When a meteorite crash lands on earth, an unknown alien species is unleashed upon the land. Manifesting itself and growing in the basement of a nearby townhouse, the breed begins to feed on anything and anyone that will dare to cross its path, all the while reproducing asexually at an alarming rate and spreading its seed around the neighborhood. Soon, it may be up to the house's initial inhabitants to put a stop to this extraterrestrial reign of terror before it devours everything in sight.
Boasting the smallest budget of any film on this year's countdown, The Deadly Spawn's budget is a meager twenty five thousand dollars, which isn't just doable for most folks with the right amount of connections and friends, but is really low by ANY decade's standards, much less the early 80s. Perhaps the bigger surprise to be found is just how entertaining the final product turns out to be, especially if you have a great respect for the art of "DIY" filmmaking.
Similar to what some Italian efforts were doing in the wake of the horror explosion post-Jaws and post-Alien, The Deadly Spawn's original title was changed over in some circles to Return of the Aliens: The Deadly Spawn in order to capitalize on the success of Ridley Scott's aforementioned film, which was released several years beforehand. Other than boasting a threat from outer space and a whole lot of caucasians in the cast, the comparisons should end there though. For one thing, the designs on both creatures are obviously, radically different. Considering that this isn't H.R. Giger's work, the alien design here is fairly awesome, a horrifying, massive maw that seemingly boasts no eyes with one gigantic appetite, and can even spawn smaller, slug-like beings that slither around infesting and feasting on whatever they can find. It moves around like a slasher movie icon, but disgustingly consuming rather than cutting and tearing its victims.
There are two brothers to follow as our protagonists throughout the plot, and yes, their stories do connect with one another down the road. There's Pete, the older of the two and arguably the more awkward of the siblings. He's a serviceable, wannabe scientist-type, but not much more. From what I've read, most fans of this film seem to identify more with Charlie, the younger of the brothers, as he's usually the embodiment of every kind of kid you either grew up with, or even grew up as in the decade of decadence, given that his room is littered with old horror movie posters and toys, and he's a self-professed devotee of the genres that I love. Heck, he's even got the same Godzilla action figure that I STILL have to this day, and I can provide photographic evidence to prove this if need be!
I know a few friends in town who have aspirations of becoming directors, be they of documentaries, or full-length pictures, and because of the apparent "do it yourself" attitude and work found throughout The Deadly Spawn, I am more than happy to give the picture a good recommendation. As macabre and grotesque as it is for those not accustomed to films in its field (and make no mistake, the gore is very top notch for its budget), Douglas McKeown's lone motion picture effort can be a bit inspiring for future filmmakers, showing that you don't need the backing of a large company or an abnormal amount of money in order to make something that is instantly memorable or just plain cool. Paramount really dropped the ball not picking this up for distribution.
Tomorrow, we jump forward a few years and find ourselves stuck in HOUSE!
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