Review of Species (Special Edition)

Introduction

Probably known to most as the film which launched Natasha Henstridge`s "career", although can you remember watching her in anything else? No, neither can I, so what you are basically left with is this film right here.

Earth scientists have been experimenting with alien DNA (as ever) and don`t like what they come up with (a fast developing young girl called Sil), so naturally they decide to kill it. But they make a mess of it and Sil escapes. They decide to bring in their special team to track her down, and this team consist of a special agent, a psychic, a molecular biologist, and an anthropologist. Together they hunt the maturing Sil, who`s on her own personal mission to have sex and kill a few people along the way.

Video

A pretty good 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer which looks like a reasonable effort. There`s plenty of detail, the night scenes look good and the colour pallette is very pleasant. Shadow detail is good and there`s a very agreeable lack of print damage. Sometimes it looks a bit iffy, but perhaps the final retail disc will have a slightly different and better transfer. More on that in a moment.

Audio

Allegedly the final set contains a choice of DD5.1 and dts soundtracks, but my review disc didn`t. The DD5.1 soundtrack that`s on the review disc is a pretty good effort, but it seems that it comes from an earlier release. So I can`t comment whether any work has been done since then, and whether the new soundtracks are an improvement over the older ones.

The review soundtrack is ok, with lots of science fiction action sound effects, a few nice explosions and plenty of atmospherics.

Features

Allegedly there are audio commentaries on disc 1, but by review disc didn`t contain any. It didn`t even have any menus on the first disc either. However, there were plenty of extras on disc 2, so let`s take a tour through them.

The Origin tells you how the film came about, with a collection of interviews and behind the scenes footage which gives you plenty of background to the film.

The Concept delves further into the plot and writing of the film, with further footage to back it up.

The Discovery and Designing a Hybrid concentrate largely on the character of Sil and on Natasha Henstridge, and how it launched her career to the silver screen.

H.R. Giger: Designing Species - the legend that is Giger tells us all about creating the alien on show here (which looks a lot like some of his more famous aliens). There`s also lots of behind the scenes stuff too.

Alternate Ending does exactly what it says on the tin, but it`s a terrible cheese stuffed ending and not hard to see why it was dropped.

Species 3: Set Invasion is a prime example in dead horse flogging. Not content with one awful sequel, they`ve made another, and this PR fluff is here to promote it.

Conclusion

I remember going to see this film at the cinema. It was pretty average back then amd it hasn`t really aged all that well. The special effects go from bad to worse, although they were reasonably cutting edge at the time. But now the stop-motion alien looks out of place, although Giger`s designs are still fresh.

The story itself is a simple stereotype and wouldn`t have been out of place in some low budget 1980s horror flick. But there are plenty of action packed set pieces to keep you entertained, so you don`t drift off. And of course you just know there will be some grisly deaths along the way. At the end of the day it makes a fun rental, but I don`t know why you would want to buy it and watch it again as it has very little value on subsequent viewings. And the less said about the sequels the better.

The DVD package is a fine effort given the film itself, with good picture and sound which might be better on the released version. The extras package is a good one too, so this is a good set, it`s just a shame that the main feature isn`t all it`s cracked up to be.