Writer: Joe Begos
Director: Joe Begos
An unspeakable horror has come home
Almost Human is essentially a mashup of a classic science fiction story with a slasher element. The story begins in 1987 when Rob and Mark Josh Ethier disappear amidst all the classic signs of an alien abduction. Two years later Mark reappears, naked, in the woods. He looks the same but he’s… different. He seems to have developed an unfortunate tendency to kill people. He also has Plans.
I don’t want to say too much about what those plans are as it would be a spoiler. However a lot of people reading this will realise exactly what’s going on very early when Mark makes a sound reminiscent of that in a 1978 film starring Donald Sutherland. Begos is admirably open about his sources.
Basically this is a more brutal version of the original story with the social commentary replaced by blood. It’s not bad, but on the other hand it’s nothing special. Both the audience and the characters know exactly what’s going on so there’s no real tension.
For all the SF trappings Almost Human is really just another psycho-slasher movie with unnecessarily shaky camerawork.
PS: If you find yourself wondering what happened to Rob, there’s a scene after the end credits.