Trying to remember a distressingly generic alien horror movie.
July 1, 2015 12:47 AM

I remember watching this and enjoying it more than expected, but unfortunately the details are so generic as to render searches nearly useless.

The plot was that aliens abducted some redneck-y types while they were out. I'm fairly certain out huntin', possibly poachin'. Standard blue lights and whatnot. The movie primarily focused on the aftermath and the increasing paranoia as they tried to figure out what had been done to them and turned on each other as possible traitors.

The one scene I really remember is the abducted man, now returned, trying to convince his friends that he is totally sane by performing surgery on himself and extracting a doohickey that he displays to them in a glass jar. He insists that it was the implant the aliens put in him and that it let them track him, which he knew because it reacted when they got close. The doohickey looked like a little three-pronged pizza-box spacer, and his friends were all predictably unimpressed until the lights started up outside and the implant started twitching and clicking away inside the jar.

I also remember things being buried or unburied being important (like the aliens were after some relic that got left behind and that someone buried?), and that the movie mostly took place in this one trailer or extremely cheap house. I also have an image of large tires for some reason. The title was something utterly standard, like "Taken" or "Extraterrestrial" or some such.

As I said, searches are not helping me much. I'm mostly getting websites devoted to "actual" alien abductions.

Anyone out there know this movie?
posted by Scattercat to Grab Bag (7 answers total)
I haven't seen it myself, but after a little searching I think the movie might have been Altered (2006).
posted by RichardP at 1:09 AM on July 1, 2015


The Signal?
posted by jbickers at 2:35 AM on July 1, 2015


Is it Stephen King's Dreamcatcher?
posted by that's how you get ants at 2:59 AM on July 1, 2015


Maybe 'Fire In The Sky'?
posted by pjbw at 3:53 AM on July 1, 2015


Gonna need more info here. Any guesses to what year it might have been made? Possible stars or just random nobody fest? VHS, DVD, USA network, how did you see it? Production quality, high, low or none? Did you see this as a kid or adult? Were drinks involved? Production company, like a major release, studio wise, or a Troma film? Did they use CGI or practical effects? Serious, funny, campy, or so bad it hurts funny? Was it a tradition film or some "found footage" hybrid?

Was it Inbred Redneck Alien Abduction? Or possibly Altered? Could be Alien Abduction, but that might just be too on the nose.

Like I said, need more info to be sure.
posted by gideonswann at 5:06 AM on July 1, 2015


Saw it around 2011 or 2012, and I believe it was on Netflix at the time. The SFX were fairly minimal (goo, glowing lights in the sky, flashes and booms), but my memory says decent quality and seemed mostly practical (though I'm sure light flashes and whatnot were probably CGI).

No idea on any other details vis-a-vis production.

No, no drinks. Just me by myself watching bad horror movies. It's been a hobby of mine ever since I was old enough to drive to the video store by myself. I just also have a terrible, terrible memory.
posted by Scattercat at 9:38 AM on July 1, 2015


I thiiiiink it might, in fact, have been "Altered." MetaFilter, first out of the gate. Man.

Now I need to find a way to watch some of that movie and see if it is.

Definitely not "The Signal," "Dreamcatcher," or "Fire in the Sky." I've seen all of those, as well, and remember them well enough to say it's not them.
posted by Scattercat at 9:41 AM on July 1, 2015


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