special effects are alright. I guess the aliens are a bit underwhelming, but I wasn't expecting too much. I was expecting Adrian Paul, though. I feel kind of cheated. No swords, no decapitations, and virtually no Adrian Paul. Shaky cam was mostly tolerable, but this is the wrong film if you hate that.

Characters seemed more-or-less interchangeable and generic at first, but they eventually grew a bit more distinct. They never really grew beyond archetypes, but I guess they don't need to in a military science fiction B movie. The plot was serviceable, but it struck me as basically a video game plot. The characters seemed quite a bit slower to recognize the game's rules than the audience. Thematically, it's just a shallow commentary on the Iraq War.

"Gee, this guy that I completely trusted has betrayed me, there's a suspicious incision in the back of his head, and we're fighting aliens. I guess it means nothing." Does this bother you? No? Then watch this film. You'll probably forgive all its flaws.

Better Than Expected

[douglasjeffreys-688-703001 · 7/10 · 27 July 2015]

I watched this movie because I was laid up at home with an injury and was bored out of my mind. This turned out to be a decent film. The acting was good, the special effects were top notch and the locations were clearly well thought out. For a science fiction film it was quite believable. My biggest criticism would be that it was too well produced and too tightly scripted for a supposed documentary, which it was supposed to be. You need more than some hand-held cameras to pull that off. The script should have felt a little more natural throughout and the cinematography should have looked a bit more "raw". Also, I felt that after the hypnotic-like actions of the 'suicide bomber' at the slaughtered goat scene in the rock quarry the soldiers should have been able to recognize the same behavior in certain characters later in the film. But, really, aside from that, this was a pleasant diversion.

Low Budget - Predictable

[iqelectronicsgr · 2/10 · 6 February 2015]

You can watch this movie when you feel really tired and can't sleep the plot and scenario will definitely help you to sleep faster. You can predict the movie ending, the 0 budget and bad acting makes me sleepy at the first 45 minutes. I watch it till the end just to ensure my predictions. The type of the Scenario is borrowed from other action movies to give this movie a breath of reality. No effects that expected from a 2014 Sci-Fi title i can easily put this movie to action movie genre and nothing more. As a fanatic of Sci-Fi genre i will have to advice to avoid this title. ( More negative comments comes to mind but too sleepy and disappointed from the movie to go on !

Surprising and in a good way.

[WilderMovieReviews · 7/10 · 28 May 2015]

This was a surprising film. I watched it purely on the description. I didn't see a trailer or read any reviews.

For a low budget independent movie I was really impressed. The effects were really impressive. Far better than most "B" movies.

The acting was of a high standard and the script very good.

This is shot in the first person in a documentary format. But this was one of the better filmed ones.

This was a refreshing change to many of the alien attack movies out there. By focusing on a small location and a small number of people it allows you to be drawn in and connect with the characters.

This film is highly recommended and I am at a loss as to why it is rated so low.

Dreadful

[richkeenan · 2/10 · 18 February 2015]

The acting is as poor as it gets. The script is terrible. The special effects are woefully cheap and nasty. You hardly see any aliens and when you do it is for the briefest of shots. I looked at the ratings of this film and thought I would read the reviews before discarding it out of hand as I like Sci-Fi movies and I have watched some pretty terrible ones in the past and usually there is some small redeeming point that makes you think you haven't wasted an hour and a half of your life, this film is the exception. I read the good reviews and thought I would give it a go. I really wished I hadn't bothered, it is truly dreadful. It is nothing like Battle Los Angeles, Battleship or District 9, they were in a different league compared to this garbage. Do not trust the reviews that have rated this highly, they are very misleading.

It's a good waste of time

[andersdalsgaard · 8/10 · 16 February 2015]

This movie deserves so much more attention and praise than it have gotten. You need to give this movie a chance, the acting is good. The story although slow to begin with is very engaging and well written. I have heard people say that the special effects are cheep, but honestly i have no idea where they get it from, first of all there aren't that many and the ones that are there looks perfectly fine.

Regarding the story, its feels like what a sequel to "Battle Los Angeles"could have been. So if you liked that movie, i guarantee you will like this one, even if you like "war/conflict" movies you will like it, if you like sci-fi you will like it.

I personally really enjoy these movies that come in from the side lines, having not been over hyped or expected for 6 months, and then out of no where it will provide you with an hour and 45 minutes of very well made entertainment.

Great B-Movie

[oskarsonnen · 7/10 · 8 July 2015]

!!! This movie is a military alien invasion with a low budget that morphs into a war with zombies controlled by the aliens (with a low budget). The best part is that the actors are earnest. The aliens are unfortunately, but maybe necessarily (for the plot and budget) humanoid. Well, they're cyborgs - I think. I liked the cheap shot psych-out welcome to Outpost 37 by the soldiers stationed there. The integration of these people wasn't exactly boring, but it includes an obligatory tearjerker death (that doesn't really jerk). Expect many battles with aliens, who wield a gun that blasts natural gas laser bursts. These scenes are too far between, and simultaneously crammed to the brink of "Enough!" With too many clips for these battle montages. Of course the protagonists prevail. Wait! The epilogue tells a different story, and "SURPRISE!" The door to a sequel opens, better yet, a prequel with a big budget and awesome graphics of an alien war.

I only think why

[maxfrimodig · 2/10 · 13 February 2015]

I have to say this was a loss of time i didn't feel this movie i cant see how its good its like a bad cbs 60 minutes thats not interesting.

I think that it would be more interesting watching paint dry in a wet wall all day. This is not a movie i would recommend to anyone.

If you want to see this movie make sure you really like this types of movies, its nothing like distric 9, this is a documentary style movie with a boring plot.

Iam amazed and dazed that they even got money for doing this movie it don't matter if its low or high budget it have to have something that makes me recommend it to others. In this genre you have to be willing to lose your time to some bad movies sometimes and this was one of many bad movies with interesting trailer.

It's low budget and you can immediately see it's low budget...

[deloudelouvain · 3/10 · 23 March 2015]

This is definitely a movie that I will never watch again and where I hope that there will never be a sequel. There are so much things that bugs me about this movie that I don't know where to begin. The way of filming the action scenes is really bad. The whole interview feeling that you get throughout the entire movie is extremely annoying. The actors are not good at all. Okay it might be low budget but that is no reason to make a bad movie. All the fighting scenes look like it are just grown up men playing laser tag or a bunch of buddies having a paint-ball weekend. The decor and the locations are also not good at all. I can't really say anything good about this movie because there isn't. It could have been good if you had better actors, a better script, another director, more money etc. Avoid this one because there are way much better movies in this genre.