‘Creature’–You Could Do Worse (Review)

Written by Lois Kennedy

Directed by William Malone

Cast: Stan Ivar, Wendy Schaal, Lyman Ward, Klaus Kinski

Two multi-national corporation spaceships (one American, one German) are competing to invest in Saturn’s largest moon. The American team, investigating why a previous mission went wrong, find themselves dealing with a mass of head-chewing slugs that can reanimate corpses to sucker the un-noshed upon. It’s up to captain Davison, corporate guy Perkins, security officer Bryce, and Sladen (Wendy Schaal—yes, Francine from American Dad) to battle the slimy beasts.

The most striking thing about Creature is how heavily it borrows (rips off) from its horror/sci-fi brethren. Almost the entire plot is lifted from Alien, with elements of The Thing, and the ending shamelessly, blatantly stealing from The Thing from Another World—Sladen mentions it specifically as she uses the solution from the movie to kill the creatures.

But where the film goes right is respect for its female characters, who are all badasses (unlike one badass and one sissy, like Alien, or missing entirely like The Thing). All of the women aboard the ship are important, and most hold jobs usually thought of as masculine: Wendy is a doctor, Bryce is a security officer, Sladen is an I’m-not-sure what, but her job involves tools and seems tech-savvy. My favorite scene is when creepy German Hoffner (Klaus Kinski) finds his way onto the ship; he tries to intimidate Bryce:

Hoffner: “I see you like guns. What else do you like?” [Hoffner fondles Bryce’s breast.] “You still haven’t told me what else you like.” Bryce: “Violence.” [Bryce elbows him.]

The acting is decent, and the special effects are surprisingly good. I like most of the characters; I can even tell the three blond women apart. It holds my attention well for sci-fi. Give it a look if you’re in the mood for gore and righteous female characters, but not originality or scares

Rating: 4/5

Lois Kennedy is an avid horror fan who loves to write. She can also be found under the pseudonym Ghoulie Joe on WordPress, Facebook, and YouTube.