Almost Human (2013) starring Graham Skipper, Josh Ethier, Vanessa Leigh, Susan T. Travers, Anthony Amaral III directed by Joe Begos Movie Review

Almost Human (2013)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Josh Ethier in Almost Human (2013)

Mark Will Be Back

When Seth (Graham Skipper) comes racing in to the home of his friends Mark (Josh Ethier) and girlfriend Jen (Vanessa Leigh), scared stiff after an encounter with a bright blue light and a shrieking noise Mark does the manly thing and heads out to investigate only to disappear in another flash of blue light. Two years later and Mark reappears but not the same as when he left. As Seth tries to find out what happened to Mark the bodies start piling up with Mark making his way across country slaughtering anyone who gets in his way.

Joe Begos who both wrote and directed "Almost Human" is obviously a horror and sci-fi fan as he takes the body snatching aspect of 60s sci-fi movies and combines it with 80s John Carpenter style horror/sci-fi with a touch of the James Cameron. And on paper it is a good concept with plenty of possibility to create a contemporary horror movie with the feel of horror from the late 70s/early 80s with that homage to the 60s space abduction aspect.

The trouble is that "Almost Human" is a low budget, indie and sadly from the acting to the dialogue it is a long way off being right. It is a real shame as the movie is full of good ideas; for example when Mark reappears, discovered naked in the woods not only is there almost a homage to "Terminator" going on but he makes the shrieking noise which we have already encountered and it makes you think about the noise which happened two years earlier and you start putting together a bigger picture in your mind.

I hate to say this but I would love for a big studio to approach Joe Begos and work with him to turn "Almost Human" in to the big screen horror/sci-fi movie it could be. There is so much potential in the idea that better actors and refined dialogue as well as improved special effects could turn this in to a cult classic rather than a low budget not quite there.

What this all boils down to is that "Almost Human" is entertaining thanks to the good idea but at the same time could be so much better rather than just about okay.


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