Dir. Roger Donaldson (1995)
A sexy alien is loose on a spaceship, and the crew must hunt her down before she successfully mates with a human.
In many cases, it's difficult to understand why a film becomes a cult classic. Not so with today's film. Species, like its primary antagonist, was practically grown in a lab to appeal to the American theater-going audience. There's tons of blood, frequent nudity, an A (or at least B) list cast... Believe it or not, the cast of Species has a combined ten Oscar nominations and two wins. For a sleazy skin flick science fiction horror movie, that's practically unheard of. The combined talents are put to good use, as director Roger Donaldson crafts an interesting horror film with a surprising amount of emotional depth (and lots and lots of boobs).
Scientist Xavier Fitch (Ben Kingsley) and his team of researchers has created an alien hybrid named Sil (5-time-Oscar-nominee Michelle Williams as the younger version, no-time-Oscar-nominee Natasha Henstridge all grown up) that is seeking to breed with humans to take over the Earth. She's incredibly deadly, super strong and fast, and she doesn't plan on letting a bunch of scientists take her down. As Lennox (Michael Madsen), Arden (Alfred Molina), Baker (Marg Helgenberger), and Smithson (Forest Whitaker) team up to try to eliminate the threat, Sil becomes more and more dangerous in her pursuit of biological improvement.
If we're being completely honest, Species became a cult phenomenon for two reasons: Natasha Henstridge. It's a campy, B-horror/science fiction film that's essentially a lower quality, skin flick version of Alien. Each character is a caricature of a trope: Whitaker's Smithson is an empath who only talks about feelings, while Madsen is basically playing an alien bounty hunter Budd from Kill Bill. The frequent and copious nudity is what drew the viewers in and kept them in their seats, and yet despite its lack of what we would normally call quality, Species became a mid-90's cult classic.
Species owes its initial success to Henstridge's legendary assets, but it's got some real staying power because it's a legitimately fantastic science fiction horror film. It's a quintessential mid-90's action/sci-fi/horror, a perfect representation of the decade and its big-city excess and commitment to research regardless of the cost. The 90's seemed to have weekly scientific breakthroughs, from Dotty the cloned sheep to our first spacecraft on Mars. We never had anything like the events in the film (that we know of, anyway), but it didn't feel far off. No longer did we have to have a distant future Nostromo carrying Ripley to an alien planet that looked nothing like our own. The terror could come right to our homes, as the hubris of the government and our own scientists felt like a clear and present threat that could become dangerous at any moment.
Sure, Species is more sexy than scary, as every single member of the cast and crew intended. The sci-fi chops are legit, though, and it all feels vaguely realistic enough to make an effective popcorn flick. The gore is excellent, the creature effects, designed by H. R. Giger protégé Steve Johnson, are some of the best of the decade. Of course, "come for the tits, stay for the gore" has always been a winning strategy in horror, and Species proved that the time-tested formula can still draw a crowd. There's also a lot of surprising emotional depth to the film, with Henstridge's Sil garnering a lot of sympathy despite her character's murderous impulses. She may be killing everyone she comes across in downtown Los Angeles, but she didn't choose to be created in a lab for human experimentation. She likely would've never escaped the lab in the first place if Dr. Fitch didn't choose to follow protocol and try to kill her.
It's rare that you come across a film like this that's also a legitimately good film, but Species certainly fits the description. It's still a blast to watch almost thirty years (!!!) later, and every cast member puts 100% of their hearts into these roles, even if they're a bit heavy-handed. Perhaps one of the most egregious cinematic examples of the hubris of man, we're once again reminded that science doesn't know everything, and often can't be trusted completely. In an era where our advancements were often scary as hell, it was a welcome commentary, even without the nudity. Though that was hardly unwelcome, to be sure.
Who this movie is for: Sci-fi horror lovers, 90's horror fans, Unethical scientists
Bottom line: Species is a hell of a lot of fun, and there's a more to it than some tits and blood. Ok, not a lot more, but more nonetheless. It's got some outstanding creature effects, some excellent gore, and yes, a Skinemax-level amount of nudity. It holds up quite well even all these years later, and if its somehow slid under your radar before now, you should definitely give it a look. Great 90's sci-fi horror.
