High Plains Invaders
Encyclopedia
High Plains Invaders is a 2009 science fiction television film that aired on Syfy
. The film stars James Marsters
.
town to be hanged for his crimes in 1892. But then he has to save the town from Alien
bugs.
in December of 2008. Marsters said the film was a way to reinvent the Western film genre
, which often had the same elements and types of characters, by including alien bugs.
14% of the audience liked it. here are some reviews for the film,
Syfy
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
. The film stars James Marsters
James Marsters
James Wesley Marsters is an American actor and musician. Marsters first came to the attention of the general public playing the popular character Spike, a platinum-blond yobbish English vampire in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off series, Angel from 1997 to 2004...
.
Plot
A man goes to a small ColoradoColorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
town to be hanged for his crimes in 1892. But then he has to save the town from Alien
Alien
Alien or Aliens may refer to:* Alien , a non-citizen inhabitant of a country* Extraterrestrial life, defined as life that does not originate from Earth* Introduced species, a species living outside its native distributional range...
bugs.
Cast
- James MarstersJames MarstersJames Wesley Marsters is an American actor and musician. Marsters first came to the attention of the general public playing the popular character Spike, a platinum-blond yobbish English vampire in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off series, Angel from 1997 to 2004...
as Sam Danville - Cindy Sampson as Abigail Pixley
- Sebastian Knapp as Jules Arning
Production
High Plains Invaders was filmed in RomaniaRomania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
in December of 2008. Marsters said the film was a way to reinvent the Western film genre
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
, which often had the same elements and types of characters, by including alien bugs.
Reviews
High Plains Invaders has had mixed reviews. It has a 5.0 rating on IMDb. On Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
14% of the audience liked it. here are some reviews for the film,
- Dread Central wrote, "High Plains Invaders is an above average Syfy original, a pleasantly diverting Wild West creature feature worthy of a Saturday matinee viewing." The website said the acting was standard and that the creature design was reminiscent of the bugs from Starship TroopersStarship Troopers (film)Starship Troopers is a 1997 American military science fiction film, written by Edward Neumeier , directed by Paul Verhoeven, loosely adapted from Starship Troopers, a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein. It is the only theatrically released film in the Starship Troopers franchise...
. It also said the budget limitations were evident: "We see what looks like thousands of these bugs dropping from the mothership but only see them attack one at a time until the very final moments. The computer animated bugs look fairly credible, which may be due in some small part to how inorganically metallic they are meant to look in the first place." - DVD TalkDVD TalkDVD Talk is a website for DVD enthusiasts founded in January 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman when DVDs and DVD players were first beginning to hit the market.The site started as an online forum, an email newsletter, and a page of DVD news and reviews...
said that the film was "formulaic" like other films in the Maneater series. The website commended how it mixed genres such as Western and science fiction. It concluded, "Outside of its genre-hopping and setting, High Plains Invaders doesn't stray too much from this formula. However, at a breezy 87 minutes, Richard Beattie's script directed by K.T. Donaldson is never boring—and the requisite Saturday matinee ambience is always present." - FEARnetFEARnetFearnet is a cable channel, website and Video on Demand television service owned by Horror Entertainment LLC, a joint venture between Comcast, Lions Gate Entertainment, and Sony Pictures Entertainment...
said, "Screenwriter Richard Beattie seems to enjoy wading in the caricatured side of the genre pool, which means that each character is painted in rather broad brushstrokes. This helps to keep High Plains Invaders from ever becoming too dreary or boring—but it also means the five main characters are left spouting dialogue that, even if it's 'cute,' it's still pretty damn familiar." The website called the creature effects "more polished than you'd normally find" but noted how few were actually shown at any one time. It concluded, "Whereas most of the Maneater Series are 'guilty pleasures' at best, this one actually earns a few points in the realm of legitimate low-budget monster-making."