Veteran director Fred Olen Ray and cinematographer Gary Graver prove they have the skill to put together a good low budget rip-off of Alien--but that they aren't gonna any time soon.
The movie is essentially a long string of clichés: Napier and Glass play two cops who "don't play by the book" blow up a car by shooting it, killing a perp who's "just a kid", getting suspended by their hard-ass boss (but mysteriously continuing to work nonetheless), investigating a mysterious murder which is being covered up by the military which, naturally, has been engaged in creating a super-war machine, etc. etc. etc.
Ann Turkel does an admirable job, even though she's given the thankless task of being Napier's love interest and virtually falling apart every time something happens.
Then there's this whole business of stunt casting Julie Newmar as the psychic who tells Napier where the alien is.
The frustrating thing is that, in between the nonsense, FOR shows a real talent for pacing, action and shooting on a budget. He and Graver manage to create real atmosphere in the final scenes that, even though it's directly lifted from Ridley Scott's "Alien" (note the character name "Mrs. Ridley"), complete with inexplicable smoke, light, dripping water and even strobes, it's a tantalizing look at what the two are capable of when they set their minds to it.
But as much as I was rooting for it, when Napier says (in the post-coital dialogue with Turkel) "The street is my boss. Who's yours?" I realized that the movie had landed in camp-ville, like it or not, and there it would stay.
