A group of astronauts led by Joseph Shay (a nicely villainous portrayal by the always reliable Jonathan Banks) return from a failed space mission infected by lethal evil alien parasites that plan on destroying the human race. It's up to rugged Captain Nick Saxon (a solid and credible performance by Jack Scalia) to stop them before it's too late. Capably directed with considerable rip-roaring gusto by Richard Pepin, with a constant swift pace, a compact script by Richard Preston, Jr., several exciting well-staged action set pieces (the wild and explosive outbursts of vehicular carnage are especially stirring and impressive), fluid, agile cinematography by Ken Blakey, a few effectively gross moments of grisly splatter, engaging and well-developed main characters, a shuddery, rattling, rousing score by Louis Febre, and gnarly reptilian extraterrestrial monsters, this handy dandy multi-genre combo romp rates as a perfectly enjoyable and unpretentious serving of low-budget straight-to-video entertainment. The sturdy acting from a bang-up cast qualifies as another substantial asset: Scalia brings some depth and humanity to his tough guy part, Lance LeGault is his usual pleasingly nasty self as hard-nosed military bigwig Cutter, plus there's cool supporting turns by Felton Perry and Sal Landi as two of the infected astronauts, Robin Curtis as compassionate physician Marian, fetching blonde Donna W. Scott as Saxon's spunky ex-wife Deborah, Billy Maddox as Cutter's mean right-hand man North, Carlos Carrasco as the shrewd, likable Fox, Cindy Ambuehl as the feisty Burgess, and the ubiquitous George "Buck" Flower in one of his standard grubby old bum roles. A neat little flick.
Review of Dark Breed
