It wasn't worth it. Was reminded of Saturday morning kid's scripted fantasy tv programs from the 70s. So cheesy.

Replete with smarmy sarcasm and hostile speechifying by the seemingly emotionally immature, laced with lame smack-talk, and even saying it to the unconscious.

It has dialogue with full sentences that consist of, "Ugh, this arm is never gonna heal." and "This damn plant." Also, "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now."

The writing, acting, directing, are all about as bad as in the Extinct (2017) series, which was written and directed by BYU (Mormon) grads. The sophistication level is middle-school, like not totally stupid, but almost hopelessly underdeveloped.

The editing was also biffed up, to where an injury changed sides of the body, and changed back because they flipped footage a few times.

Some of the costuming decisions included Tabi Japanese Split Toe Shoes, or Ninja Jika Tabi Split Toe Boots, because those are totally 'alien.' My, my, my what this says! (Although, they're supposedly good for bunions, so maybe those aliens got Foot probs, not just food and water probs.)

I did sort of love it when the puppet/animatronic-looking Healing-Pet growled out it's master's name, fully articulately. L'il Spewy also snarls "NO" and "O. K.," in a grossly charming way.

Anyway, it had a zero payoff ending after being terribly predictable, too.

I loved the practical effects! So many movies nowadays lean too heavily on cgi, so this was a refreshing change. It was great how this movie really leaned into the campiness with the excessive fake blood and alien curse words. I mean, alien cat vomit has miraculous healing powers! Alien Planet really has the feel of a Star Trek episode, particularly Voyager or Enterprise. I think my favorite character was either Giree or Lock. I do have a few criticisms, though - some shots lasted twice as long as they really needed to, which is part of why the plot felt like it was dragging its metaphorical feet for a bit there. But the main reason this only has 6 stars is the ending. If the point was to piss the audience off, it was a complete success. The movie ended with a cheap "shocking twist" that left my dad and I deeply dissatisfied. We're still arguing over whether it was a budgeting issue forcing them to change the script at the last minute (which is what I think) or a deliberate attempt to make a statement (what my dad thinks).

Tl;dr super fun and campy; I would've loved to be in the cast or crew of this! The ending sucks tho :/

EDIT: For the record, my dad and I have no connection to the cast/crew. This just came on a queue of the B movies my dad watches while working at home.

This film was crowd-funded, and it seems like every one of the people that funded it wrote a review in which they mentioned the director by name: "Alan Maxson! We have Alan Maxson here!" I wouldn't put too much faith in those reviews.

However, for a no-budget sci-fi film, this actually isn't bad. There isn't much of a plot, but the acting is decent and the effects are done practically and mostly very well. The makeup is especially strong. There's also a good deal of puppetry - some of which is subtle and adds nicely to the alien atmosphere of the planet, and some of which looks obviously fake -- though not any worse than Return of the Jedi TBH -- but nonetheless is engaging in its own way. (A weird vomiting alien cat puppet steals the movie, if you ask me.)

The movie features no humans -- just two alien species battling over water resources -- yes, that old trope! And if you ask me, the planet is water poor because the aliens are filled to the gills with the stuff. If you slap an alien, they will explode in a bloody burst of juicy viscera. This won't necessarily kill them, but they will leave puddles of blood behind -- I'm talking pools of the stuff.

That's actually my number one reason for recommending this film -- the way this film constantly tries to make every scene an over-the-top gore fest, all the way to the end of the film. Trust me, if you don't take it seriously, and just go in to enjoy the horror show, you WILL have a good time.