The movie that launched the career of actress Natasha Hentsridge, who also had a successful fashion model career. Species is about how Earth’s scientists send out transmissions with information about Earth and its inhabitants, DNA structure, etc., in hopes of finding life beyond Earth. They then receive transmissions from an alien source on how to create endless fuel effortlessly. They also receive information about an alien DNA along with instructions on how to splice it with human DNA. A government team led by Xavier Fitch had the genetic experiment done in a secret lab protected by the military. They are able to grow a healthy human looking alien-human hybrid, a girl. However she has rapid growth and in a matter of month she grows to the age of a normal 12 year old girl.
The experiment is deemed to be too dangerous as Sil, as the child is named, has violent outbursts during her sleep and Fitch reluctantly is told to kill her by using poison gas. She however breaks out and evade the soldiers and runs out into the woods and later enters a train. Overnight she meta-morphs into a full grown woman and kills a ticket collector, steals her clothes and heads out to find a mate, morphing into her alien form, a bipedal creature with tentacles on her shoulders and back.. Fitch forms a team – composed of anthropologist Dr. Stephen Arden (Alfred Molina), molecular biologist Dr. Laura Baker (Marg Helgenberger), empath Dan Smithson (Forest Whitaker) and mercenary Preston “Press” Lennox (Michael Madsen) to track and destroy Sil. They track her but are too late to stop her killing a couple of men and 2 women in her search to mate. Finally we have the showdown with the team and Sil.
Sil manages to fake her death and the team relaxes in their hotel. Intending to mate with Preston, she ends up having sex with Arden and immediately the conception begins, much to the horror of the anthropologist. Sil kills him and heads to the sewers where Fitch is killed and Sil gives birth to her offspring. Both she & the offspring are finally killed by Preston using a grenade launcher and the three of them – Press, Laura & Dan leave the sewers. However a rat eats part of Sil and later mophs into a rat-alien hybrid.
The sequel Species II ignores the ending and starts off with a Mars mission during which astronaut Patrick Ross & Anne Sampas gets infected with the alien dna while collecting soil samples. The third astronaut Dennis Gamble is not infected due to him being a carrier for the diabetes gene and hence his dna is rejected by the alien. Patrick starts having sex with as many women as possible who are then killed when the alien offspring is then born and kills the women by bursting out of their abdomen. Patrick, whose sole purpose seems to make as many offspring as possible, takes all the kids to a barn in the country. Meanwhile in a controlled lab, Dr. Laura Baker is heading a project to make a more docile human-alien hybrid (Natasha Henstridge again) and names her Eve. Eve is not allowed to interact or even see males and is monitored throughout as she undergoes tests. After alien dna is found in the dead women, Preston is reunited with Baker and they find that Sampas has also been infected and she is killed.
The two contact a scientist Dr. Cromwell, who explains that Mars was rendered uninhabitable by an alien species, and that he was institutionalized to silence his opposition to the Mars mission. In their hunt for Patrick they are aided by Dennis who reluctantly is told about the alien threat. At the lab, the scientists activate Eve’s alien DNA to telepathically track Patrick. Eve traces Patrick, who is about to rape another woman. However, Patrick also locates Eve and, in order to get closer to her, gives himself up to Press and Dennis. As he enters the lab, Eve shows signs of being in heat. Patrick tries to enter her isolation cell but is chased off by Laura, Dennis and Press. Patrick heads back to the barn where he speaks to his father but ends up killing him and returning to join his many children. The kids begin their metamorphic stage and cocoon themselves onto the ceiling of the barn.
As the team prepares, Eve breaks free from the lab to find Patrick. The team tails her, finds the shed and kills Patrick’s brood. Eve and Patrick start to mate and transform into their alien forms, but are interrupted by Press. Alien-Patrick fights off Press and Dennis and also overpowers Alien-Eve (who attacked him at Laura’s request), penetrating and killing her in the process. Press stabs Alien-Patrick in the back with a pitchfork coated with Dennis’ blood, causing Alien-Patrick to eventually disintegrate. The military finally arrives and escorts Press, Laura and the injured Dennis. Eve’s lifeless human body is loaded into the back of an ambulance. As the vehicle departs, Eve’s womb begins to swell, indicating an imminent birth, as one of Patrick’s children, who had not yet cocooned, looks on.
The sequel was a box office & critical failure, not living up to the hype of the first movie. This movie was followed by a 2nd sequel a few years later and a non-related 4th movie was also released as direct dvd releases. However the budget and cast vastly vary and the effects are to be taken much lightly. We shall take a look at them at another date. I give Species a 7 outta 10 and Species II a 6 outta 10!
