A biological research institution got some alien cell cultures from the government and use it to create all sorts of wonky looking stop-motion creatures. I don’t know how they create them since the cells don’t have any genetic material, but that’s beside the point. One of the scientists get bitten by a green critter and if you think he won’t go through metamorphosis, well, then you are out of your mind.
He gets infected with a “retroclonal” virus that can seek out certain chromosomes and destroy them. “Retroclonal” isn’t real, but they were probably referencing retroviruses. When retroviruses infect a cell, it doesn’t just take it over and multiply like most viruses, it decodes its RNA and makes a DNA copy of it and adds it to the cell’s genome. Thus, the cell and the virus become one. HIV is a retrovirus and the mammalian ability to create placentas comes from the DNA of a retrovirus an ancestor of ours got infected with.
I like the concept of a retrovirus causing mutations because it is something that could do it. If I had to explain how a superhero would realistically have changes in all their muscle cells, a retrovirus would be the answer. Horror film makers should use it.
The story isn’t anything to celebrate. In the first half, a security guard and a scientist get killed by the monster and another scientist explains what happened with the scientist who got mutated. In the latter half, the security guards’ daughters break into the company and must survive encounters with the monster, who at this point looks like if Audrey 2 had a baby with the sandworm from Beetlejuice.
Only one of the film’s actors has a picture on IMDb and I know why. None of them are particularly good and most have weird accents I can’t quite put my finger on. The best/worst is the CEO of the company who is channelling Larry Drake from Darkman but with, what I think is, a British accent. It comes and goes.
The real draw of the film are the practical effects. They are a mix of Basket Case and The Thing. Very reminiscing of The Deadly Spawns so I wasn’t surprised when I read that the film was originally supposed to be a sequel to that film. The monster’s design is… different, but actually quite scary looking and the stop motion effects in wide shots of it add to the otherworldly eeriness.
The first half is rather slow, but the second half just gets zanier and zanier until it ends with something you just didn’t expect. A fun flick that has elements of being so-bad-it’s-good and just being a solid piece of b-movie entertainment.
