(aka Area 51)
Call it “bait and switch”.
I can remember seeing this one in the video store back when it first came out and nearly renting it. After all, After Dark Films released it (although I didn’t notice at the time that it was an “original” and not part of one of their “8 Films to Die for” Horrorfests). The “8 Films” series had a reputation for offering interesting new horror films, so naturally one had certain expectations for anything with their name on it.
What they didn’t tell you was that it had started life as a SyFy original (with a different title, at that!)
Frankly, this one is miles better than the standard SyFy “original”, although that isn’t saying a lot. It helps that its creatures are mostly practical effects and not just the usual CGI critter that barely seems to be in the same universe as everything else in the film.
The US Government has decided to allow a group of handpicked reporters unprecedented access to Area 51. Mind you, it is just a scam, as they hope to convince the press that they aren’t hiding any aliens.
Which is when one of the captive aliens frees all the other aliens and they go on a killing spree.
Surprise, surprise.
On the plus side, this one has Bruce Boxleitner. On the minus side there really isn’t much to distinguish this one from a lot of other very similar films. The creatures kill people, they try to escape through the tunnels and try various things to kill them. Very familiar.
Although I’ll concede the character of J Rod is an interesting touch, and somewhat unexpected.
The presence of Jason Connery as the director is mildly interesting as well, but only because he’s Sean’s son. He’s appeared in a number of cheap movies and TV shows but never achieved his dad’s fame.
51 isn’t glaringly awful, and is, in fact, an amiable time killer. While there are better films out there, this one will do if you’re looking for a mindless creature feature.
And there are times, when you’ve just got home from a long day in the underground lab, when one of those can be very welcome.
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rivets on the poster 
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