Reviews 2

Jeff Smith's review on Fan Film Follies

Aboard the military research starship HMS Archer, the crew is under attack
by malevolent xenomorphic alien creatures, while the Doctor (Ryan Hendrick)
 is in the process of regenerating, as a result of an encounter with one of the creatures.
In the care of Dr. Lydia (Jennifer Byrne) and hard-ass soldier Lt. Ryder (Frankie MacEachen), he manages to recover enough to lead them deeper into the ship while formulating a plan to deal with the alien attacks.

This short film (12 minutes) was shot in Scotland and is, according to the filmmakers, a “teaser” for a full-length video currently in production. It’s an intriguing idea: the Doctor vs. the memorable monsters from the Alien franchise, in a claustrophobic spaceship environment, with the Doc in the process of regenerating after having encountered one of the creatures. All with Scottish accents.

In some ways “Besieged” reminds me of the classic Batman fan film Dead End, both because of its open-ended conclusion and the fact that it features the fearsome critters from the beloved Ridley Scott/James Cameron films. “Besieged” isn’t as slick as Dead End, but it’s a worthy production that hints at something greater. What’s here so far is a bit unsatisfying, but the longer production, if done with similar care, could be an all-time classic.

If I have any small gripes with the film they would be the over-use of new-series musical cues which we’ve heard in far too many fan films already (as well as their re-use in the actual series; hopefully the full-length “Besieged” will have an original score) and the too-dark cinematography. I realize that director Stuart Cadenhead was going for “dark-and-scary,” but there are too many scenes here where you simply can’t tell what’s happening, especially during the sequence where the Doctor and the two ladies move from one location to the next; despite having watched the film several times on different kinds of monitors (and even on TV), there are still multiple shots where I just don’t understand what it is I’m supposed to be seeing. And when the viewer is confused, they stop caring. My advice for the full-length production would be to sacrifice some of the mystery of the dark in favor of better clarity of storytelling; it’s difficult to realize, for instance, that we are even seeing the classic Alien monster designs at first. And this isn’t really a story so much as a vignette, basically an extended trailer, which is fine for promotional purposes; hopefully the extended feature will have more to the plot than just running up and down corridors.

Still, “Besieged” is a very promising production with some really fun elements. The acting is terrific, and I’m especially looking forward to seeing more of Ryan Hendrick’s Doctor, who seems to have regenerated from the David Tennant iteration, bypassing Matt Smith entirely. There are some excellent CG spaceship shots, and, from what I can tell, the Alien costumes are outstanding. The use of colored lights and gels is very effective, and the use of locations to suggest the interior of a spaceship is surprisingly convincing. Overall, the video looks outstanding, and is well worth checking out. Here’s hoping they can continue building a bigger, better version of “Besieged,” and we’ll be happy to promote the finished production whenever it is released.

Original article available @
www.fanfilmfollies.com