Talk us through itA group of three good old boys are out in the woods hunting after dark. Seems fifteen years prior they all got abducted by evil aliens and now it’s payback time, as surprisingly they snare themselves one ugly alien mofo. So what do you do when you have captured an alien? Head on over to Wyatt’s fortified house and prepare to go nasty. Wyatt, we soon learn, was also abducted and kept longer than the rest – well, excluding Otis’s brother, who contracted the nasty and went to beer heaven, or wherever good old boys go. We soon learn that the aliens have a handle on the force – these aren’t the droids you’re looking for – and are just plain nasty. Can our team survive the night, keep hidden from all the other aliens, and get some answers? And what is with Wyatt and his clicker thingy? Have they been set up by the captured alien to be all together in a single place? Do all roads lead to Wyatt? Some answers come your way, a lot is left hanging, and a reasonably engrossing movie ensues. Ready to go Muskogee on alien arse?
ReviewEduardo Sanchez is of course one of the two dudes responsible for delivering that cinematic con job The Blair Witch Project that has sometime horror watchers all excited and calling totally unique. Well as even Sanchez will admit, Blair Witch was heavily informed by a certain Italian job, but what the hey, it made some cash and enabled the Director to raise $8 million to make this, his second feature. Altered actually does take a pretty unique look at the alien abduction subgenre, and Sanchez shows he can not only talk the talk, but also walk the walk. The movie appeared on my radar back in ’06 but then simply didn’t happen in my part of the world. Surprisingly I managed to snare a copy by way of a $2 bin down JBL while hunting out some Christmas presents, so no foul called. What shocked me was that Icon for no apparent reason distributed Downunder, and since they weren’t talking the movie up I wasn’t overly expecting anything good. So did I get my $2 dollars worth? Hell yeah – let’s break-dance on this one.The first thing that becomes apparent when you view this film is a deep question about where exactly Sanchez spent $8 million on it. We pretty much have five unknown actors, a small amount of CGI, and not much else to spend a budget on. I’m all for indie ventures – horror is littered with some of it's best efforts from outside the studio system – but come on, this one looks like it might have cost $1 million in total. Sanchez maintains high production values throughout but if it’s going to cost you $8 million to knock up a pretty cheap and quick flick then there’s something very wrong in the movie world. So for those looking for a movie with loads of special effects, things blowing up, and massive scenes of carnage then you are watching the wrong film here. Sanchez throws on a character study, adds some claret, and then pretty much wimps out with the ending. Altered looks and feels like a $1 million flick end of day; sorry to break the bad news, but someone had to do it. As a Director, Sanchez is showing he knows how to do it with Altered. The dude dragged me in from the opening scene and kept me glued to the screen as I was waiting on the various plot points to be resolved. Credit to Sanchez, he answers some of your questions but leaves a lot to the audience to work out on their own. This isn’t a studio popcorn movie with flashing neon lights, Altered is pretty well scripted and conceived. Don’t expect a lot of fly shots, but Sanchez does elicit the atmosphere and the besieged mentality effectively, and his character focus is absolutely first class. Had no issues determining who was whom in this flick. For the gorehounds reading, you won’t be baying at the moon, but Sanchez does give you the occasional lick to be going on with. Personally thought the whole intestine thing looked fake, nowhere near the impact Dog Soldiers had for example, but chow on down there. Sanchez doesn’t paint the screen red but he doesn’t go all coy on us either. Non gore fans can rest easy, the director isn’t lowering himself to the level of Eli Roth here. Speaking of Roth ala Cabin Fever, you do get an alien virus that is pretty funky. Okay so there are a few issues with this movie, hence the rating of seven. The alien mother-ship was a wtf moment; Sanchez should have cut that from the final print in my opinion as it doesn’t do a hell of a lot. The final scene is woefully inept and gives the audience an out whereas Sanchez should have nailed things. And I simply didn’t buy some of the character motivations; one of those movies where the characters do stuff that is left field and rings false. 
One of the interesting aspects of this movie is that the alien captive, effectively made up and with good use of latex, is played by a female actor. For some strange reason this is all the talk on the net. Congratulations to Misty Rosas for making a name for herself amongst the digital denizens. Adam Kaufman (Wyatt) is pretty good as the typical square-jawed horror hero facing overwhelming odds. Bruce Campbell would have rocked in this role as far as I’m concerned, but was digging Kaufman’s work. Brad William Henke (Duke) rocked as the most thinking member of the squad, and Paul McCarthy-Boyington (Cody) brought down the house with a redneck performance that puts Rob Zombie’s various casts to shame. Catherine Mangan (Hope) low-keys it, and has that certain something, great performance though not an overly demanding role. T&A is a non-starter, though the gals get an overload of mullet goodness – dig on in there ladies. Anyone else taking a slightly warped view of the cover art of the DVD? Hey could be interpreted as boobs. I may need to go back on my medication over here. Tony Cora and Exiquio Talavera deliver a chilling score to match the visuals. Not overly intrusive but is doing the requirements in style.
Summary ExecutionI wasn’t quite sure of what to expect with Altered as am not a fan of Blair Witch and don’t rate the Director highly. Sanchez won me over with a pretty tension-filled outing that hits all the required bases, though with the odd fault line appearing. Overall I had a fun time with the movie, though it’s by no means a classic. Good effort that kept me interested from go to whoa.Altered was a direct to DVD release as the Indie studio could not get a distribution deal with any of the majors. Unfortunate for Sanchez as the movie would have made some cash at the box office. So if after a copy, check your local DVD rental or sales place; you may be better off ordering online, however. Partial recommendation on this one as it’s only going to appeal to the core horror market and no one else. Worth a look if you like scary movies, otherwise hire or buy something else. This film isn’t going to alter your perception of the dark genre in any way.
ScaryMinds Rates this movie as ... I was surprised in a very good way.
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