Such a frustrating disappointment

Pretty Good

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Nick Saxon (Scalia) is an ex-Special Forces Vietnam veteran (of course), so when a crew of astronauts returns infected with an alien virus, naturally Saxon is the first person the government calls to stop the spread of these body-snatching interlopers (wonder where they got that idea...). So Saxon and his team are working on stopping the astro-nuts, who predated the diaper-wearing astro-nut from the news of a few years ago by many years. But it's personal for Scalia, sorry, Saxon, because his buddy Joseph Shay (Banks) is one of the unfortunate astronauts taken over by an alien presence. Will Saxon don his Denim and Leather and come out victorious against the alien baddies? Judging by the fact that most of the scenes are too dark to see, Dark Breed is indeed an apt title. Or maybe they could have called it Dark Screen. Which leads us to the schizophrenic nature of this movie. The sci-fi scenes are dark (as if we haven't made that sufficiently clear yet), almost as if to hide their shame at making a sci-fi slog. But as for the action scenes, most of them are shot in daylight and are clearly and appropriately lit. That's normally the way with PM, but maybe they were experimenting with the "moodier" feel of the day, which was ahead of its time, as many movies and TV shows are severely underlit today. So if you're interested in seeing PM experiment with darkness, here is certainly a place to check that out. But we can't honestly say we're on board with it this time. Thank goodness for the plentiful muzzle flashes and blow-ups, because they provide the only light in many scenes.But the action is classic PM, with high-quality explosions, plenty of car stunts, and much gun-shooting. When it settles back into sci-fi territory, the movie inevitably slows down. But we're such PM fans, we had to see this movie, even though we don't like sci-fi slogs. But scenes like the highway chase where Scalia is riding along the back of a truck on an upturned satellite dish are vintage PM and start to turn the movie back in good graces. The scene is reminiscent of PM classic Last Man Standing (1996) and easily could have appeared in that gem. Plus you can actually see the scene, so it stands out from a lot of the rest of the proceedings. But the movie as a whole is a sci-fi actioner, kind of in the vein of Peacemaker (1990). So if you liked that, you might like this.Most of the dialogue consists of characters saying other characters' names repeatedly, almost reaching Airplane! (1980) levels at times. Of course, that's not when the aliens start making pig noises. Even though the aliens are supposed to be scary and malevolent, they sound like a mash up of Babe, Gordy and Arnold Ziffel in the midst of a slop fight. In other cast news Sal Landi, who has been in plenty of movies reviewed on this site, here plays "Zim" Zimmerman, also predating a certain news story. And fan favorite George "Buck" Flower even finds time to stop by in the midst of all the craziness. Tying it all together is Scalia, who looks like a stone statue carved of Treat Williams.In the end, this movie is at war with itself. It's sci-fi sloggery vs. tried-and-true action. If you don't mind your action punctuated by literally dark, boring scenes (or if you genuinely like sci-fi, which is also a possibility), you might be able to extract some enjoyment from Dark Breed.

"Dark Breed" is a middle-of-the-road creature feature.**SPOILERS**Upon returning to Earth early, the astronauts of the Space Shuttle Aquarius, Joseph Shay, (Jonathan Banks) Zimmerman, (Sal Landi) Rice, (Josh Clark) Jackson, (Leon W. Grant) Powell, (Felton Perry) and Deborah Saxon, (Donna W. Scott) are feared to be infected and manage to escape. Ordered to find them and bring them back, officers Nick Saxon, (Jack Scalia) Lt. Burgess, (Cindy Ambuehl) and Fox, (Carlos Carrasco) go out to search and begin to track them down. After managing to find several of them, they soon discover that the aliens have a spy amongst them to divert them away from their target. That leads them to learn of an alien parasite that has infested the astronauts to take over the planet for their own race of beings, and they race against time to stop their diabolical plan to eliminate the planet.The Good News: This was a pretty surprisingly good film. One of it's best features is it's action-packed narrative. It plays out much more like an action film than it really should. This is mostly evident in the beginning, where it features several really impressive action stunts. The truck's charge through the exploding battlefield is a pretty good scene, and the highway sequence is nothing shot of brilliant. From the acquisition of the vehicles to the brawl through the trailer and the ensuing chases, this is a great scene that does a whole lot right. That it concludes with a spectacular car crash and explosion is a lot better. The gunfight at the motel is also pretty good, and there's a really great hospital massacre scene gets some great moments in. There's also the film's highlight, the final confrontation in the alien's headquarters. The massive structure, the creepy interior and the fantastic way of lighting the entire area makes it a lot more suspenseful and give it an eerie look to it. The action in the scene is quite intense and gets some great mileage out of it. Along with other action scenes spread throughout the film, they make the film seem incredibly fast-paced and manages to stay entertaining quite easily, a great feat for a simple creature feature. The pretty high body count also works for the film's favor, giving it lots of kills and some great gore. There's a plethora of gunshots, a broken neck, several bashed against the surroundings, along with more graphic ones including having a hand punched through the stomach and coming out the back, being ripped apart from a creature underneath the skin, a special device tearing a victim to pieces and more, leaving this one pretty bloody. There's also a really graphic autopsy to add, along with all the non-fatal wounds acquired during the fights. These here make this a really entertaining creature feature.The Bad News: There isn't a whole lot here that doesn't work. The main one is the aliens themselves. They're rarely on-screen, and the few times they are on make them look incredibly fake. The appearance is way too rubbery and covered with obviously fake goo that just makes them look like any generic alien out there. The fact that they transform in two of the single cheesiest-looking scenes ever doesn't do any favors, looking like third-rate bloopers for any creature feature made. Making them look even cheesier is that in human form they simply decide to make their eyes yellow-ish, cat-like eyes and it takes all their suspense away when they look like that. Also not helping is that the film is really clichéd and plays out like any normal film in this genre. It's quite easy to see where everything's going from the very beginning, giving it no real surprises to play on. These make it a little less than perfect, though it's still quite good.The Final Verdict: Though this one did have some problems, all-together this was a nicely action-packed film that does manage to entertain. This one's mostly for the lovers of cheesy creature features or of the more action-packed variety, though those of more serious fare seek caution.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and Brief Nudity

Actually, things explode a lot! Much of the film's budget must have gone on explosives, cars explode, buildings explode, everything explodes at some point....The special effects are pretty well staged for a low-budget,straight to DVD/video but the plot gets a bit lost in all the smoke. And I couldn't help feeling there was a really good story trying hard to get out along the way. I would have preferred the film to concentrate on the characters a bit more rather than just sketching them as one dimensional stereotypes. The film was at it's most interesting when it went into 'conspiracy theory' territory.Sadly, most action films are judged on their special effects these days and if you want a film with lots of action, albeit it all a bit pointless at times, this will suit you fine.If there is ever Dark Breed 2, be nice to have more story and less explosions.

*Mild spoilers*Back in the mid 90's, PM Entertainment put out a large number of highly entertaining straight to video action flicks. Producer Joseph Merhi usually also directed most of the standard action vehicles, while Richard Pepin would do the ones with a Sci-Fi theme (Cybertracker, The Sender, The Silencers etc.). Having really enjoyed The Silencers and both Cybertracker movies, I decided to give Dark Breed a go. It also had Jack Scalia in the lead, who did a fine job in his other movie with Richard Pepin, The Silencers.Dark Breed has all the usual elements of an entertaining actioner with a Sci Fi theme. Car chases, gun battles, explosions, the PM trademark of tons of glass breaking and this time, some very decent looking special effects for the time, especially for DTV material. So if you like that sort of stuff, what is there not to like? Looking at the credits, I noticed some of the people responsible for the FX went onto do FX in several big budgeted productions. It appears that Pepin has probably blown a large amount of the budget around that and not bothered to build a competent movie around it.The single biggest flaw about Dark Breed is basically the fact that it just isn't that interesting to watch. As previously mentioned, everything is there but what made the other PM movies so much fun all seems watered down or poorly handled. It all starts off well enough, with 2 young lovers in a car and a ship coming and landing in the lake beside them. The effects here are neat, and then we're treated to a reasonable chase scene where the "Alien parasites" hijack a truck carrying a mobile home with a good number of smashes and a big explosion at the end. However, it all goes downhill from there. The pace is sluggish, what is only 93 minutes long feels like much more. The cast seems to be completely lacking in any kind of enthusiasm, and just provides "Can I have my paycheque now?" performances. The gunfights are all very, very dull and the fact that they're all set among warehouses and wastegrounds doesn't help. About 45 minutes into the movie, we're treated to a car chase involving Jack Scalia being pulled along on a satellite dish by a van while being pursued by the villains. The camera angles are well done, the stunts are excellent and we're treated to some nice explosions involving a van and several cars. However, what mostly ruins this scene is the fact that the weather changes between each cut, at first the sun is shining, then the road appears wet at one point, then towards the end the sun is shining again. It's only a minor glitch, but one which could have been easily avoided and only cheapens the look of the movie.So you probably get the picture of what "Dark Breed" is like. It's not a bad movie, but when there's so many other movies which do similar, and do it better, I can't think of any reason to recommend Dark Breed. If you're going to see a PM movie, this isn't the one to start with. Try Executive Target, Rage or Last Man Standing. If you want one of their Sci-Fi themed movies, try The Silencers or CyberTracker. If Dark Breed is on TV, give it a go, just don't go out of your way to find it.