Ombis: Alien Invasion

This Film is an absolute gem. There are some elements of the Movie, "Ombis:Alien Invasion" that we haven't seen done in films of this genre in quite a while, as I find many such films mean-spirited, unoriginal, dull and visceral. 'Ombis' brings back a feel-good element, gives its characters some old-fashioned chivalry and heart, or courtesy and grace, while smartly balancing laughs with shocks, and there wasn't a single second during our viewing where we caught ourselves drifting into daydreams…another thing I have not experienced in quite some time. 'Ombis' is at once campy and intelligent, scares are quickly replaced with laughs, in it there are ups and downs, silliness and sorrow, happiness and hardship, action and quiet, kindness and betrayal, goofiness and grace…often in the same scenes. The result is fun, delightful, and never dull, and a treasure to behold for those who see Movies for an escape, or to have a good time. This is indeed fun, and the whole family can enjoy 'Ombis: Alien Invasion", and, hopefully, embrace a premise where mutants, aliens, action heroes, government interventions and small-town charm all fit smartly into a delightful homage to the cult classic. This film is absolutely destined to be a cult classic, yet as it stands is already classic indeed.

"Ombis: Alien Invasion" takes place in the small, any-town USA of Metzburgh. The town is carefully and lovingly watched over by its Sheriff, delightfully portrayed by Richard Satterwhite. The peace of this community is quickly jeopardized when a meteor crashes in its midst, carrying a biological agent detrimental to humans, and its harmful effects begin quickly to spread, with potentially dreadful results. Into the fray walks unlikely hero Mark (Jason John Beebe), and this young Man soon finds himself smack-dab in the middle of all the chaos, while chivalrous and heroically engaging infected townsfolk, an alien other than the infectious agent mysteriously added to the mix, federal agents attempting to trump local law enforcement, town drunks, plumbers, inept deputies and his sweetheart. Many things are going on at the same time, both with hero Mark, and with the films emotional and action elements. Rather than ending up confusing us, it adds to the overall enjoyment of the film, and also gives the film ideal appeal for repeated viewing. Credit Director Adam R. Steigert for giving 'Ombis' such wonderful heart and great fun, and giving us a Movie that stands out for bringing classic elements of campy fun, moral character, unexpected thrills and multi-layered plot and emotion. I do believe Steigert is a Director to watch, as if this is an example of his ability, the future has to be as enticing and interesting as his tongue- in-cheek homage to science fiction/horror films that aren't in it for taking themselves seriously. It reminds me of the Bruce Campbell-laden 'Evil Dead' films, in the sense that those films wink at themselves while giving great entertainment value…though it's somewhat unfair to compare this film to anything. It stands as original on its own, and it's about time we see anything original lately.

It should be noted that this film is an example of a very dear thing, the community of the Deftone Pictures Studios. This film used talent local to Deftone, and honored everything in its regard. A community effort indeed. With that, there are the occasional novice performances, and you can see some of that if you look carefully, and because of that I have to abstain from giving 'Ombis' a perfect rating. It's ironic, though, as considering the level of performance Steigert gets out of his first-timers, as well as his weathered professionals, and the gallant character to take risks in honoring the use of local talent, rather than staying safe and using only professionals, makes this film more deserving of a perfect rating than most top-budget projects from big Hollywood that stand only to exemplify mediocrity. It has to be said how marvelous it is to see Deftone throw caution to the wind, to honor the heart of a community vital to their process, so I say it here. Deftone, and "Ombis: Alien Invasion" deserve major nods, for bringing us all something we should see much more often, but, at least see 'Ombis'. It's worth giving oneself a good time, if not a delightful one. 9 of 10 stars.

Low budget film with low budget effects. Not worth watching, acting is good, but editing, effects and directing is bad.

The acting was awful, the dialogue even worse. Whoever wrote the script hasn't seen a sci-fi movie in his life. The characters were 2-dimensional and were portrayed as mindless drones with the IQ of children, are we really meant to believe that an officer of the law wouldn't be able to see the obvious right in front of him?

The "special effects" were something right out of BBC's Chucklevision.

The premise of the movie its self, however, the bare bones idea behind the movie was good and solid, a great movie COULD have been made out of the premise with a little research and a little thought; and much better dialogue.

The movie is just too unbelievable to enjoy for me, the biological science behind the creatures is just ridiculous.

If this movie had a better writer for the script, and cut down on the cringe-worthy dialogue that made you wanna smash your own face in with a frying pan it probably would have been OK.

As it is, however, I turned it off after 40 minutes.

Just picked this up at Wal-mart and thought before looking at the feature I'd get a heads up on it.....won't stop me from watching it but sounds exactly like another remake of the Blob.

Person infected by meteor bearing space yuck, runs into lovelorn youngsters, they bring him to the sheriff....blah blah blah.

I may be entirely wrong but of course if it worked for Steve McQueen then why the hell not try it out...the not as popular Dillon brother was in the 80's version and it was not half bad.

Of course we live now in the world of remakes and it seems that half the movies sold direct to DVD are either remakes or sequels rushed to the shelves.

Imagine someone giving you $36,000 and the basic necessities required to create your own movie. You can't afford to hire professional actors or professional film production people, so you rely on some good friends and neighbors to be your entire cast and production crew. Sounds like great fun, right? OMBIS: ALIEN INVASION could easily have been a movie made that way.

Don't get me wrong, that's exactly what I love about this movie. It's fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, and fun.

I made very similar 8-millimeter with synched sound movies with some of friends back in the early 1970s. Unfortunately, hurricane Katrina spawned a tornado that destroyed the house where our movie were kept by my late friend who lived there. OMBIS: ALIEN INVASION brought back some very pleasant memories of my amateur filmmaking days. I won't bore you all with those hilarious memories. Well, there was that one movie we made that was about door-to-door high pressure Mercedes Benz salesmen who guilted customers into purchasing a prestigious and luxurious Mercedes for their families.