Aliens Vs Predator: Requiem

DVD review (region 1 & 2)
Directed by The Brothers Strause
Starring Steven Pasquale, Reiko Aylesworth, John Ortiz
Out now

A Predator warrior hunts down acid-blooded beasts in the small Colorado town of Gunnison - with the locals caught in the middle. There’s also an Alien-Pred hybrid on the rampage…

Monster fans had to wait years to see the two greatest alien races in the universe go head to head on the big screen, so 2004’s lumpen actioner AVP was an immense disappointment. Devoid of atmosphere, populated by wildly clichéd characters and wimping out on the gore, Paul W.S. Anderson’s film was a bland slap in the face for two great film franchises.

The Brothers Strause’s follow up is marginally nastier - chestbursters explode from a father and son within the opening 10 minutes and there’s a rather horrible later sequence in which an alien bursts from the stomach of a pregnant woman. But if anything the characters are even more lifeless. For heroes you get two yawn-inducing dysfunctional bros (one of who is named Dallas – how’s that for a subtle reference?), a mother and daughter and a couple of other cut ‘n’ paste teens. There’s no one that comes close to rivalling any of the great characters in the original Alien series. Hell, there’s nobody here to rival anyone in Predator 2.

The directing duo try to bring their no-frills alien invasion story to life with an orgy of choppy editing, “moody” lighting and crashing music; it swiftly becomes tiresome. At least the creature effects are an imaginative mash-up of CG and puppet work, though the much-hyped Alien-Pred hybrid is barely visible in the gloom. James Skipp

VERDICT: 4/10
Another disappointing meeting of the monsters.