Flesh Hunters

By Jack Orman • Feb 6th, 2005 • Category: Horror, Science Fiction

The movie opens with a flashback to a home-invasion incident that leaves Deputy J.T. Williams beaten, emotionally scarred and his newlywed wife dead. Don Fisher, a veteran of numerous small roles in films such as Roswell, Species and Forrest Gump, takes the lead role as Deputy Williams. The film then flashes forward to the present day and Deputy Williams is back on the job but still under stress from the incident.

How many movies have you seen where a lawman is under duress and cops a bad attitude towards authority and his fellow officers? That tired cliché is played here yet again, and the Deputy snubs a partner when assigned to transport a petty criminal to another jurisdiction. Filmmakers should give up using the “lone wolf” lawman bit since it is unrealistic and has become almost a parody, especially when overacted, as in this film.

The transportation of the prisoner, Eddie (Nicolas Greene), to jail proves not to be as uneventful as planned. Williams and his prisoner have a close encounter with an alien craft that leaves them stranded on a lonely road through the forest. Lost and on foot, Eddie and the Deputy are soon on the run from the aliens who have landed nearby.

There are three campers in the same woods, and they are so irritating that you end up wanting the aliens to take them away. One of the campers, the “older woman” Karen, is played by Grammy award winner Shandra Sinnamon—remember the song “He’s A Dream” from the Flashdance soundtrack? (http://www.shandi.org/) Shandi manages her part rather handily and doesn’t look out of place among this more experienced cast.

Later, another young woman, played by the curvaceous Delaina Mitchell, is driving down the lonely backroad and crashes her car trying to avoid Deputy Mitchell who is jaywalking along the roadside. Once she is left on foot, it doesn’t take long before the aliens capture her and she is strung up nude on an alien apparatus displaying all of her curves.

The aliens have the humans on the run through most of the middle part of the film. Deputy Williams has a strange encounter with a group of hillbilly rednecks, and of course, he battles the aliens in the final reel. A final twist at the end is predictable by the time it comes to pass.

The acting is uneven in this sci-fi flick, even though many of the actors have experience in TV or bigger films. Fisher is just a bit over the top as the brusque lawman, Delaina Mitchell is better as the damsel-in-distress, and the remainder of the cast is more than adequate and certainly better than 99% of micro-budget casts.

This is a low low budget film by Hollywood standards but not a micro-budget feature. This shows in the production values that are put up on the screen, which gives it a boost above the amateur competition. The bottom line for me is: “Was the film enjoyable to watch?” Yes, it proved to be more entertaining than I expected from looking at the DVD cover.

Flesh Hunters has also been distributed under the title The Human Quality, which can be seen on the clapboard in several parts of the “Behind the Scenes” featurette on the disk.

Dead Alive Productions distributed this film but when I checked their web site, it was more dead than alive. A quick search on Amazon.com turned up several copies of the DVD available at discount prices.

Three stars.

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